NOTES for Joh 19:15-16

The mood of the crowd is changeable: only a few days pass from "hosanna!" to "crucify!" But a crowd is a crowd precisely so that a person disappears in it. Dissolves into a large and irresponsible collective "we." Under certain circumstances it can be physically destroyed, but it is utterly useless to try to enter into communion with it. Simply because there is no one there to communicate with: in a crowd there is not a single person.

But a crowd can be manipulated. Sometimes. With certain precautions and usually up to a certain limit. And the high priest, like the whole temple elite, had mastered this art perfectly. His power rested on it in many respects. And, of course, on the political games that he, as the head of Judea, played with Roman authority. He played them by frightening Rome with religious extremists, zealots, with whom he also had his own secret game, one Rome did not know about. Or knew about but turned a blind eye, hoping in the high priest and his circle as the lesser evil. He played them by hinting at the possibility of a great religious war, toward which he himself silently pushed those who were ready to unleash it. And so, on fear that was partly real and partly phantom, he built his politics.

And Jesus was not only not a Person in his eyes; He was not even a person with a lowercase letter. Just a bargaining chip. A chance to prove his loyalty: we have no king but the emperor! And to hand over to execution a troublesome preacher who was completely impossible to control. Barabbas was another matter: a zealot, of course, an extremist, but one of their own, a patriot, a hater of the Romans, and above all someone understandable. The Temple had long been in contact with such people; with them it was clear how to behave and clear what to expect from them. But here there was one continuous surprise, unnecessary and uncontrollable, and therefore dangerous. Better to get rid of this preacher, but not with his own hands. Better with Roman hands: for the high priest, this was an almost no-lose option. And if the procurator became stubborn, the roar of the crowd could hint to him that reports might reach Rome about his indulgence toward dangerous rebels, against whom the high priest was fighting and whom he, the procurator, the emperor's hand and eye, was pardoning.

Everyone plays his own game. Except Jesus alone; He does not play any games with anyone. Such a one is needed by no one. And only one thing remains for Him: the cross. There is no other path for Him.