The Crowds

The Crowds
Read through the text of Mark 15:1-20 once again.  Imagine yourself in the scene.

  • What do you hear?  Is it loud or quiet?  Who do you hear?  What are they saying? 
  • What do you see? Who is among the crowd?  What other people are there? 
  • What might they be wearing? Do you notice anything other than the people?
  • How many people do you think are there? 10? 20? 50 or more? What evidence makes you think so?
  • If you could reach out and touch something in the scene, what would it be?  How does it feel?
  • What can you smell? People? Sweat? Fear? Animals? Fires? Cooking?  How might the smells contribute to the tension of the scene? 
  • How many times is the word crowd, crowds, or they (referring to the crowd) used?
  • Who is influenced by the crowds? More than one person?
  • How does Jesus respond to the crowds?
  • Make a list of all the emotions Jesus might feel in this scene.

Ask God to show you the truths He would have you to know here. 
But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.

“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.

“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.

“Crucify him!” they shouted.

“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

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