sentiment has laid hold of them, the shout of a people is one of the
grandest things on earth; when it is some awful prejudice, unreasoning
hatred, or cowardly terror that sways them, the shout is the most
inhuman and hellish thing on earth; and that was the character of the
shout that was raised here.

The world has never forgotten that cry, and never will. To the very
last the world will wonder how it should have come to be raised, and
will condemn and pity the crowd of people who gave themselves up to it,
for they were making a hero of the vilest stuff, and clamouring for the
murder of the world's one Divine man. There never was a more brutal
and insane shout than that; never again can there be a choice so fatal
and so suicidal as the choice they made: "_Away with this man, and
release unto us Barabbas_."

If the thing had not happened, we should say it was impossible. It
seems well-nigh incredible that human eyes and human hearts could be so
blind. A story of this kind is food for the bitterest cynic. He who
has the most utter contempt for the race to which he belongs might find
here almost a justification of his scorn. Oh what a satire upon human
nature, that a whole city full of people, men, women, mothers and
daughters, had come to this pass that they could not discern which was
the nobler of these two--nay, thought that Barabbas was more deserving
of their honour. One the very flower and crown of humanity, the
express image of God; and the other a gaol bird, a notorious criminal,
whose hands had been dyed red, and whose heart had been hardened by the
shedding of blood. Well might those pitiful lips say, "_Father forgive
them, for they know not what they do_."

Why did they do it? Why did they raise their voices for Barabbas?

The main answer is that men make their heroes as the heathen make gods,
after their own image. There is no doubt that Barabbas was more to the
taste of this people, more according to their heart, than Christ; or at
least they thought he was; not quite their ideal man, perhaps, but
certainly nearer to their ideal than the Christ whom they rejected. It
may be that they had had no particular love for him until just now,
possibly they had hardly thought of him at all; but now it was a
question between this man and Jesus, and Jesus they did not want at any
price. And their very hatred of the one made the other look beautiful.
Barabbas is our man, they said, and the more they said