with him!"

Pilate turned around and went into the fortress. The priests were
worried lest Jesus be set free. They began to argue with the men in the
courtyard. "Do not let him escape now!" they urged. "Make Pilate crucify
him!" A shout arose when a group of Roman soldiers came out of the fort
into the Temple; Jesus was with them.

A cry broke from Peter's lips when he saw his Master before the crowd.
Thorn branches had been twisted into a wreath and pressed on his head.
He wore a purple robe. Peter could see he was in pain. "Behold! Here is
the man!" cried Pilate.

"Crucify him! Crucify him!"

Pilate hesitated. "If you let him go, you are an enemy of the Roman
emperor!" shouted a priest. Peter could tell that Pilate was afraid. He
walked to the stone seat where he announced his decisions. Embedded in
the pavement before him was the Roman seal and some Latin words. The
Roman guards led Jesus to another seat. He was very weak from his
beating. While the people were shouting, Pilate turned toward the
priests gathered in a knot near his judgment seat and said bitterly:
"You have wanted a Jewish king--well, here he is! Behold the king of the
Jews!"

The high priest looked coldly at Pilate and said, "We have only one
king: Caesar." Pilate looked down at the ground. There was one more
possibility. This innocent Galilean might yet go free. Pilate remembered
that custom allowed him to set free one prisoner at Passover time--a
prisoner whom the people chose. Amid the commotion in the courtyard,
Pilate stared at the Latin words on the pavement before him. If only the
people would ask that Jesus be released!

"I shall let one prisoner go free," cried the governor. "Shall it be
Bar-Abbas or the king of the Jews?"

A priest called out, "Give us Bar-Abbas!" Then the crowd took up the
cry, "We want Bar-Abbas!"

Bar-Abbas! A murderer? Peter could hardly believe it! The cries grew
louder. "Give us Bar-Abbas!"

"What shall I do with Jesus, called 'the Christ'?" Pilate asked,
cornered. The people saw that he feared them, and their hateful screams
made Peter shiver.

"Crucify him! Crucify him!" The crowd surged toward Jesus, and the Roman
guards drew their swords to protect their prisoner. Pilate saw that only
blood would satisfy the people. Amid the tumult he sat silent, his eyes
once again on the Latin words before him. At last he stood up. He was
beaten. The crowd was almost out of control. Several times he raised his
han