And they, being stirred up by the chief priests, cried out again, “Crucify Him!”
The crowd’s shout is dreadful in its brevity: they no longer speak of investigation or justice, but demand the crucifixion of Christ. The cross was among the most humiliating and cruel deaths, and this demand shows how far a sinful heart can go when it is led by envy, blindness, and a deceiving influence. He who healed the sick, fed the hungry, and taught the truth now hears a cry for death against Him. Yet in God’s providence even this unjust shout was to lead toward the mystery of salvation: Christ was to be lifted up on the cross so that through His rejection and death He might grant life to sinners.