They
cried out again, “Crucify him!”
Mark 15:13
Mark 15 [6.] Now at the feast he used to release to them one prisoner, whom they asked of him. There was one called Barabbas, bound with his fellow insurgents, men who in the insurrection had committed murder. The multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do as he always did for them. Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” For he perceived that for envy the chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief priests stirred up the multitude, that he should release Barabbas to them instead. Pilate again asked them, “What then should I do to him whom you call the King of the Jews?”
Mark 15 [13.] They cried out again, “Crucify him!”
Mark 15 [14.] Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?”
Meaning:
Pilate has asked the crowd, “What then should I do to him whom you call the King of the Jews?” (Mark 15:11-12). The answer comes in two words, shouted by the multitude. It is one of the darkest moments in the Gospel: the people demand the most shameful and cruel death known in the Roman world for the one who had healed their sick and taught them the way of God.
- “They cried out again”
The word “again” shows that the shouting had begun before. The crowd had already cried out for the release of Barabbas, and the noise was rising. Luke records the same cry: “Crucify! Crucify him!” (Luke 23:21). John adds, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” (John 19:15). A crowd that is stirred up does not reason; it repeats and grows louder.
- “Crucify him!”
Crucifixion was a Roman punishment used mainly for slaves, violent criminals and rebels against Rome. It was designed to be slow, public and humiliating, a warning to everyone who passed by. Jews also regarded it as a sign of God’s curse, because the Law said, “for he who is hanged is accursed of God” (Deuteronomy 21:23). To demand crucifixion for Jesus was to demand not only his death but his complete disgrace.
Jesus had foretold the manner of his death. He told his disciples the Gentiles would “mock him, spit on him, scourge him, and kill him” (Mark 10:34), and John notes that the leaders’ handing him to Rome happened “that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what kind of death he should die” (John 18:31-32).
The Significance of Mark 15:13
- The curse that became a blessing
The crowd meant the cross as a curse, and in one sense it was. Yet Paul explains that this is exactly how God saved us: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13-14). The cry “Crucify him!” led to the place where Jesus bore the curse that belonged to us.
- The fickleness of the human heart
The same city that had shouted “Hosanna” now shouted “Crucify him!” Human praise is unstable, and so is human hostility. This moment warns us not to trust the mood of the crowd, and it humbles us, because our own sins, too, were among the reasons Jesus went to the cross.
- Taking up the cross
Jesus had said, “Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34). The cross that the crowd demanded for him became the symbol of his followers, a sign of self-denial and of loyalty to a crucified King.
Cross-References:
Luke 23:21: "Crucify! Crucify him!" Luke’s account of the same cry.
John 19:15: "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" John’s account.
Galatians 3:13-14: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us." The meaning of the cross.
Conclusion: When Pilate asked what to do with Jesus, the crowd shouted again, “Crucify him!”, demanding the most shameful death Rome could inflict. Jesus had foretold this, and God used it for our salvation: on the cross Christ became a curse for us so that we might be redeemed. The cry of the crowd exposes the fickle and sinful human heart, and it also points to the love of the Savior who willingly accepted the cross.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible