Isn't pleasing the crowd the epitome of political correctness?
Pilate knew the truth, despite his cynical question, "What is truth?" He told the crowd Jesus was innocent when he said, "I find no guilt in him." He further illustrated it when he asked, after releasing Barabbas, what they wanted him to do with Jesus. At their insistant cry, "Crucify him!" he again reflected his awareness that Jesus was innocent. "Why? What evil has he done?" Even the Gospel writer, Mark, witnesses to Pilate's awareness of the truth writing, "For he knew that it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed him over." But still, he had an innocent man scourged nearly to death, perhaps in the vain hope that the mob would have pity on him.
