Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.”

But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand. Luke 23:20-24

            Pilate suffered under good old-fashioned peer pressure.  Just like a kid in school, Pilate did what everyone else what him to do, even though it wasn’t right.  Pilate wanted to keep his job and his job was to make sure Rome ruled peacefully without any uprisings.  Seeing the mob scene develop, Pilate thought, “What’s killing one man to make sure I keep my job.”  Pilate thought he was washing his hands of this situation, but he could wash himself of his sins.  That person stood right before him.