Outside of the crowd shouting 'Barabbas!' at the end this entire song is spoken from Pilate's perspective exclusively.
Pilate is lightly mocking Jesus here, but only his stubbornness in an attempt to save his life. As with the Biblical account, he doesn't think Jesus is being reasonable, but also doesn't believe Jesus is guilty of being anything more than maybe a little crazy and very charismatic. Remember that Pilate isn't Jewish; he has no reason to have a horse in this race, but he does have SOME sense and is well aware that this is a murderous witch hunt. He has no desire to see Jesus die. Politics tie his hands, though. Pilate is stuck doing this or potentially starting a riot.
After trying to get Jesus to recant by telling him the reality of his situation - something Jesus is well aware of anyway - he gives up and finally defers to the crowd, washing his hands of the situation. It's easy to say that Pilate was in the wrong by not intervening, but how many people would've died in the ensuing riot if Jesus was pardoned? This was, pragmatically speaking, the only sane decision for him.
Outside of the crowd shouting 'Barabbas!' at the end this entire song is spoken from Pilate's perspective exclusively.
Pilate is lightly mocking Jesus here, but only his stubbornness in an attempt to save his life. As with the Biblical account, he doesn't think Jesus is being reasonable, but also doesn't believe Jesus is guilty of being anything more than maybe a little crazy and very charismatic. Remember that Pilate isn't Jewish; he has no reason to have a horse in this race, but he does have SOME sense and is well aware that this is a murderous witch hunt. He has no desire to see Jesus die. Politics tie his hands, though. Pilate is stuck doing this or potentially starting a riot.
After trying to get Jesus to recant by telling him the reality of his situation - something Jesus is well aware of anyway - he gives up and finally defers to the crowd, washing his hands of the situation. It's easy to say that Pilate was in the wrong by not intervening, but how many people would've died in the ensuing riot if Jesus was pardoned? This was, pragmatically speaking, the only sane decision for him.