Jesus knew that what lies at the foundation of the crowd’s understanding of “freedom” was violence and murder. For the crowd, freedom was just another word for having the power to kill their enemies. The crowd said, “We’re talking about freedom,” but Jesus said, “No, you’re talking about killing.” Jesus was unmasking what lay behind the crowd’s euphemistic use of words like freedom. Jesus was telling them a truth about themselves that had long been hidden from them—a truth they really don’t want to know.
