Who Is Really Responsible for Jesus' Death? Matthew 27:20-26

 20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. 21 “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor. “Barabbas,” they answered. 22 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate askedThey all answered, “Crucify him!” 23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” 

Despite the bad dream Pilate's wife received and her warning to him, the chief priests and elders try to manipulate Pilate through the mob of Jews assembled.  The crowd swayed by the religious leaders called for Barabbas to be released and Jesus to be crucified.  Ironically, crucifixion was a Roman method of capital punishment reserved for the worst of criminals not a Jewish custom.  

Pilate sees Jesus is innocent, or at the very least does not understand why this is happening.  Notice "all" of the crowd cried, "Crucify him!"  There does not seem to be one sympathetic person in the crowd who might risk their own skin to defend Jesus.  One would have to believe that someone would know of Jesus was innocent and respond accordingly.    

The irony in the story is that Barabbas knew he was guilty and probably knew Jesus was innocent.  "If anyone knew what it meant that Jesus died in his place, it was Barabbas. He was a terrorist and a murderer, yet he was set free while Jesus was crucified. The cross Jesus hung on was probably originally intended for Barabbas."

Why do you think the crowd was so single minded to get Jesus crucified?  How do you think Barabbas felt knowing he was a guilty man being set free, and Jesus was an innocent man paying the ultimate price?  In what ways are we like Judas?  How often do you contemplate that Jesus stood in your place when he went to the cross to die for the sins of the world?  

24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!” 25 All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Pilate knew he was in a pickle.  He knew from his wife and his own direct experience that Jesus was an innocent man.  Yet, he also wanted to maintain the favor of the people and not cause an insurrection.  Though he had the authority to release Jesus, or at the very least punish Barabbas justly, he passed the buck and blamed the Jews for Jesus' death.  

"When he called Jesus “this just Person,” he admitted that Jesus was the innocent man – not Pilate. Just because Pilate said “I am innocent” doesn’t mean that he was innocent." (Guzik)

The statement the crowds gave, "His blood be on us and our children" is only found in Matthew's gospel and subject to much debate.  Some have used it as a basis for Christian anti-semitism.  

Pope Benedict XVI says this about this passage,

"When in Matthew's account the "whole people" say: "His blood be upon us and on our children" (27:25), the Christian will remember that Jesus' blood speaks a different language from the blood of Abel (Hebrew 12:24): it does not cry out for vengeance and punishment; it brings reconciliation. It is not poured out against anyone; it is poured out for many, for all."

Many people point to the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70 as one of the consequences of the Jewish rejection of Jesus.  But it is wrong to pin the blame for Jesus' death on the Jews alone.  Jesus died for all of our sins, since all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Though many Jews rejected Jesus, which brought the gospel more prominently to the Gentiles, many other Jews accepted Jesus like the apostle Paul and the rest of the apostles.  We know in Romans 13 that God's covenant with Israel is irrevocable . Paul says in the end, "All of Israel will be saved."  

This sense of our universal guilt for Jesus' death is captured in the late 19th century African American hymn, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord".

"Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord?Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree? Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?

Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb? Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?"