With an angry mob of Jews intent on seeing Jesus’ dead, Pilate succumbed to the will of the people and ordered His crucifixion. But before he did so, he washed his hands with water, declaring to the crowd, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person.”
That suited the people just fine. They retorted,
His blood be on us and on our children.(Matthew 27:25)
They were happy to have the blood of the Messiah on their hands. And more than this, they were willing for their children to bear the guilt of crucifying the Son of God along with them.
After the deed was done, the Sanhedrin were not so eager to take the blame. When the gospel began to be preached in Jerusalem, they accused the apostles,
…you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us! (Acts 5:28)
They were no longer OK with the blood of Christ being on their hands. They thought it would stifle the movement which followed Jesus, but it did not. Now, the message of the gospel was spreading with power, and they were still on the outside looking in so far as favour with the people.
Years later, Stephen, a faithful disciple of the Lord stood before the Sanhedrin, rebuking them:
You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers… (Acts 7:51-52)
The generation that killed Jesus were imitating what their ancestors had done. The experience of most of the prophets of God was to be slandered, persecuted, and in some cases, put to death. If they treated the prophets so terribly, ought it surprise us that they maligned and eventually killed the Son of God?
Though the people of that generation were glad to be charged with the crime, it was not their fault to bear alone. Washing his hands in the presence of the mob may have helped Pilate salve his conscience, but it did nothing to remove his guilt regarding the death of Christ at Calvary. He was as guilty as the Jews who yelled “Crucify Him!”
The Roman solidiers who found pleasure in torturing the King of kings cannot be absolved for their part in His death either. It was not until after the events of that day were almost complete that a centurion came to the conclusion that this was the Son of God (Matthew 27:54). We do not know if any others realized what they’d done, but whether they knew or not – their guilt remains.
The Roman soldiers, Pontius Pilate, the Jerusalem crowd – they all had the blood of Christ on their hands. But the list does not stop there. There is a song which declares:
…I could not do a single thing to hurt God’s only Son, but every time I sin on earth, I know that I’m the one.
The list of those who are guilty of putting the Son of God to death, and thus are responsible for His blood having been shed extends to our day and our lives. You are the reason that Jesus died on Calvary! He was crucified because of my sin! Paul tells us,
…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
Friend, we are guilty of the blood of Christ – all of us! We did not chant, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him!” We did not wash our hands in an attempt to remove blame from ourselves. We did not drive spikes into His flesh. We are not guilty of any of these things, and yet all these things happened to Him because of us. Peter tells us that Jesus
…bore our sins in His own body on the tree… (1 Peter 2:24)
Fortunately for us, we do not just have the guilt of His blood on our hands, but we have the benefit of His blood for our souls. As Paul addressed the elders of Ephesus, he spoke of the Lord purchasing the church by His shed blood (Acts 20:28). Writing to the Romans, Paul spoke of the Saviour as the satisfaction for our sin (Romans 3:25). A few chapters later, he would say that we are justified because of His blood (Romans 5:9). Both the Ephesians and Colossians received confidence from Paul, for he revealed that by Jesus’ shed blood, we have the forgiveness of sin (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14).
As such, despite the fact that we made ourselves enemies of God by our sin, we can now have peace with God by the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20). By our sin, we stained our hands with the blood of the Son of God, but by that same blood, He supplies to us the cleansing of our conscience so that we might serve God free from the bondage of sin (Hebrews 9:14). Now, by the blood of Christ, we can enter into the presence of God (Hebrews 10:19).
What a blessing! His blood is not just on our hands, but His blood has been applied to our hearts, if we are obedient to the gospel. He died because of us, but He also died for us! God be thanked for the precious blood of Jesus Christ!
Links: YouVersion | GROW magazine
Return to the article archive
