Playing The Blame Game

The priests had already sold out to Rome rather than listen to the common people. When Pilate asked, “Shall I crucify your king?” Jewish leaders answered, “We have no king but Caesar,” (John 19:15). There is no doubt that if they had gone to the general public of Judea and told them that Caesar was their only king, many would have said, “ Caesar isn’t our king! God is!” Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian, described the priests as “opulent, rapacious, a caste, despotic toward the people, servile toward the Romans.”

Times haven’t changed. Look around you today. A large number of ministers serve in churches for a mere livelihood—not as calling from the Lord. And while we have a great number of Christians serving God lovingly and sacrificially, there are others who function under one main impulse—greed. That’s life. The bad and the good—just like 2000 years ago.

We know that during the crucifixion there was a minority of Jews living in Israel who were opposed to Jesus. But what about the diaspora Jews—those living outside the land of Israel? The fame of Jesus had not reached far beyond the borders of Israel. But what would happen at Passover? At such a momentous time, Jewish people came from many countries. The one place to be was Jerusalem—and the temple. And since Jews had known the diaspora for some eight centuries, the numbers making pilgrimage must have been great.

This appears to be borne out in Scripture. In Matthew 21:10 & 11, when Jesus made His triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, great multitudes of Jews said, “Who is this?” Others answered, “This is Jesus of Nazareth.” Who were answering? The Israeli Jews who knew of Jesus and His fame. Who were asking? Could it not have been the multitudes of diaspora Jews who had come into the city for Passover? And could a number of these “outsiders” have joined the rabble that demanded Jesus’ crucifixion?

But what about the verse in Matthew 27:25: “His blood be on us and on our children?” That statement has been used by more hate-filled men and women to destroy the Jewish people by employing the “Christ killer” theme than any other charge. Even Hitler used the excuse.

Who were the Jews who made that foolish statement? Certainly not the whole Jewish people, but instead some envious, jealous leaders and their hand-picked mob. To implicate “all the Jews” is as ludicrous as it would be for the Jews to call all Gentiles “Lincoln-killers” because some Gentiles plotted the murder of Abraham Lincoln.

The statements, “His blood be on us and on our children” is used when people want to isolate and hurt the Jews. But Jesus said something else as He died. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Whose statement will stand up more before God—a few hate-filled leaders who said, “His blood be on us and on our children,” or the Son of God Himself who said, “Forgive them. They don’t know what they do?”

Who crucified Jesus? Let’s discuss another group of people—those who believed in Him. Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. But where was Lazarus at the crucifixion? He is conspicuously absent. Was he afraid? Even cowardly?

How about John? Even John, who appeared later at the cross when he finally had second thoughts, ran out on Jesus in the garden.

And Peter? He cursed and denied even knowing Christ—not once but three times—even in front of a young girl who had cornered him. Peter cursed! How low can you stoop as a believer? But lest you look at those first “Christians” and say, “Yes, how terrible they were,” believe me, friend, you and I would have done the same thing.

These people were overrun by fast moving events. The silence of Jesus’ followers like John, Lazarus, Nicodemus and Joseph (some of whom only identified with Jesus after He had died), however rationalized, helped end the physical life of Jesus. So if we’re going to say that “the Jews crucified Jesus,” we must bring in the fact that the “Christians,” the believers in Jesus, crucified Him by selling Him out. And what is worse—denying someone when you don’t have the light of His love in your life, or denying Him even after your eyes have been opened and you have professed faith in that person?

How about the priests? There is no doubt that the priests were guilty. Jesus Himself said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, the chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day” (Luke 9:22). Notice He mentioned certain classes of Jewish leaders—not all the Jewish people, many of whom believed in Him and some of whom were his Jewish disciples who loved Him.

Our search must continue. There is more to finding out who really crucified Jesus. (Concluded in our next study)

"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" (I Corinthians 11:1)
The ST. PAUL SCHOOL, with Frank Eiklor, Eileen Young and Cecilia Contreras