March 24, 2004 Matthew 27:24-26
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, “Let his blood be 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.
The first physical murder ever recorded in the Scriptures is in the story of Cain and Abel. Both had brought offerings to the Lord. Chapter 4 of Genesis says that, Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil and Abel brought fat portions from some of the first born of the flock. Notice the difference between the two. When Cain just brought “some of the fruits” but Abel brought the FAT portions of the FIRST born - God looked with favor on Abel’s, but not on Cain’s. This didn’t sit well with Cain - God could see that his face was downcast, and warned him that sin was crouching at his door - it needed to be mastered. Cain didn’t master it. Instead, since Cain couldn’t vent his anger on God, he did it on God’s child. Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Ge 4:8-9) Cain tried to cover up his murder with denial - as if he didn’t know or didn’t have the responsibility of taking care of his brother. But what did God say to him? What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. (Ge 4:10) It’s with this story that we sing, “Abel’s blood for vengeance, pleaded to the skies.” It’s quite a vivid picture isn’t it? Imagine hearing blood from the ground screaming out, “avenge me! I’ve been innocently shed!” In the same way, even Moses tried to cover up his murder by burying an Egyptian in the ground. Yet his murder also did not go unnoticed.
God’s Word says, There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers. (Pr 6:16-19) One of the most detestable things to God are hands that shed innocent blood. Therefore, it shouldn’t surprise us when He doesn’t allow murderers to get away with murder even in this life. One of the hardest things to cover up, actually - is spilt blood. For instance, I have seen many documentaries on how murderers were caught because of that fact. Even when you wash blood up with soap and water and think that an area is completely cleansed to the naked eye, there is a special spray and light that can be used to determine exactly where the blood was shed. These methods have been used to convict many a murderer. Blood also contains DNA that can link victims to murderers and bring convictions that are deserved. No matter how hard they may try to cover it up, you can’t do that with blood.
In today’s text, blood was about to be shed. This wasn’t the blood of a criminal or the blood of a mere man. This was the blood of God Himself. If God saw to it that Abel’s blood would not be covered up, there would be no way His blood could be covered either. Pilate knew this blood was innocent. He didn’t want responsibility for it. So he tried to put it on the Jews. Having been worked up into such a frenzy by their leaders, the Jewish people were willing to take the responsibility. The phrase that they speak has caused quite a stir throughout the ages - even in our society today. But today we’ll take a close look at what they said, and see how they ended up -
Speaking the Bloody Truth
I. It’s my fault
When Jesus was brought before Pilate - the Jews brought several accusations before Him. One was that He was leading a rebellion, claiming to be the King of the Jews. Another was that He didn’t pay taxes to Caesar. Another was that he was stirring up the people. Another was that He threatened to tear the temple down and rebuild it in three days. After Pilate questioned Jesus, time and again he found that these charges were NOT true. For instance Matthew 27 says that Pilate -
knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him. While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.” (Mt 27:18-19)
Luke reports in 23:4 -
“I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
Again he says in 23:14 -
I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him.
After they repeatedly asked for his crucifixion, Pilate again asked,
Why? What crime has he committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. (Lk 23:22) (Matthew 27:23)
At least FOUR times the Gospel report that Pilate found no reason to charge Jesus with murder, much less to have him whipped. His duty as a governor was to see that justice was served. Yet he felt the urge also to appease the crowd because an uproar was starting. If I could read Pilate’s mind, he must have had to be thinking, “I know this guy is innocent. I’m not sure exactly who he is. But if I don’t hand him over, we’re really going to have a mess on our hands. I’ve done what I could to try and get him off. I don’t like it, but I’m going to hand him over to die anyway.” So what did Pilate do? 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!”
Pilate attempted to wash his hands of the guilt and declare his own innocense. Yet the fact remains that the only way Jesus could die was if Pilate handed him over. It was Pilate’s responsiblity, as the judge, to protect the innocent. Even though he didn’t hammer the nails in, he gave the order. He allowed his own soldiers to be used in the crucifixion and shedding of innocent blood. After all was said and done, he must have realized that that water didn’t cleanse him from his guilt. Even if he had jumped in the pool of Siloam and went swimming in every drop of water from here to China, it couldn’t have washed away his guilt. There was nothing more to his little act than an empty ritual. No matter how he said it, he was guilty as charged.
Yet the Jews still declared in vs. 25, “Let his blood be on us and our children.” They didn’t just say, “we’ll take the responsibility for his blood.” They said, “let his blood be on us and our children.” That’s quite a graphic picture, isn’t it? Imagine the blood of Christ actually pouring on them - their hands and their eyes and their bodies. There would be no hiding it. No denying it. I suppose that’s where we get the phrase, “he was caught RED HANDED.” As I studied that concept and that saying, “let his blood be on us,” I found one instance where the Jews did actually have blood poured on them. It’s found in Exodus 24, when Moses presented the Law to the Jews. It says, he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey.” 8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.” (Ex 24:7-8) By sprinkling the blood on them, Moses was establishing a lasting covenant with the people -that they were binding themselves to their oath to keep the law. So what the Jews were in fact saying was, “we’ll take the responsibility for this death - even our children will!” In their frenzy of the moment, I don’t think they realized what they were really saying. For when they were later on held accountable for Jesus’ death by the apostles, the high priests and Sanhedrin complained to them, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” (Ac 5:28) When push came to shove, they didn’t like the idea of being held guilty for what they had done.
Yet Peter didn’t let them off the hook because of this. In his Pentecost sermon Peter clearly said to them, Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. (Ac 2:22-23) He wasn’t trying to incite hatred against the Jews. He was trying to get them to see their responsibility in the murder of Christ. He wasn’t trying to blame them just because they said to “let his blood be on us.” He was getting them to see that they were guilty because they were guilty. It’s plain and simple. They were guilty, and so was Pilate. But in the Mel Gibson film, the Jews were outraged at the line that originally read in there, “let his blood be on us and our children.” He even took it out of the subscript. Why? Because they didn’t feel that the Jews should be blamed for the death of Christ. They felt it would lead to hate crimes against Jews as it has throughout the centuries.
Unfortunately, the Jews have ended up with this very thing happening to them throughout the centuries. They ended up speaking the bloody truth. Many feel that these words were used as the reasoning behind the concentration camps and mass death of the Jews during World War II in Germany. Hitler was thought to have used this as an impetus behind his mass murders. People have also tried to connect Martin Luther to the holocaust because of the treatise he wrote, “On the Jews and their Lies.” Anti-Semitism is a very real thing - the Jews have taken the blame and been the brunt of many hate crimes throughout the centuries. There is no denying it. Therefore, we can see how they could be wary of people using such a statement to feed their hatred - give a reason behind it - when they hear them say, “let his blood be on us and our children.”
Anybody who would think this way - to try and point the blame at the Jews and persecute them for the death of Christ - could not be a Christian. How arrogant could you be to try and blame the Jews and punish them for something YOU also were guilty of. To people who think that way, Jesus says - Pull the plank out of your own eye! For God’s Word clearly shows that we have three fingers pointing back at ourselves. Peter says very clearly in 1 Peter 3:18 that, Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. Christ died for ALL. Mel Gibson also wanted to portray this by using HIS left hand to hold the nail as it was pounded into Jesus’ hand. It is sheer scapegoating to try and punish the Jews for the death of Christ, when WE killed Christ. Every time you sin, it’s as if you are putting another nail in Jesus’ hands and feet. Peter Himself declared that Jesus went to the cross by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge. The Jews and Pilate were simply tools that God used to fulfill divine justice. Just because the Jews asked for Jesus’ blood to be on them and their children, it didn’t mean that their wish should come true. God’s Word also clearly says that such a wish cannot be granted. For Moses declared in Deuteronomy 24, Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin. (Dt 24:16) Why would we blame modern day Jews for something their forefathers - 2,000 years ago had a part in? It would be like African Americans trying to have white descendants of slave owners put to death for crimes their forefathers committed over a hundred years ago.
Instead of looking on the Jews with hatred, true Christians are to look on the Jews with honor and dignity. For God gave the Jews the Old Testament law. It was through the Jews that God granted us the Savior of the world. We worship a Jew. Our Savior is a Jew. All of the disciples were Jews. Even the apostle Paul was a Jew. If it weren’t for the teaching and instruction of the Jews, the Gospel would have never been spread throughout the Gentiles as it is today. Yes, the Jews helped kill Christ. But so did we, and so did Pilate - so did everyone. God worked it out for our salvation - and for theirs. So why would we get caught up in a blame game when we’re all guilty?
II. It’s my blood
Inadvertently, we could actually say the Jews were actually speaking the bloody truth in a good way as well. When they said, “let his blood be on us and our children,” that’s what happened in God’s eyes. For the Scriptures clearly declares that, He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 Jn 2:2) When Jesus died on that cross, it’s as if His blood then covered the entire world. Just as the entire world was bathed in sin as a result of Adam’s fall, so the entire world was bathed in blood as a result of Jesus’ “fall.” In that moment, when Christ died, the whole world died. When Christ was crucified, every person that ever lived was crucified. God no longer looks at us as Jews or Gentiles, slave or free. He looks at us all as crucified, dead, and buried. The sad fact is that so many people don’t know this. But we do. As Christians, it changes the way we look at people. Like Paul told the Colossians, Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. (Col 3:11) In a Christian’s eyes, it doesn’t matter what race you are. In Christ we are all equally covered by the same blood. I don’t look at the Jews as Jews - I look at them as people who Christ died for. I see Christ’s blood on them and their children. This goes for the way I look at all people, drug addicts, adulterers, murderers, rich and poor alike. I see all of them under the bloody truth - that Jesus’ blood is on all of them.
That’s why we glory in the cross. Our whole theology - our whole lives depend on the bloody truth. Pilate falsely thought that washing his hands would make him clean. But God promises a different washing with water makes us clean. It’s what Paul says in Romans 6:3 - don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death. (Ro 6:3-4) When we were baptized, God promises us that it was as if Jesus’ blood were poured on us and covered us. We glory in this and rejoice in it. It effects our whole attitude. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! (Ro 5:9-10) We are so enamored with Jesus’ blood and our religion revolves around that Jesus actually tells us to drink it in remembrance of Him. Paul said to the Corinthians, The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Co 11:23-26) Ours is a religion of blood - it focuses on the blood of Christ. With joy we say, “let his blood be on us and on our children.” With hope we sing, “My Savior, wash me clean with your most precious blood.” It might sound sick to some people to take a shower in someone else’s blood - and to rejoice in the sacrifice of someone - but that’s what we do through faith. We daily bathe in Christ’s blood - because it makes us clean in God’s sight.
If there was a recording of everything you ever said, I would imagine that each and every one of us would have some pretty embarrassing quotes. That’s why it’s probably so hard to be a politician. Your every word is often times recorded, taken out of context, and played a hundred times over to make you look bad. When Howard Dean had a little fun at one of his rallies, his screams were taken out of context to make him sound like a raving lunatic. I’m not trying to sound like I was in favor of him, but I believe he didn’t get a fair shake.
Many Jews may not like it when we use this quote of their forefathers. Nonetheless, it’s in the Bible, and we believe it’s the truth. The truth must be spoken. It’s not something that we want the Jews to get angry about. But it’s not something we want them to deny or Jesus to deny either. With shame I look at the cross and say, “yes, I’m guilty. I put Jesus there.” But with joy I look at that cross and say, “yes, I’m not guilty. I am Jesus there.” Until we take responsibility for the cross, we can’t find any joy in it. Therefore, let’s speak the bloody truth with the Jews this evening. Let’s say with them, “let his blood be on us and our children.” It’s an ugly truth and a harsh truth. But let’s take responsibility for it. We put him there- we’re guilty for his death. But then let’s also say, “let his blood be on us and our children.” The blood of Jesus for our pardon cries. Let’s bathe in it. Let’s hide in it. Let’s sing with the hymn writer -
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee;
Let the water and the blood From thy riven side which flowed
Be of sin the double cure: Cleanse me from its guilt and pow’r. Amen.
