Pilate:
“Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus: “It is as you say.”…Pilate: “I am
innocent of this Man’s blood…”
It
was a custom at the time of the Passover Feast that the Roman ruler would
release one prisoner. The Jewish crowd,
coached by the chief priests and elders, asked for Barabbas to be released and
as for Jesus---“Let Him be crucified!”
Then in front of the crowd Pilate took a bowl of water and washed his
hands, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood, see to that
yourselves.” The crowd of people
answered, “His blood be on us and on our children.”
Jesus
was not a political or military threat to Rome, so He was not a concern for
Pilate or Herod. The ritual of washing hands to symbolically absolve his
connection with the death of an innocent man was a Jewish custom that did not really
absolve Pilate since he was not Jewish.
Interesting
that among the crowd of people were probably some of the same ones who had only
a week earlier welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem shouting “Hosanna!” Now the chief
priests had instigated the crowd to demand His crucifixion. And the crowd was
willing to have Jesus blood be on them.
That is how sacrifices work---the blood of the lamb was shed for the
people’s sin. How ironic that they were
willing for His blood to be shed for them.
Lord, I am so sad for
what happened to you---being rejected by Your people, the Jews.
© 2012
by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights
reserved.
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