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The Week They Killed Our Lord
Written by Dr. Lester Hutson

Copyright - Lester Hutson - 1983
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced without the express written permission of Dr. Lester Hutson.

 

CHAPTER 12

Who Killed Jesus?

 

INTRODUCTION: Text * John 19:12-24

Jesus was killed: put to the cross and crucified. That is undeniable fact. Yet, no one wants to shoulder the blame. The Romans say the Jews killed Jesus; and the Jews say the Romans killed him. The average man today says, "those people back then did it: Pilate and the citizens of Old Jerusalem at the time."

Since 1634, the citizens of Oberammergau, Germany, have performed a Passion Play every 10th year. For this little Bavarian mountain village of 4800, the Passion Play generates a net profit of 7.8 million dollars. Ninety three performances are given with a village cast and crew of 1400. At least one half million tourists are attracted to Oberammergau every performance year.

Some years ago a group in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas began an annual Passion Play. And there are others.

But those who perform Passion plays are plagued with the recurring question, "WHO KILLED JESUS?" Especially since the Nazi holocaust, the Jews have claimed the Passion Play is antisemetic. TIME magazine carried articles on the Oberammergau play in both the August 29, 1977, and June 9, 1980 issues. The articles show how the Oberammergau villagers have changed the script to make the Jews look better. The revised version of the play no longer calls the Jews "FREVLERBRUT" (a sacrilegious brood) or "VERBLENDETES VOLK" (a deluded people) as did the old version. In the new version, when the mob shouts for Barabbas' release, a few Jews shout for Jesus' release, too; and cruelty and vindictiveness are displayed by Romans as well as by Jews. TIME says the new version absolves the Sanhedrin and the Jewish crowds of their traditional role as villains and assigns it to the loutish Roman soldiers. TIME also says "Lucifer" is the real villain in the play.

Although, the concern of men, who seek the truth, is not what German villagers, the Roman Catholic Church, TIME magazine, or the majority thinks about it. The real question is "What does the Bible, God's Holy Word, say about it?" That is the question we shall pursue throughout the course of this message.

I. WAS IT ROMAN SOLDIERS?

A. The answer to that question must be a resounding "Yes":

1. John 19:23 plainly says, "Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus..." Words could hardly be clearer.

2. As the writer of the new Passion Play script says, surely the ones who killed Jesus were the "loutish Roman soldiers".

B. The death game, explained earlier in this book, gives insight into why Gentile Roman soldiers would choose, crown with thorns, then crucify a Jewish King:

1. To relieve their boredom in the Judean desert, these Roman soldiers played different games. One such game was the Basilinda, or game of the king. The courtyard of their barracks had scratched in the stones a kind of lifeline, starting like the inside design of a shell. The lifeline started inside and wound outward until at the very end, there was a sword, a crown, and the letter "B", which stood for "Basileus" meaning "King" in Greek.

2. At their annual Saturnalia festival, a puppet king was made to walk this lifeline. Along the way he was mocked with a reed for a rod, thorns for a crown, and a scarlet robe. Once the mocked king reached the end of the lifeline, he was to be crucified.

3. It is quite easy to see how this Jewish peasant named Jesus served the purpose of the cruel Roman soldiers well.

C. Matt. 27:27-32 is a graphic description of the guilt of the Roman soldiers:

1. After Pilate found no fault in him (John 19:6), at which time Jesus should have been released, he scourged Jesus, Matt. 27:26. The "cat-o-nine tails", loaded with bone and metal fragments, cut into the Saviour's back. As he prophetically said in Isa. 50:6, "I gave my back to the smiters", and in Psa. 129:3, "the plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrow." Flogging was preliminary to execution. The system was in motion. Jesus was to die. The Roman soldiers knew it.

2. So Matt. 27:27, "the whole band of soldiers" gathered around him. At least 120 robust and cruel Roman soldiers (perhaps as many as 1000) stripped him to the nude; and in mockery, put a scarlet robe upon him, Matt. 27:28. Then, V. 29 says they pressed the thorny crown down upon his brow, and placing a reed in his hand, they stood there and mocked the King of kings, and Lord of glory, saying "Hail, King of the Jews".

3. Fifteen times in Matt. 27:28-36, the pronoun "they" is used. In each case, the antecedent is "the soldiers". Oh yes! the Roman soldiers are guilty of his death. They cannot deny their guilt.

But, they were merely following the orders of their superiors, particularly those of governor Pilate.

II. WAS IT THEN, PILATE WHO KILLED JESUS?

A. At that time, Pilate was governor over Judea, Samaria, plus a few other areas; and was answerable directly to Tiberius Caesar in Rome.

1. He was the illegitimate son of Tyrus, king of Mayence.

2. Pilate had committed murder in Rome, and was sent to Pontus in Asia Minor to squelch a rebellion. By defeating the rebels, Tiberius Caesar made him governor of Judea. The Jews were always a thorn in the side of the Romans, and Pilate was here to squelch any Jewish discontent.

3. Pilate was cruel, yet cowardly. Luke 13:1 says he had desecrated the Jewish temple, and murdered several Galileans who were sacrificing in the temple.

B. Surely Pilate is the culprit in the death of Jesus:

1. This reprobate boasted to the Lord, "Knowest thou not that I have power to release thee", in John 19:10. Jesus answered in V. 11, "Thou could have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above." Pilate was consumed with his own importance.

2. Of this proud egotist, John 19:16 says he "delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified."

C. He publicly tried to exonerate himself of any guilt:

1. Matt. 27:24 says, "When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but rather that a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it."

2. His wife had warned him to stay clear of involvement in the death of Jesus. Listen to Matt. 27:19, "When he was set down on the judgrnent seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him."

3. Pilate, like many since, tried to wash his guilt away in water; but to no avail. His blood-stained hands testify against him. Under divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God in Acts 4:27, the apostle Peter said, "For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together".

4. Yes, Pilate killed Jesus. All of the lye soap and bleach in America cannot wash away his guilt in the blood of Jesus.

5. But, Pontius Pilate and the Roman soldiers were not alone in the blood of Jesus.

III. THE JEWS ARE ALSO GUILTY IN THE DEATH OF JESUS:

A. The God of heaven, who cannot lie, points the finger straight at the Jews:

1. I would have you read from the divine pages of scripture in Matt. 27:24-25, "When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said His blood be on us, and on our children."

2. Hear the cry of the Jewish mob for yourself, in Matt. 27:20-22, "But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. Pilate said unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified." When Pilate asked them in Mark 15:12, "What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the king of the Jews?" and they cried out again in unison, in V. 13, "crucifv him." In V. 14, Pilate argued, "Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, crucify him."

3. In the story as given in Luke 23, V. 25 says of these Jews that the cruelty and death of Jesus went according to "their will".

4. Listen to the accusation against the Jews in Acts 3:13-15, "The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses"

B. Yes, folks, the testimony of God is against the Jews:

1. No amount of denial can clear them. Every Jewish Rabbi in New York, Los Angeles, Houston, and Jerusalem can deny and claim antisemetism till his tongue laid silent in his grave; but he can not change the fact. God knows more about who is guilty than Jewish Rabbis; and he says they're guilty. At his death, they said, "Let his blood be on us and our children", in Matt. 27:25. As early as Acts 5:28, and ever since, they've tied to wriggle out from under that dubious distinction; but they can't. As Peter said to them in Acts 5:30, it was Jesus "whom ye slew and hanged on a tree."

2. True, they were not alone: but they were just as guilty as anybody else.

IV. BUT IN ADDITION TO ALL THE ALREADY NAMED GUILTY PARTIES IN THE DEATH OF JESUS, THERE IS SOMEONE ELSE WHO IS GUILTY. AND THAT SOMEBODY IS YOU AND ME:

A. Yes, I am guilty and you are guilty:

1. Every man and every woman, regardless of race, color, or estate in life, is guilty of the death of Jesus. As God sees it, neither of us would be more guilty if we'd been right there holding the hammer and driving the nails in person.

2. Romans 5:8 says, "Christ died for us". Because of you and because of me, he died. Were it not for sinners, he'd never have had to die, for it was sin that put him to the cross, and we are all sinners. "For all have sinned", Rom. 3:23. Christ not only died in our place, he died because of us.

3. l Pet. 2:21 says, "Christ also suffered for us", and I Pet. 2:24 says he "his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree." I Cor. 15:3 says, "Christ died for our sins"; and Gal. 1:4 says he "gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world."

4. Yes, when Jesus went to that cross, he went there because you are guilty and I am guilty of sins. Your guilt and my guilt is what made it necessary. If it hadn't been for you and for me, he'd never have had to do it. "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities .... the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all",  Isa. 53:5-6.

B. Not one of us can stand back and point a finger at the soldiers, Pilate, the Jews, or anyone else:

1. The blood of Jesus drips from the hand of every sinner, and we are all sinners.

2. As Paul put it in Rom. 3:19, in truth every mouth must stop and confess guilt, for all the world is guilty before God.

3. Dear friend, don't worry yourself about the guilt of Romans, Jews, or Pilate in the death of Jesus. It's your guilt that you must face. It is you who needs forgiveness.

"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"