Matthew 27:24-26
So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” Then the people as a whole answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” So he released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.
I find these verses among the most difficult to read in Scripture. We have already tried to understand the situation of Matthew and his community and in this way put into historical context his tendency to skew the narrative to favor Pilate and the Romans and place the responsibility for Jesus’ death on the Jewish people and their religious leaders. And in these verses we have reached the extreme end of this endeavor.
Pilate, exhausted by his efforts to release the innocent Jesus, is intimidated by the crowd stirred up by the chief priests and elders and so relents. But not before declaring his own innocence in what is about to happen by washing his hands of this affair and turning matters over to the mob. And what comes next is even worse, for in response to Pilate absolving himself of responsibility, the crowd unanimously offers their consent, shouting in one voice, “His blood be on us and our children!”
Such a line probably meant little in Matthew’s time. Absent any other gospel account of such words, we don’t know Matthew’s source, if he had one, or even whether it helped him in his cause to persuade his own (largely Jewish) community of believers to keep steadfast in their Christian faith. We do know, however, that it has been used through the centuries to justify anti-Semitism. From the Middle Ages through Nazi Germany, at least, the label of “Christ-killer” has been applied to the descendants of Abraham and used to cover a multitude of horrific acts being perpetrated against them.
This is why I find these verses so difficult. Were it not for the evangelists, Matthew most definitely included, we would not have this narrative of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus that tells of God’s extreme and unending love for all people. And yet amid this grand and beautiful story there is a scene like this one that probably makes the God Jesus reveals cringe.
But maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised. Faith and faithlessness. Beauty and ugliness. Grace and sin. These are all part and parcel of the human condition. And so while God rejoices in what is good and right in our lives and the world, God also grieves over what is wrong and how we hurt each other, at times unwittingly. And that is most likely the case here. Matthew seeks to witness to the import of Jesus’ death, a death he believes reveals God’s unrelenting love and forgiveness for all and changes the world. Yet even as he crafts a story that seeks to persuade his hearers of the validity of the message they have received, I believe that he never even for a moment intended his characterization to do such harm.
So all we can do, I think, is both give thanks for his witness and repent of the damage part of it has done. Actually, we can do more than that. We can stand with any and all who are persecuted for their beliefs, whether they agree with ours or not. We can defend the weak and vulnerable even and especially when it puts us at risk. And we can offer our care and protection for all those who are oppressed for whatever reason. Because these people – the persecuted, the weak, the vulnerable, the oppressed, and all those in need – are precisely those for whom Jesus came to live, die, and rise again in grace, mercy, and love.
Prayer: Dear God, forgive us when we have hurt or neglected others because they are different from us, and use us to care for all those in need. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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