Passing Responsibility
Matthew 27:11–26
I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves. Matthew 27:24

Pilate was trapped by his own scheming. He had miscalculated. But his stubborn character still came through. He was caught, but he did not want to be defeated by the Jews’ religious rulers whom he obviously despised. “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” he demanded.

“Let him be crucified,” they answered.

“Why? What evil has he done?” asked Pilate. He understood very well that Jesus had done nothing at all to merit punishment, certainly not crucifixion.

They had no answer. There was none. All they could do was cry louder, “Let him be crucified! Let him be crucified!”

Matthew indicates that the situation was getting out of hand, that “a riot was beginning” (v. 24). The leaders were stirring it up, of course. It was part of their plan. It was the thing Pilate had to avoid at all costs. But the leaders were doing something else too, according to John’s version of the story. They were badgering Pilate with the threat of an unfavorable report of his conduct to Caesar. “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar,” they said (John 19:12). That tipped the scales, of course, for although Pilate may actually have feared Jesus a bit—perhaps Jesus was a kind of god (the ancients believed in such things) and might actually do him harm— and although Pilate feared the hatred of the religious leaders and the fickleness of the crowds even more, Pilate feared the emperor most of all and dared not risk his disfavor. So at last he called for water and washed his hands before the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “See to it yourselves.”

How ironic! Innocent? That is precisely what Pilate was not. All the water in the world could not wash the guilt of Jesus Christ’s blood from his hands, as countless generations since have realized. There was another great irony too. When Pilate told the Jews, “It’s your responsibility,” he was saying precisely what they had said to Judas earlier: “What is that to us? . . . See to it yourself ” (Matt. 27:4). They had not escaped their guilt by passing it off on Judas, and neither could Pilate escape his guilt by passing it off on them. They were all guilty. And so are we! Though we cannot wash away the stains of Christ’s blood by any acts of our own or by ceremonial washings, by the blood of Christ we can indeed be cleansed. His death takes away our sins. “What can wash away my sin?” It is a searching question to which there is only one answer: “Nothing but the blood of Jesus!”

Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865

Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.