Who Killed Jesus?
This past week, the House of Representatives did some good—it passed a bipartisan bill, defining Antisemitism, based on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of the world’s oldest hatred. Most of the legislators who opposed the bill came from the political left, objecting to the IHRA’s definition because it correctly equates the delegitimization of the state of Israel as inherently Antisemitic. On the other hand, two rightwing representatives, Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Green, opposed the IHRA definition because they claimed it was contrary to the Bible and the gospels, specifically objecting to the IHRA definition’s denial of collective Jewish responsibility for the death of Jesus. Gaetz tweeted that he would vote against the bill because “the Gospel itself would meet the definition of antisemitism under the terms of this bill!” He further contended that “The Bible is clear. There is no myth or controversy on this . . .” when referring to the Jewish people as collective Christ-killers. Taylor Green, the other representative tweeted that the bill “could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews.”
Are these congressional representatives correct? Does the New Testament actually teach the deicide charge, that all the Jewish people, for all time, are guilty of knowingly murdering the Lord Jesus, and therefore are guilty of murdering God? This charge has been the basis of nearly 2,000 years of Antisemitism and is glaringly false. What does the New Testament actually teach about human responsibility for the death of Jesus?
On a historical level there was a conspiracy of guilt. Just look at the words of the Lord Jesus in Mark 10:33:34: “Listen! We are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death. Then they will hand Him over to the Gentiles, and they will mock Him, spit on Him, flog Him, and kill Him, and He will rise after three days.” The early church understood this. An unnamed disciple in Acts 4:27 said, “For, in fact, in this city both Herod (a Jewish king) and Pontius Pilate (a Gentile, Roman governor), with the Gentiles (referring to Roman soldiers) and the peoples of Israel (the Sanhedrin and the crowd), assembled together (or conspired) against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed.” It wasn’t just Jewish people but some Jews and some Gentiles who together planned and carried out the death of the Lord Jesus.
On a theological level, there was a divine plan. Just continue reading in Acts 4:28. There the unnamed disciple states that the human conspiracy of guilt accomplished “whatever Your hand and Your plan had predestined to take place.” Messiah’s death didn’t take God by surprise—the Lord Jesus was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. That’s why, in John 10:18, He Himself said, “No one takes [my life] from Me, but I lay it down on My own.” If the Lord Jesus had been born as part of another people (not Jewish, but Italian, French, Native American or anyone), then that people would have participated in His death.
On a human level, we’re all guilty. The Lord Jesus died because all people are sinners. Isaiah wrote, “we all went astray like sheep, we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquity of us all” (Isa 53:6). Paul reminds us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That’s why Jesus died—for all of our sin; so in a sense, we are all guilty of His death.
Some people misunderstand Matt 27:25, when the crowd says “His blood be upon us and upon our children” as creating some eternal, perpetual guilt for the Jewish people alone. But just remember, in the same passage, Pilate washes his hands and says he will not accept any guilt for the death of Jesus. That did no good; he was still guilty of crucifying an innocent man. Just as Pilate could not exonerate himself, the crowd could not condemn their children. But in some mysterious way, when Jesus poured out His blood, it was for their children. It was for all of us. The first verse I ever learned reminds us that “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Agatha Christie was the queen of mystery. One of my favorites that she wrote was “Murder on the Orient Express.” Maybe you read it or saw the movie. Here’s a spoiler alert if you haven’t. As in all her mystery novels, a group of people seem to be guilty of a murder, this time on a train. At the end, Hercule Poirot, the detective investigating the murder, discovers that all the suspects conspired together; they were all guilty of the murder. When we discuss the death of the Lord Jesus, we need to remember His death was not caused by a uniquely Jewish sin. We’re all sinners and we’re all responsible; Let’s not blame the Jewish people but instead blame ourselves, because we’re all guilty. Let’s also remember that God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, and if we’ll believe in Him, we’ll be forgiven and have life forever.