Culpability of the Jews for Christ's Death

I. Biblical Views

II. The Blaming of the Jews

III. Gospel Admonitions regarding the Jews.

While historical views of jewish culpability in the death of Jesus may be discussed, essentially historical views emanate from biblical understandings and misunderstandings. Biblical understandings are fraught with difficulty: difficult passages mentioning the Jews as persecutors or the ruling elite are confusing at first sight: the same passages are written by Jewish authors to Jewish followers and non-followers.

Biblical distortions of the culpabilty of the Jews are distortions of the actual events and words of the gospels and epistles or a distortion of the persona involved, or subsequent distortions for political, historical, socio-economical or religious agendas/motivations almost all of which ivolved or led to anti-semitism.; particularly justifying sactions both civil and religious, segregations and violence. Making the Jews scapegoats for the death of a beloved Savior created a vehicle for harming without conscience. In order to understand correct and incorrect views we first need to attend to the historicity of the actual events, a telling of the events difficult passages and the abuse of those passages.

In discussing the actual Death of Jesus, the culpability should be established. Without thinking, many Christians espouse the view that the Jews killed Jesus and therefore rightly deserved what they got throughout the rest of history. It is most certainly an incorrect and unscriptural view, and often relies on implicit anti-Semitism and the selection of 2 0r 3 passages out of context in the New Testament. The Events of Jesus' Death are detailed in scripture, including his prophecies of his own death. The night before, he eats a Seder dinner with the 12 Jewish disciples, declaring that one, whom he does not name but directs towards, will betray Him, even to death. Judas leaves the dinner to do exactly that, pointing to the first two motives in the death: not nationality or racism, but money, and zealotry without wisdom. Betraying Christ to the priests, he is offered 30 pieces of Silver, which in the Torah, is the price of a slave or bondservant. {this is also prophesied in (Zechariah 11:11-12;) He casts the money aside; it is used to buy a 'potter's field' or burial ground for the poor, and he hangs himself in the anguish of the betrayal of a friend and savior. In history ever since, the true Christ of the Gospel has likewise been betrayed by merchandising and a zeal for God, without knowledge.

The betrayal to death, then came actually from one of his followers.

Culpability though can come both from those that direct the death, cause the death to happen or actually perform the murder.

It is sad to say and barely noted, and if so, usually noted last, that the very closest to Jesus, also betrayed Him, though they were certain they never would. They had seen earth-shaking phenomena: healing with a touch of the hand, the eyes of the blind opened, the ears of the deaf, and storms that calmed with three words. They were sure that if HIs betrayal came, it would not be by them. But at the time of greatest need, His closest and most loved followers, even among the 12 deserted Him. Judas departed at the Seder dinner; Peter,James and John and the rest fell asleep when he most deperately needed their prayers, Peter denied Him 3 times as predicted, denying he even ever knew Him. No one came forward at His trial: they feared for their own lives. If only 3 had come forward He would have been freed, as with established testimony. Before Pilate, none came forward; on the Gabbatha or pavement the day when He could have been freed, none cried to free Him; at the cross, it was 3 women who attended His suffering, but only John, to whom He commended Mary is reported there. They all hid from the Romans in fear, and not without cause though ignoble, because the Romans of the day were much akin to the Nazi Soldiers of the Third Reich. With the divine departed, they had no strength of their own, and thus, betrayed the One they swore they never would. They also were culpable.

The Culpability of the High Priest, Caiaphas, his father-in-law Annas, and the Sanhedrin, or Jewish 'legislature' was easier seen: they openly declared Him a heretic, a psychotic, a blasphemer, anything they could to look away. The power they had each witnessed left them without explanation: it was an unearthly power, and the divine nature in front of the greatest of human and federal power left them bewildered. The fact that they tried constantly to kill Him and negate Him showed they were afraid of something, most likely the overthrow of man by God, when man comes to understand that God is real: omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. They were not more clever, so in the end brute force, purchasing His death (the Grand Merchandising) and the demand to seal the tomb and guard it showed they were more than nervous over just what He was. They demanded an answer: He declared he was a King, but not of this World. He declared Himself the Son of God, and when he did that, the High Priest tore his garments, leaving only the divine High Priest in a seamless, and required robe. Their culpability is sure, but they were not in the true line of Levites, they were a purchased priesthood, and literally betrayed the Word and almost destroyed the Temple and Judaism in the process. Their allegiance comes in the statement "We have no King but Caesar"; an odd declaration for men of God. They were also the ones who harrassed a beleagured Pontius Pilate to kill Jesus despite Pilate's finding of 'not guilty'. Yet even in their culpability, they were fulfilling a greater mission in the offering of the Lamb of God, which could only take place in that office.

Caesar & Herod have indirect and direct culpability. Caesar at the time had been through turmoil in a new attempted coup involving Sejanus, a member of the elite guard, who was uncovered in an assasination plot. He and his family were killed and mutilated as were many who were his friends and political allies. Pilate was one, and was demoted to the outpost of desert Jerusalem, lucky to be alive. Caesar ordered all sedition put down among the Jews. Pilate, a ruthless, brutal man, carried that out. Herod also was brutal and ruthless, rivaling a lesser Hitler: at one point he had 70 young Jewish Zealots burned alive en masse for the great crime of pulling the Roman Eagle off the Temple.Either could have merely judged righteously, and Christ would have been released from trial and crucifixion. They did not however, not directly sentence Jesus to death. Herod wanted to see 'miracles' because he had heard of 'kristos' and Caesar was far removed. Only one report later indicated that Rome may have known much at the time when an emissary sent back a description of the 'uprising' and the man, Christ, although some have argued the authenticity of the document.

Pontius Pilate, many hold responsible for the death of Christ, but he actually refused sentence, washing his hands of the verdict and allowing the raging crowd to pass judgment. Whether it was his wife who influenced him, having been warned in a dream to have nothing to do with "this Man"(Matt 27:9), or whether it was the overwhelming 'dunamos' presence of Christ which so disengaged the brutal governor, who had already sent multitudes to their deaths. Pilate's greatest concern was whether Christ was claiming to be a threat to Rome: he was charged with sedition, and tax evasion.

We found this [fellow] perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.

Pilate wanted to get to the bottom of whether Christ was claiming to be a King of the Jews.

On the Gabbatha, or platform/courtyard that day, stood not only the Jews and their priests but those from at least 16 other nations or areas. These were the merchants of other locales who came to do business on the passover. Some were god-fearers, or converts to Judaism, but most were visitors, tourists or merchants hoping to make money off the holidays. The reason this is mentioned is because so many place the Jews only on the Gabbatha that day: the Jews, as a nation of priests, unknown even to them at the time cried for the death of the Lamb, but the scriptures read:

While in passages in Matthew it specifically mentions the Jews on the pavement, it uniquely mentions in two places that when asked what Pilate should do with the one called "king of the Jews", the response is "we have no King but Caesar". No Jew who is a Jew of the Torah would cry that: these leaders may have been of the nation of Israel, but in essence they were crying out such compromise as to deny the faith. So in the heat of stirring up a crowd, the Pavement was filled with believing Jews, secularized or unbelieving Jews, leaders who had sold out the nation and the temple for money and position (probably some He had driven out of the Temple) and the gentiles, Roman and otherwise. "They", or "the crowd" does not make clear distinctions except for in Matthew. A note often missed is that immediately following, one of the bystanders is Simon of Cyrene who is asked to bear His Cross: Cyrene was in Northern Africa, again indicating the presence of Romans, Jews, Compromised Jews and merchants/visitors from the surrounds. Only the Jews as a nation of priests could offer the Lamb for Sacrifice, the blood sacrifice for Sin, but all cried for His death in bloodthirsty culpability.

Ultimately, the ones who actually drove in the nails, were Roman Soldiers, it was Rome who chose the death of a slave, the death of a rebel, and the death of a treasoner for Jesus who had done nothing more than taught and showed the Kingdom of God. For Rome it was a matter of sedition: defying the ultimate authority of Rome. Paradoxically, though, Rome had washed its hands of the verdict, declaring no fault in the Lamb, a necessary requisite for a Passover Lamb, so indeed Rome bore the burden and bloodguiltiness of torturing and innocent, killing an innocent, and the true burden of 'deicide'. Oddly, though throughout history, it is not the Romans who in general are called 'christ-killers' but the Jews: they walked away as the Azazels sent wandering through centuries bearing the sin of the death of Christ which all had called for.