Matthew 27:1-31; Mark 15:1-20; Luke 23:1-25; John 18:28-19:16: Today we read some of the saddest pages in the Bible. Jesus is being tried by Pilate and beaten. I am sure the shouts of hosanna that rang out as Jesus descended the Mount of Olives is now a distant memory. The arrest came with a betrayers kiss and now the crowds are more like rioters as they shout “CRUCIFY HIM!” When Pilate tried to help them see that Jesus had done nothing to be killed for they hollered all the more. “Crucify” and then we find this verse as Pilate washes his hands of the situation.
Matthew 27:25And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” 26Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.
The people could not have understood all they were saying when they said His blood be on us and on our children. Indeed they were the ones right then and there calling for His death, but that precious blood of Jesus was the one and only thing that could wash them white as snow for their sins. In their tradition there was a day they celebrated called the Day of Atonement. On that day the sin of the people was paid for by the death of an animal. The priest would prepare one goat to be sacrificed on the altar, but a second goat, a “scapegoat” was used by the priest to place his hands on the top of the goats head and symbolically place the sins of the people on him. A scarlet woolen cord would be tied to his horns and one was tied to the opening of the temple court. The goat was then taken out to the wilderness to a precipice and thrown down to its death. As the goat rolled down the embankment he was battered and bruised until it eventually resulted in his death. Then according to Jewish tradition the cord on the horns of the animal and the one at the temple miraculously turned from crimson to white signifying the forgiveness of sin. This practice stopped after the death of Jesus because the chords no longer changed colors. That is because the death of Jesus Christ, the Messiah paid our sin debt forever. His broken body and blood shed for us cleansed us and made us white as snow. Glory to the Lamb! Glory to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is worthy. His blood be on us and our children.