When I was a child, I remembering hearing the well-known nursery rhyme: “Who killed cock Robin? I, said the Sparrow, with my bow and arrow, I killed Cock Robin. Who saw him die? I, said the Fly, with my little teeny eye, I saw him die.” Even though the subject matter of the poem is pretty solemn, it actually ends on a reasonably happy note: “All the birds of the air fell a-sighing and a-sobbing, when they heard the bell toll for poor Cock Robin”. There is also an alternative ending, in which the sparrow who killed Cock Robin is hanged for his crime!

In this article I’m going to ask an infinitely more important question: “Who killed Jesus Christ”? “Who put Him to death?” Two thousand years ago the Son of God was crucified outside a city wall in Jerusalem between two thieves, and it’s no exaggeration to say that His death is the most important event that has ever taken place in the history of the world. That’s because our salvation depends entirely upon it, for “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we may be saved” (Acts 4:12). But who put Him to death? That question is perhaps not as straightforward as it might appear. I was reminded of this when I heard a debate between a Jewish believer and a Muslim at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park some years ago. The Jew had just said that the Romans killed Jesus, but the Muslim retorted with the accusation that the Jews had killed Him, quoting Matthew 27:25: “His blood be upon us and on our children.” The Jew was stuck for words. Here are eight possible answers.

1) Pilate played a part

 

See Acts 4:27 and Matthew 27:26. He was of course the Roman Governor in charge of Christ’s civil trial. In those days Israel was subject to Roman rule and the Jews had no authority to put anyone to death without permission from the Roman authorities, therefore it was Pilate who handed Christ over to the Jews for crucifixion. However, he didn’t do it without a considerable struggle in his conscience. He was caught in the horns of a dilemma. He knew only too well that Christ was innocent: “I am innocent of the blood of this just person” (Matthew 27:24), but he also wanted to please the people, so he tried at least four times to avoid having to make a decision about Christ.

Firstly, he tried to avoid having anything at all to do with Him (John 18:31). Secondly, he endeavoured to pass the buck by sending him to Herod (Luke 23:7). Thirdly, he hoped he could have it both ways, by chastising Christ and letting him go (Luke 23:16). Fourthly, ever the pragmatist, he tried to do the right thing using the wrong methods, by releasing a prisoner at the feast (Matthew 27:15). Even then He still attempted to salve his conscience with double-talk: “I am innocent of the blood of this just person” (Matthew 27:24). Lastly, after washing his hands of the matter, as he saw it, he handed Christ over with the words, “see you to it”. However, it takes more than water to wash away innocent blood and the well-known Apostle’s Creed acknowledges the part Pilate played in Christ’s death: “suffered under Pontius Pilate”. Sadly, he failed that test of all tests, “what think you of Christ”?

2) Judas played a part

 

His name will forever be associated with the betrayal of our Lord: “Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve” betrayed Him (Mark 14:10). In Luke’s account of the matter the author wasn’t the least bit embarrassed to emphasize that strange interplay between divine sovereignty and human responsibility which is so often the subject of controversy. Luke 22:22 reads, “And truly the Son of Man goes, as it was determined” (divine sovereignty), “but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed” (human responsibility). Charles Simeon put it well when he said: “The truth is not in the middle, nor in one extreme, but at both extremes”.

The particular sin for which God will hold Judas responsible is covetousness. They say that “everybody has his price” (not true incidentally), although Judas certainly had his, thirty pieces of silver, the price of a common slave (Matthew 26:15). We all need to be aware of stumbling in this same area. “Beware of covetousness” (Luke 12:15), “which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5).  We can’t take it with us because there are no pockets in a shroud!

3) The religious leaders played a part

Our Lord was not only charged before a civil tribunal, he also faced a religious tribunal, overseen by Caiaphas. In fact, their guilt was greater than Pilate’s guilt (John 19:11). These leaders really ought to have known better because they were the so-called religious experts who claimed to be the guardians of orthodoxy, but they didn’t recognize the Messiah of whom the scriptures spoke: “He came unto his own and his own did not receive him” (John 1:11). There are none so wicked as religious folk who oppose the truth! It was almost inevitable that they would end up killing Him because the two parties had been on a collision course from the beginning.

When our Lord threw them out of the temple for making his Father’s house a den of thieves that was a truly “egg on face” moment (John 2:13-17). Add to that the fact that Christ “spoke with authority and not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:29). He also swept aside all their traditions at a stroke and brought them back to the true meaning of the law: “you have heard it has been said, but I say unto you” (Matthew 5 17). It’s not nice being humbled in an area where you are supposed to be an authority! Even when they tried to trap him their efforts misfired big time when He astounded them with His wisdom, particularly in the rendering unto Caesar incident (Matthew 22:15-22). Nor did Christ mince his words when he exposed their hypocrisy by describing them as “white washed sepulchres” (Matthew 23).

The matter came to a head when He raised Lazarus from the dead. That stupendous miracle in particular became the last straw for these religious leaders. They couldn’t argue with our Lord’s credentials and fearing that the whole world would go after Him, they purposed to put Lazarus in the grave for a second time, as well as getting rid of Christ too (John 12:10). They were now convinced that He was the greatest threat to their existence and Judas presented them with the opportunity they desired. Pilate was a shrewd judge of character: “For he knew that for envy they had delivered him” (Matthew 27:18). Christ threatens our religiosity, undermines our authority, diminishes our self-esteem and condemns our apparent goodness!

 

4) The Jews played a part

 

Acts 2:22-24 emphasizes this point: “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know. Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death”.  Some Jews did follow Christ sincerely (the eleven disciples and the womenfolk are an obvious case in point), while others followed Him for a time (John 6:66), but sadly, for the most part the nation appear to have rejected Him. One of their reasons for doing so was the fact that Christ didn’t fit their preconceived notions about Messiahship. It seems that they wanted someone who would deliver them from political bondage and push the Romans into the sea, as their attempt to make Him king in John 6 implies. Christ resisted that approach right to the end, and even reinforced it in His defence before Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:26).

A week before our Lord’s death the multitudes hailed Him again as He entered the city on Palm Sunday on the foal of a donkey (not a warhorse). The fact that Christ accepted their adulation proves that he was claiming kingship of a very different sort from that which commonly prevailed. After that the atmosphere changed and even while He was hanging on the tree the general populace taunted Him about His kingly claims (Matthew 27:42). But worse was to follow, because the imprecation of ALL the people, “his blood be upon us and upon our children” (Matthew 27:25) are among the saddest words to ever proceed from human lips. However, even that cry does not put them beyond the pale for ever as a close reading of Romans 11 teaches.

5) Satan played a part

 

Our Lord made this plain in Luke 22v53 when He said “this is your hour and power of darkness”. The first gospel promise also reminds us of the part that this malevolent foe played. In Genesis 3:15 our Lord pronounced judgment upon a silent serpent with these words: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed: He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel”. We only really understand Calvary when we appreciate that it was there that Satan pierced Christ’s heel, but at the expense of a crushed head! There’s a big difference between having your ankle sprained while playing football and someone smashing your head in with a hammer! That’s God’s summary of Calvary!

There is no doubt that Satan so hated Christ that he wanted to put Him to death, in fact he entered Judas with that in mind (Luke 22:3). We can also be certain that the activity of the religious leaders originated in hell, because our Lord described them as “of your father the devil” (John 8;44).  Sometimes I wonder what lay behind the cry of the crowd to come down from the cross (Mark 15:30). Could it be that Satan was trying to avoid having his head crushed? I wouldn’t die for that sentiment, but one thing is sure – through His death Christ overturned all the havoc that Satan wrought in the garden when he deceived our first parents. As a result, heaven will be full, even though Satan hoped that by putting Christ to death it would remain empty (Colossians 2:15).

 

6) The Father played a part

 

All these things fell out according to God’s eternal purpose (Acts 2v23).  Amazingly, behind this catastrophe of human sinfulness, something else quite wonderful was happening. God had planned to use this event to save sinners. Christ was simultaneously, primarily in fact, standing at the bar of divine justice as our substitute. God in love had appointed Him to be the Sin-bearer, the One who would soak up the wrath our sins deserve, so that “all who believe on Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Therefore, we must keep in mind the different levels of activity here. On a human level the cross was an event of abject wickedness, but from the divine perspective we have an insight into the Father’s love for sinners. God so desired to fill heaven with people that he put His Son through all this because Christ is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). Other texts such Isaiah 53:10, Romans 8:32 and 1 John 4:10 all reinforce this grand truth of the Father’s love. Obviously, this aspect of spiritual truth is far more important than anything I’ve mentioned so far and Octavius Winslow summarized the matter beautifully when he said: “Who delivered up Jesus to die”? Not Judas for money; not Pilate for fear; not the Jews for envy but the Father for love”.

             

7) Jesus played a part

Looking at the death of Christ from one angle it would be easy to conclude that our Lord was a helpless victim, entirely passive in His death. Indeed, some texts would appear to suggest just that (Isaiah 53;10 and 2 Corinthians 13;4). Superficially, it would seem that Christ’s death was just like our death, something that happened to Him which He couldn’t prevent. However, that would be an entirely false and misleading way to understand Calvary. When we die our life is taken from us, we can’t do anything about it, but it was not so with our Lord. He was gloriously active in everything He did and even in the depth of his sufferings He was the Sovereign Lord, controlling everything. Nowhere did Christ state this more plainly than in John 10:18: “No one takes it from Me but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father”. We seriously underestimate our Lord’s glory if we limit His activity to mere passivity, because He poured out His soul unto death (Isaiah 53:12) and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2:20). Hugh Martin waxed eloquently on this matter as follows: “His action outlasted and outlived them all, He did not die subdued and overborne into dying, He did not die till He gave Himself in death. Christ is the power of God…. There is more agency and power in Christ’s cross, than in all his work as Creator of the universe”.  Then he summarized the matter in these beautiful words: “His dying was His grandest doing”.

8) We played a part

Had we lived in Palestine in Christ’s day we may well have avoided the occasion because crucifixion is not a very pleasant matter. That’s understandable.  However, the bible does make it plain that we have all crucified Christ in a sense. But for our sin He would never have had to undergo that terrible ordeal: “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). It’s also true that those who oppose this central truth are of the same spirit as those who put Him on the tree, seeing they “crucify the Son of God afresh and put him to open shame” (Hebrews 6:4-6). Horatius Bonar expressed the matter poetically when he said, “Twas I that shed the sacred blood: I nailed him to the tree: I crucified the Christ of God: I joined the mockery”. It is right here that “the rubber meets the road”. Friends, “What think you of Christ?” is the test to try both your state and your scheme. You cannot be right in the rest unless you think rightly of Him. I trust you can say from the heart “Hallelujah, what a Saviour”!

Jeff Ballantine