Who Crucified Jesus?

WHO CRUCIFIED JESUS?

Three executives were being flow across Seattle in a helicopter. When without warning, a huge cloudbank descended. It was too high for the pilot to fly above it and too low for him to fly below it. So he carefully flew the helicopter through the dense mist.
As he tried to regain his bearings, he could see a tall building through the cloud. As he flew towards it, he spoke to his co-pilot. The co-pilot took out an old map and wrote something on the back of it. When the helicopter drew near the building the co-pilot held up the map. On which he had written: “Where are we?” The people in the building recognizing their distress quickly wrote on a large piece of paper and held it up and it read: “You are in a helicopter.”
The pilot picked up a manual. Punched some co-ordinates into the on-board computer and flew the executives to their destination. When they had landed, one of the executives turned to the pilot and asked: “How did you know where we were, from a sign that read: ‘You are in a helicopter.” Oh that was easy,” replied the pilot. “I just knew that had to be the Microsoft building. Because they gave me an answer that was technically correct and absolutely useless!”

When we look at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, one of the questions that have to be answered is: “who is most responsible for the death of Jesus on a cross?” This is a question, which has puzzled and intrigued sceptics and unbelievers alike.
It has produced many written works about the last days of Jesus trying to decide who was most responsible for putting Jesus on the cross. And that’s the very question we want to look at today: Who is most responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus?
I can give you the technically correct answer to that question. It was a nameless squad of Roman soldiers, commanded by a centurion, who crucified Jesus. The details are sketchy.
We don’t know their names. Scripture gives no indication of their feelings as they carried out the death sentence on Jesus. They did what they were trained to do, execute criminals. Crucifixion was a horrible and gruesome act but the Bible doesn’t go into that.

It just tells us that they took Jesus out and crucified him. An anonymous squad of Roman soldiers, hammered in the nails, raised him on a cross, and stuck a spear in his side. All of which resulted in his death. But if that’s the only answer you will settle for, you haven’t looked deep enough.
We need to look at the crucifixion like an old paint covered chair. We need to strip away the layers and reach a conclusion on: “Who really crucified Jesus Christ?” We want to begin by stripping away the top three layers. These three layers are three men whom scripture holds particularly culpable for the death of Jesus.
The first one is one of His own disciples, Judas. The first question, which is always raised about Judas, is: “How can Judas be held responsible, if his betrayal of Jesus was predicted?”

Yes his betrayal was predicted, but doesn’t mean he wasn’t a free agent, anymore than the Old Testament prophecies of Jesus death would mean that he did not die voluntarily. There are numerous Old Testament prophecies about the death of Jesus and yet scripture says quite clearly “his death was his choice”.
Well, in the same way Judas’ choice was exactly the same. It was his choice to turn Jesus over to the authorities and it was a choice that crucified Jesus. Have you ever wondered what Judas’ motive was to betray Jesus?
Again this is one of the questions of history that has been the subject of many books and much speculation. However, when you turn to scripture you will find that the answer to: “Why did Judas betray Jesus?” Is as simple as it was sinful.

We begin in John 12. Which as you remember,
is the story of Jesus being anointed by Mary with a bottle of very expensive perfume. Judas protests the money could have been used to help the poor.
But John goes on to say in John 12:6 “Not that he cared for the poor, but he was in charge of the disciples' funds and often dipped into them for his own use”! Judas was stealing from the pooled money.
So, the first point we note as to who crucified Jesus, we can say, Judas’ greed put Jesus on the cross. His greed crucified Jesus. And there is more evidence from scripture to support this. After Jesus was anointed by the perfume, Matthew records that Judas left the room, went to the chief priests and he said to them in Matthew 26:15 “How much will you pay me to get Jesus into your hands?'' And they gave him thirty silver coins.”
And do you know what? Judas was not a unique person. He’s only one of many people, who have sold out Jesus. Judas is simply a powerful illustration of a principle taught by Jesus when he said in Mark 8:36 “And how does a man benefit if he gains the whole world and loses his soul in the process?”
“You cannot serve God and money”. You will ultimately make a choice and Judas did. And his greed crucified Jesus. Judas is a tragic example of what happens when people go all out for materialism and in the process they lose their souls.
Judas made a poor choice. What about you?
Now we scrape away the second layer of paint. Underneath this layer we find the leaders of the Jews and in particular,
Caiaphas, the High Priest. He’s the one that clearly exhibits their collective motives. He’s the one who orchestrated the worst miscarriage of justice in legal history.

Lawyers who have studied the legal system of the Jewish people of that time are quite clear that, in his eagerness to get rid of Jesus, Caiaphas broke the law. And he broke it many times over. He shouldn’t have allowed the trial to go ahead at night.
He shouldn’t have allowed a criminal case to proceed during the Passover season.
He didn’t have two witnesses examined separately before the trial. And he certainly didn’t have all the evidence for the court, prior to the start of the trial.

What happened that would cause these men to conduct an unfair and crooked trial? Scripture has the answer. Matthew records that the Chief Priests and Jewish leaders were trying to find a way to get the Romans to pass the death sentence on Jesus. So they pack Jesus off, in chains, to Pilate but Pilate wasn’t conned by their claims that they cared about the future of the Roman Empire. He knew their real motive. Matthew says in chapter 27:18 “For he knew very well that the Jewish leaders had arrested Jesus out of envy because of his popularity with the people”.

Pilate knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him. It was nothing more than sheer jealousy that motivated them. The envy of Caiaphas crucified Jesus. He and the other officials viewed Jesus as a threat to their position and to their prejudices. The first thing he thought was: “he’s a threat and I have to get rid of him”. And that that’s exactly what Caiaphas and his crooked cronies did. They convicted Jesus, not because he was a sinner, but because they were. Greed and envy handed over the Son of God. It did then and it still does.

Let’s look at what’s under another coat of paint. As we strip it away, one name appears. One person whose finger prints are all over the cross and that’s the Governor Pilate. It seems that Pilate was a man who valued justice and we reach that conclusion by the very fact that three different times, he publicly declared that Jesus was innocent. It’s recorded in Luke 23:22 “Once more, for the third time, he demanded,” Why? What crime has he committed? I have found no reason to sentence him to death.''
Pilate tried to avoid sentencing Jesus to death but Pilate’s downfall was that he was also a ideal politician. He knew that releasing Jesus would not please the crowd. So he tried to please the mob with a series of four cowardly compromises.

First, he packed Jesus off to Herod, claiming that Galilee was Herod’s responsibility. However, Herod sent Jesus back.

Secondly, he decided to compare Jesus with a gangster. Believing that the mob wouldn’t want a violent thug released to them. It didn’t work. The mob chose Barabbus.

Then thirdly, he decides he’ll have Jesus flogged within an inch of his death and that’ll come close to the real thing and satisfy the mob. Pilate should have known better. You don’t satisfy a pack of wolves by giving them a taste of blood.

And finally, he had a bowl of water brought to him and washing his hands, he tells the mob in Matthew 27:24 “I am innocent of the blood of this good man. The responsibility is yours!” And they said: “Fine, the responsibility is ours.” Every attempt he was trying to make to avoid sentencing Jesus failed.

And then the Jewish leaders said something that sealed it.
John 19:12 “Then Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders told him, if you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar's.”

From that point forward, Pilate drops all this business about Jesus being innocent. Pilate’s fear crucified Jesus. Pilate was afraid. Afraid that word would get back to Caesar that he was not loyal governor. Afraid that word would get to his peers that he was a weak governor. Afraid, the people would become restless and revolt against him.

Yes, Pilate wanted justice, but fear played a higher motivation in Pilate’s life than justice. And that’s the lesson we must all learn from Pilate.
People must decide what their ultimate fear is going to be. That’s something Jesus said in Matthew 10:28 “Don't be afraid of those who can kill only your bodies--but can't touch your souls! Fear only God who can destroy both soul and body in hell”. You see Pilate decided that his ultimate fear was what every politician fears: falling out with the people.
in Mark 15:15 “Then Pilate, afraid of a riot and anxious to please the people, released Barabbus to them. And he ordered Jesus flogged with a leaded whip, and handed him over to be crucified.”

That was Pilate’s fear, what’s yours?

You see greed put Jesus on the cross;
envy held the nails
and fear hammered them in.

But the scriptures don’t stop there. We’ve looked around the cross and identified the guilty. Now we must look above the cross and see who else was responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus.

Yes, men were guilty of the most heinous crime ever committed. But somehow in some mysterious way, even though their evil immorality was responsible for crucifying Jesus, God was also at work. The cross plan existed before Moses, Jacob, Isaac and Abraham. In fact the cross plan is older than this world.

God foretold the death of Jesus. Acts 3:18 “But God was fulfilling the prophecies that the Messiah must suffer all these things.”

Jesus himself said the same thing in Mark 14:21 “I will die, just as it is written about me”. And three of the sayings of Jesus on the cross are direct quotes from the Old Testament. It was God’s plan. Yes, the cross exposes human wickedness at its worse but it was also the revelation of how God was going to overcome human evil.

And so we can say that God was also responsible for putting Christ on the cross. And you’ll find that in scripture too.
Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.”

Scripture says that Judas put Jesus on the cross.
Scripture says that Caiaphas put Jesus on the cross.
Scripture says that Pilate put Jesus on the cross.
And it also says that God put Him on the cross.

The cross was God’s ‘Plan A’ from the beginning.
Jesus knew that before he came.
That’s what the struggle in Gethsemane was all about.
He was praying so hard, he began to sweat blood.

Before the crucifixion, as Jesus Christ prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciple and physician Luke noted in 22:44
“For he was in such agony of spirit that he broke into a sweat of blood, with great drops falling to the ground as he prayed more and more earnestly.”

What was the source of Jesus’ great stress and anguish?
Clearly he was in intense spiritual agony.
He has to make a decision.
The same decision that Adam had to make.
And the same decision that you and I have to make.
Will I do what I want? Or will I do what God wants?

God asked such a small thing of Adam. He put him in a beautiful paradise; told him to have anything he wanted, but just don’t touch that one tree. That’s all he asked of Adam.

But what did he ask of Jesus? He asked him to go and hang on a tree. That’s what Jesus was wrestling with and when he left Gethsemane, we know what his decision was because he didn’t back down. Do you know why? Jesus died before he was killed.

He died to self. He died to personal ambition. He died to personal desire. He didn’t walk to the cross like a victim. He marched to the cross as a man who had fully embraced the will of his Father. John 10:17-18 “The Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may have it back again. No one can kill me without my consent--I lay down my life voluntarily. For I have the right and power to lay it down when I want to and also the right and power to take it again. For the Father has given me this right.''

Jesus had to make that decision. His Father loved the lost children of the world and their only hope, was a perfect substitute, to take the penalty that they themselves deserved. Jesus loved his Father and he knew what his Father wanted.

So, we acknowledge that Jesus’ love put him on the cross. He chose the cross because he loved his Father so much and he chose the cross because he loved us so much.

John 15:13 says “And here is how to measure it--the greatest love is shown when a person lays down his life for his friends”

And Galatians 2:20 says “And the real life I now have within this body is a result of my trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”. Does anyone want to guess what “gave himself for me” really means? Jesus put himself on the cross.

Yes, Judas, Caiaphas and Pilate put Jesus on the cross but in a mystery almost too complex for us to comprehend, the Bible says that God put him on the cross and it even says that Jesus put himself on the cross.

Jesus loved us and he put himself on the cross for us.
SO, it finally hits us that the very best answer as to “Who crucified Christ” is: our sins crucified him.

And like Pilate we want to say: “I am innocent of the man’s blood. I didn’t have anything to do with the cross.” Well, Pilate can protest all he wants, but scripture knows better.

WE can’t wash our hands of the cross.
Remember the song: “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” Yes, I was there and so were you. Not just as a spectator either, but as a participant!

We will never understand the cross as something done for us, until we see it as something done by us.

In his painting titled the “Elevation of Christ”, Rembrandt depicts the cross being raised by men full of spite, malice and hate.
But, down in the left-hand corner in the dark shadows you can make out the face of Rembrandt himself. You see Rembrandt understood that in a very real way, he was there too ... and his sins were as much responsible for the cross as the men who were there that day.

Our fingerprints are all over the cross and the day that hits our hearts, is the day when we’ll get serious about discipleship! After the first gospel sermon, Peter finished by saying to the people that “they had crucified Jesus”.

They already knew that in their heads, but that day, it says they were pricked in their hearts.
Acts 2:37 “Hearing this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "What are we to do, brothers?"

You will never own your cross, until you own up to His.
Jesus has a cross for everybody.
You and I will not truly carry our crosses until we are broken by the truth that our sins sent Jesus to his.
And until that happens, the cross will be just a story we read and not the center of who we are. Jesus handed over his life for you. Have you handed your life over to him?

Sermon Contributor Michael Glover