Bible Question: "Did the Jews kill Jesus, or the Romans?"

Bible Answer: The short answer is, "The Romans did it."

But you have to understand a bit of Bible history to get the full story.

At the time of Jesus, the land of Israel was under Roman occupation, conquered by Rome with a Roman governor, Pilate, in control, who put a Jewish "puppet" king in place, King Herod.

When the Jewish Temple authorities -- the religious rulers called the Sanhedrin -- arrested Jesus, they tried Him and found Him guilty of blasphemy for claiming to be the Messiah, the long-awaited Son of God prophesied by Old Testament prophets.

They never considered the possibility He was the Messiah.

T he penalty for blasphemy under Jewish law was death by stoning, but the Jews were forbidden to carry out capital punishment, and had to turn Jesus over to the Romans for his death, in this case, to Pilate.

Pilate questioned Jesus and found no fault in Him, Luke 23:4 says, then passed the buck by sending Him to Herod in 23:7.

But Herod passed the buck right back to Pilate in Luke 23:8-11, so Pilate brought Jesus before the Jewish rulers once again.

In Luke 23:14-16, Pilate tells the Jews that neither he nor Herod found any reason to accuse Jesus worthy of death, and offered to beat Him and then release Him as token punishment.

But the Jews still refused, demanding the death of Jesus.

Pilate then grasped at a final straw. He reminded the Jews that it was the custom to release a condemned prisoner during Passover, the Jewish holy season, which was about to begin. He suggested releasing Jesus, but instead the Jews demanded that Pilate instead release Barabbas, who was a condemned criminal.

Perhaps the final straw that swayed Pilate is in John 19:12. "From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, 'You are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.'"

Upon hearing that -- perhaps fearing the Jews had influence with Caesar that would cost him his governorship -- Pilate presented Jesus to them once again in John 19:14.

"But they cried out, 'Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!' Pilate said to them, 'Shall I crucify your King?' The chief priests answered, 'We have no king but Caesar!'" in John 19:15.

As his final act, Pilate took water and ceremoniously washed his hands before the Jewish rulers, "saying, 'I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it," Matthew 27:24 says.

"And all the people answered and said, 'His blood be on us and on our children," Matthew 27:25 concludes.

So who shed the blood of Jesus? Technically it was the Romans soldiers, but they carried out the orders of Pilate, who was bowing to the wishes of the Jewish rulers and Jewish people.

And in the end, we are all sinners, Jews and gentiles alike, all guilty of the blood of Jesus, Who died for us all. If we all didn't need a Saviour, there would have been no need for Jesus to die.

Submit Bible questions by email to writeme@johnwmyers.com

(John Myers has been a Christian lay speaker, Sunday School adult teacher and newspaper Bible study columnist for more than 20 years.)