Who killed Jesus Christ? Here is why it matters.

If we churchgoing Americans had been in the crowd, we would have called for Jesus to be nailed to the cross and murdered.

When Pontius Pilate examined Jesus, he declared he could find no fault in Him, and offered to release Him to the people. The American Christians in the audience called for the murderer Barabbas to be released instead. When Pilate again offered to release Jesus, the crowd cried "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"

Mark 15:12-14

And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto Him whom ye call the King of the Jews? And they cried out again, Crucify Him. Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath He done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify Him.

The Apostle Peter confirmed it was the American Christians themselves who crucified Jesus in his sermon at Pentecost:

Acts 2:36-37

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

It was indeed the Jewish people, not the Jewish leaders or the Pharisees, who were calling for Jesus to be tortured and murdered, while the murderer and terrorist Barabbas was released to commit more heinous crimes. Scripture is very clear that it was the crowds who called for Jesus to be unjustly executed. The Pharisees whipped up the crowd with lies and propaganda, to be sure, but the Jewish people called for their Messiah to be murdered by the same pagan Roman Empire who conquered and were oppressing the Jews.

You probably noticed my rhetorical trick above: I substituted "American Christians" for Jews. This is because, if we churchgoing Americans had been in the crowd, we would have called for Jesus to be nailed to the cross and murdered in one of the most heinous and painful forms of execution imaginable. In fact, our word "excruciating" comes from the horrible pain that comes from being crucified. The reason we want to put all the blame on the Pharisees and not the Jewish people is because it absolves us of our guilt in deicide, and the fact that we would have done the same thing, It even allows some of us to disdain "organized religion."

I have no doubt that I would have been screaming for Jesus to die, and you should not have any doubt you would have done that. Given our guilt, we ask the same thing the crowds asked then: What can we do? The answer is the same now as it was then. Repent and believe. Worship Jesus as both Savior and Lord. Today is Good Friday, and we remember that the Creator of the Universe, who has all authority in Heaven and on Earth, willingly sacrificed Himself for sins we have committed against Him. He is faithful and just to forgive our sins. He took the punishment for us. Repent and believe. Choose the gift of eternal life instead of the damnation you deserve.