Matthew 27

by Paul Ice

“His blood be upon us and upon our children.”

If you don’t know your history very well, you should do some research here.  There has been much suffering because of the misinterpretation of that one line. Long before the second world war, the Jews were persecuted throughout history. The interpretation of this scripture made them outcasts, the Christ-killers, the ones who got it wrong.

This response (“His blood be upon us and upon our children.”) is to the statement that Pilate makes from verse 25: “So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves’.”

He had tried to offer them a notorious criminal instead of Jesus, but they would have none of it.

So what does it mean? “His blood be upon us and our children.”  And what of Barabbas?

Imagine being a first century Jew reading Matthew’s account..  Two prisoners, one of whom goes free and one of whom is killed. It sounds very similar to the rituals performed by the Jews many times: a pair of ritually clean animals, doves, of lambs, and some water. The priest would wash his hands, to show himself to be innocent, and then the priest would let one of the clean animals go free, and sacrifice the other, and sprinkle the blood of the slain animal on the person to be purified. Literally, being washed clean by the blood of the lamb.

So what is the message of this statement and is Barabbas important to the story?

Firstly it tells us that God’s will is done, that love will win out, and even instruments of hate, even hearts full of spite and evil will be transformed. However dark the day, love will transform it.

Secondly, it tells us something about how we should believe in such a God of reckless love. The thing which strikes me more than any other, is that this statement is not a controversial statement to God.  His blood is upon all of us and our children.  That is why Jesus offered himself.  Matthew is trying to communicate to the Jews that through this, you are offered real salvation. Salvation will be offered through the one whose blood will be upon them.