“They had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, ‘Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?’ For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, ‘Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.’ Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said, ‘Which of the two do you want me to release for you?’ And they said, ‘Barabbas.’ Pilate said to them, ‘Then what shall I do with Jesus..?’ They all said, ‘Let him be crucified!’ And he said, ‘Why? What evil has he done?’ But they shouted all the more, ‘Let him be crucified!’
“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.’ And all the people answered, ‘His blood be on us and on our children!’ Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.” Matthew 27:16-26
So much was uttered about the blood: who to release, who to condemn and crucify? Goaded by the religious leaders, the crowds cried for blood. Pilate, aware of the Jews’ jealousy, his wife’s unease, and the crowd’s fomenting belligerence, washed his hands and foolishly declared himself innocent of that blood. By his command Jesus was crucified, and no gubernatorial proclamation could expunge his culpability. The blood-thirsty crowds invited Christ’s blood on them, not realizing that they bore its stain and indeed none could be clean and forgiven apart from His blood. They were blind to the significance of what was transpiring. (Leviticus 17:11; John 12:19)
Political unrest, greed for power, contentious factions, and personal affronts can get the blood boiling. When we give ourselves over to frenzy and emotion, we forget the very gift of life that courses through our veins and the purpose for which God made it flow. I am not innocent of Jesus’s blood. His death is on me because His blood was spilled for me. Would I plunge under it for true life, eternal life?
In what ways am I flippant about Christ’s suffering and sacrifice, casual about the cost to Him on my behalf? How, in my attitudes, entertainment, and remarks, do I make light of His blood? When will I pause to consider the cross and apply its balm? (Isaiah 53:4-6; Matthew 27:27-31)
“There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.
Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its pow’r,
Till all the ransomed Church of God
Be saved, to sin no more.
E’er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.” ~William Cowper (1772)
Lord, keep me under Your precious blood, grateful and glad forever.
As the rain and snow 