Matthew 27:24-25

Matthew 27:24-25: When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. you see to it. And all the people answered and said, His blood be on us and on our children.

Reserachers at the University of Toronto published data back in 2006 suggesting that people experience a powerful urge to wash themselves when suffering from a guilty conscience. The urge is known as the Macbeth effect, where the blood is seen on the hands and cannot be washed out. It was actually found in the study that washing releived the feelings of guilt. I do not know if Shakespeare had any thought of Pilate's washing his hands, but there is the possibility.

Regardless, church history including the Apostles' Creed places blame on Pilate for Jesus death. "He suffered under Pontius Pilate.

Recognizing his impotence in dealing with the mob of excited people, Pilate called for water and dramaticdally washed his hands before the multitude, proclaiminig his innocence of the blood of this Just Person. Yet he was there as the representative of the imperial throne, and he was responsible under law to condemn the guilty and to acquit the innocent. How little he realized that for all time his name would be linked with the suffering of the Savior. No water could wash away the stain of the blood of the Son of God.

In fearful recklessness the Jews invoked a malediction upon themselves as they cried, "His blood be on us, and on our children." The awful anguish and suffering the unhappy nation has endured throughout the past two thousand years can be traced back to the choice made that day when they preferred a murderer to the One who came in grace to redeem them. However, for every individual among them, as for all others, who will turn to God in repentance, the curse has been turned aside because of our Savior's intercession: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Jesus came to bring salvation then, and continues to do that each new day.