High lust and froward bearing, Proud heart, rebellious brow— Deaf ear and soul uncaring, We seek Thy mercy now! The sinner that forswore Thee, The fool that passed Thee by, Our times are known before Thee— Lord, grant us strength to die! Kipling, A Hymn Before Action
When Christ said from the Cross, Forgive them Father they know not what they do., He was speaking of all sinful humanity, and not merely of those who physically crucified Him and mocked Him.
In fairness, the original post might be reacting to a tendency within progressive denominations to separate the Jewish people from the crucifixion. To hear some progressive pastors talk, to quote Barney Greenwald, the Jewish people in the day never even heard of Jesus. Much less hold any responsibility at all for His crucifixion. It was all and only Rome, and nothing else. I know I had that debate more than once back in the day.
We all murdered God’s only begotton Son, and we all deserve the death penalty for deicide. Oh, a crowd of Jews cried for Barabbas and said about Jesus, “Crucifige eum.” The Romans carried out the sentence given by Pontius Pilate at the behest of the Jewish High Priest and his subordinate clerics. But if they hadn’t done the actual murder, then you and I would have. That’s the point. They are idiots who accuse just the Jews. Yes, the Jews did it. And the Romans did it. And the Greeks, and the Libyans, and the Syrians, and the Egyptians, and the Gauls, and all the rest of humanity, even the Indians, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Koreans, the Ethiopians, the Kenyans, etc. ad nauseam. We are all guilty.
Lucius, I get that. My point was that there is a strain of argument, largely within liberal Protestant strains, that try to suggest only Rome was responsible. Perhaps us too. But certainly not Jewish people, or perhaps others. A selective need for salvation you might say. Which, of course, is as wrong as thinking only Jewish people should be blamed.
“This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God, you killed, using lawless men to crucify him.”
~ Peter (Acts 2:32)
Just a little food for thought.
Kipling lost his son in WW I, a truly useless and tragic event, and should be aware more than many of the realization of what can lie ahead before entering combat.
It is true, we can honestly generalize responsibility for the crucifixion of Jesus.
The consequences of sin collective and individual …manifests for us all… as individuals who are part of the group – as a group made of individuals.
The connection between the parts and the whole cannot absolve individual responsibility and it did happen in a certain time and place carried out by certain individuals…
Consequence “ better to have never been born”
Thought leaders of that day considered the relation of the One to the Whole “that one should die …
and also considered the effect on the Whole Body over time “ on us and our children”.
Of course His Own rejected Him and many still do today
Why can’t we say the Jews of the time collectively called for the crucifixion of Jesus and rejected him as the Son of God, without being labelled anti-Semitic?
Pontius Pilate questioned the Jewish crowd multiple times as to what crime he had committed and the Jewish crowd replied “crucify him” multiple times. These are the circumstances of the Crucifixion – He, “The King of the Jews” who was innocent, was killed by His own people, the Jews.
Don’t fluff the facts in fear of being labelled anti-Semitic. We are not.
“a truly useless and tragic event,”
The defeat of the Second Reich was neither useless nor tragic.
Late to the party as usual! In true Scholastic fashion, I would say:
We must distinguish!
In regard to the motive for His incarnation and death: insofar as we all have by birth the stain of Original Sin, for which Christ primarily came to die for us, then yes, we all bear the responsibility of His death.
In regard to the physical causes of death and those events necessary for it (His arrest, condemnation, etc.): His enemies and their accomplices (some eager, others reluctant, still others ignorant), and they alone caused His death, and so no, we are not responsible for His death under this aspect.
The lessons for the traditional Good Friday Office (Tenebrae) express all of this very well; they are taken from St. Augustine, after all. You can find them at divinumofficium.org, under the pre-1960 rubrics, in English or Latin as you like, for the office of Matins, Lesson 6.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone respond to the question of “did Pontius Pilate kill Jesus” with the answer “no, we all did.”
Well, to be fair, according to the CDC, unless Pilate washed his hands for at least 20 seconds with antibacterial soap …
Kinda gotta go with science on this one.
Very late to the dance.
What is time?
We measure it without proper instruments.
Is not the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass measured outside of time? Ate we killing Jesus with every Mortal Sin we commit?
Our actions do speak much louder than our words.
Crucify Him!
My God. I have forsaken you like Judas by my arvice and my directives.
My God….. endless are the ways which I have crucified you….
….. yet you, with incomprehensible love, forgive me when I come to you with true sorrow for my sins. My blasphemy. My cowardice. My unwillingness to follow your prompts, your inspirations and your love for enemies.
Each time that I commit a mortal sin I participate in his death.
What is time?