John Stott reminds us that, though it is easy to cast blame and look with incredulity upon the likes of Pilate, the Sanhedrin, and Judas, ultimately we are equally responsible for the death of Jesus.
“We may try to wash our hands of responsibility like Pilate. But our attempt will be as futile as his. For there is blood on our hands. Before we can begin to see the cross as someting done for us (leading to faith and worship), we have to see it as something done by us (leading to repentance). Indeed, ‘only the man who is prepared to own his share in the guilt of the cross,’ wrote Canon Peter Green, ‘may claim his share in its grace.'”
Yet there is one who is ultimately responsible for the death of Jesus: God Himself. The Father gave Jesus up to die on the cross. Jesus, for his part, willingly gave himself up to death in obedience to the Father.
“As we face the cross,” Stott concludes, “we can say to ourselves both, ‘I did it, my sins sent him there,’ and ‘He did it, his love took him there.'”