According to the Passion of the Christ film Jews are directly responsible for the death of Jesus, Is this true

Question

Im curious of this topic because I'm a Catholic and I've always believed that Pontius Pilate crucified him because of his gaining so much influence and the Jewish council thought he was a threat but how responsible were the Jews for his death? Or are they just seen as scapegoats for the organized religions of the world? I wont say what I believe but I'd like to hear what others have to say, I believe the story is pretty accurate but I'm not a bible scholar.

Answer 1

Yes, the jews ruined the world. They're killers. :)

Answer 2

The jews have always been cast as the scapegoats, so if you want a 'christian mythology' answer, then yes, the jews were responsible for Jesus' death. On the other hand, if you're looking at it from some sort of historical perspective, think about how well it would have gone over with the Romans the early Christians were trying to convert if the story said that 'Romans crucified Jesus'. Instead, the story casts this '3rd party', the jews, as the bad guy.
This is in the histroy section, not the religion section, so decide which answer you think is more likely...

Answer 3

The Romans were the ones that killed Jesus. The majority of the population just HAPPENED to be jewish. Pontius Pilate washed his hands of the whole thing and let the people choose. The Jews have been scapegoats since before the crucifixion, I don't really know why. (Moses and his people, the jews, were kept as slaves in Egypt)

In other words-It wasn't the jewish faith that caused jesus to be crucified, IMHO, it was mob mentality and a few people in power having it in for Jesus.

Answer 4

Jesus was a Jew. He was found guilty by the Jewish people. Only a few of his followers were on his side. If you follow the legal way of finding blame... it was the Jews who actually caused Jesus to be crucified. Pontius Pilate did not really want to have him killed. The Jewish people were given a choice between two of the Jews in the prison. Save one Crucified the other. The guilty man was saved and Jesus was crucified. The Jewish leaders and Temple people hated him for what he had done at the temple. He was a disturbance to the more wealthy of the Jewish people.

Answer 5

Governor Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, was responsible for the execution of Jesus. Governor Pilate was a brutal ruler, who crucified over 300 people the year he killed Jesus. He was later recalled by Caesar because his brutality had provoked widespread Judean resistance to the Roman occupation.

After Christianity became the Roman state religion, history was rewritten to take the blame for Jesus' execution off of the Roman government, and falsely put it on the Jews.

This "blood libel" has been the justification for 2,000 years of antisemetic persecution against the Jews.

Answer 6

Unfortunately, the Chosen people of God were primarily responsible for his death. Pontius Pilate tried to stop the execution of an innocent man by offering a choice between Jesus and Barabbas, a murderer. The Jews, which were placed there by the Jewish leader chose Barabbas to live. The Jews are responsible. However, even today they are still the chosen people of God.

Answer 7

I think your question sort of misses the point. See, according to the gospels (our primary sources of information on Jesus' life) Jesus knew he was going to be betrayed and crucified. He knew where, he knew when, and he knew by whom. But he didn't attempt to stop it.

In fact, the whole Passover feast is believed by Christians worldwide to be a prophetic symbol of what would eventually happen to the Messiah. The Lamb would be sacrificed for the sins of many. Isaiah talks about this in Isaiah 53. You see, Jesus' death was a sacrifice, not a murder. Asking whether the Jews or the Romans or anyone else was responsible is a moot point. Jesus could have had a legion of angels there instantly to save him (Psalms 91:11). He had authority over Pontius Pilate (John 19:11).

Jesus wasn't executed by a group of fanatic Jews or emotionless Romans: He gave himself up to be sacrificed as the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world (John 1:29).

Answer 8

If Jesus did exist, he was most likely executed because he presented a challenge to the religious and societal authorities. There were probably many others in Jesus' position in the early first century AD who brought messianic messages and met a similar demise. Evidence for this is the lack of any mention of Jesus by Roman historians of the time - his first mention in a Roman source is almost one hundred years after his death, when Christianity was already taking form and spreading.

In this light, Jesus' execution would most likely have not been an earth-shaking event in the Jewish or Roman worlds of the time - he may have been one of a dozen people put to death by Pilate that week. In the Christian tradition, the demonizing of the Jews for Jesus' death became important in the Middle Ages, when Christian rulers used it to justify the subjugation of Jews in their lands, and sometimes the expropriation of their wealth.

As for Mel Gibson's presentation of Jesus' death, I suppose it's based on Biblical accounts. Gibson's film is then accurate to the extent that the Gospels are accurate. As most of the Gospels were written at least 40 years after the fact and were written with their own polemics in mind, their accuracy is suspect (and they do contain quite obvious inconsistencies with one another, such as in the genealogy of Joseph).

Answer 9

Yes and No. The Romans sentenced him to death, but the Jews chose to kill him over a mass murderer. The Jews condemned him because they didn't believe he was sent by God. They thought he was being blasphemous for performing miracles on the Sabbath. But God, knew all this would happen. He for told it in the old testament. God wanted a sacrifice for all the people of the world so they would have a savior. He knew Jesus would be crucified. He knew Jesus would be rejected by the Jews. To blame the Jews would be ignorant. Just as they were ignorant to the fact that Jesus was their savior. One day we will all see the truth that is prophesied in the New Testament.

Answer 10

97% the Jew s must take the blame. but its not the Jewish people whose to be blamed, but rather their leaders during that time were responsible on the execution of Jesus Christ. the paresis and the teachers of the laws were the ones who plot-ed the arrest and execution of Christ. The Romans didn't care about arresting Christ, they only inter feared during the decision made by the governor pontius pilate, because he feared of having another uprising in the city, which will end up his career as a governor.

Answer 11

Well it was was the Romans who nailed him to the cross, but the Jews had a choice as to who would be executed, Barabbas (a known thief and Murderer. Jesus, on the other hand was a thorn in the side of the Jewish priests, throwing the moneychangers from the temple and insisting he was the chosen one from the Torah, hence the riding of the mule through the east gate (i believe). So although not directly responsible, at lease involved in the conspiracy to crucify Jesus.