“Let His Blood Be On Us and On Our Children”

a The Fourth Sunday of Lent a

Matthew 27:21-25

They call it the “Lady Macbeth Affect,” where someone tries to wash away through physical washing a
morally reprehensible sin they’ve committed. This “syndrome” gets its name from the infamous scene in
Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act V, Scene I, where Lady Macbeth, in an insane frenzy, is washing her hands over and
over and over again, groaning in pain, “Out, you stain, out with you,” because she just can’t get rid of the bloodguilt
that was on her conscience for the many murders that were committed. She kept seeing blood on her hands, albeit
imagined, and concluded that all the water in the world could not wash the blood off her hands. In the end, Lady
Macbeth realized that water and soap, general hygienic cleanliness, her will, her drive to forget, even attempted
ritual purity cannot cleanse the conscience of its guilt. Thus, behavior that mirrors that of Lady Macbeth is called
the “Lady Macbeth Affect,” which, if it is advanced enough, is even considered a severe psychological disorder.
One has to wonder if Shakespeare had this text from Jesus’ passion in mind when he was composing
Macbeth. Shakespeare had a great knowledge of the Bible and often made careful allusions to it in his plays. There
seems to be a strong allegorical connection between the hand=washing of Macbeth and the hand-washing of Pilate,
the coarse and unimaginable decision to murder King Duncan, and the unbelievable and reprehensible cries to send
Jesus to his death, and, of course, the common mindset that sins can be washed away just by putting them “out of
sight and out of mind.”
Today, we hear the cries of the Good Friday crowd, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” Through
this sermon of Christ’s enemies, we will see two very specific truths: First, look at just how calloused our
consciences can be towards sin, imagining even for a moment that we can just will our guilt and our sins out of our
lives by passing our blame to anyone around so that we do not have to claim responsibility for our own sinful
misconduct. Secondly, though, look at how that blood of Jesus, which is exactly what the Good Friday crowd
yelled for, is the only cleansing agent which can completely wash us clean of our sin and guilt.
There are numerous times in the Passion history where Pontius Pilate attempts to pass the responsibility of
Jesus’ condemnation onto others, that if Jesus were to be sent to death to appease this rabble, someone else would
have to give the word! When Jesus first showed up in Pilate’s presence, he told the Jews, “Take him yourself and
judge him by your own law.” Then, when he learned that Jesus was a Galilean, he sent Jesus to Herod, hoping that
Herod would just deal with the problem. When Jesus returned from Herod, Pilate offered the crowd a choice
between Barabbas and Jesus, putting up Jesus as a pawn against a notorious murderer, expecting that the crowd,
having any level of common sense would shout for Jesus to be released, to no avail, of course. And then, when he
couldn’t appease the crowd, in the fashion of Lady Macbeth, literally put water on his hands and said, “It’s not my
fault,” as if water could actually remove the despicable act of sending this innocent man to a criminal’s death.
“It’s not my fault,” Pilate declares, “I am innocent.” No you’re not! Water can’t remove the stain of
injustice from your conscience. Your own declaration of your own innocence doesn’t make you innocent, either in
your own conscience or in the sight of God. Without Pilate’s permission, the crucifixion of Jesus would have never
taken place. He didn’t have to give in to the crowd. He didn’t have to kowtow to their demands. He could have
just as easily said, “No, this man is going free. I am not going to punish him in any way because I have found him
to be innocent of the crimes you have brought against him.” Did Pilate do that? No! He had Jesus flogged, which
was unmerciful in and of itself and often resulted in death. And then, as if Jesus’ flesh hanging from his bones were
not enough, Pilate passively gives in to the demand for more blood by means of crucifixion! No Pilate, you cannot
dodge responsibility. His blood is on your hands, and no amount of water in the whole world is going to be able to
wash it away. No matter how much you want to convince yourself otherwise, you are at fault. And you are NOT
innocent of this man’s blood. Every time we recite the Apostles Creed, the Holy Christian Church confesses that:
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.
What is even more disturbing, though, is the crowd on Good Friday, who didn’t do anything to shift blame
onto anybody else. They were ready to accept all the blame and all the responsibility. Listen to the words of the
gospel writer once again: “24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he
took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your
responsibility!” 25 All the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released Barabbas to
them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.”
What a blood-curdling curse! Literally understood, the people were saying, “If this man is innocent and we
demand that he die as someone who is guilty, then may the punishment for such a crime be visited back upon us
and upon our children after us.” “If this man is going to die and he is really innocent, then may our blood be shed
too, and not only ours, but also that of our children!” They weren’t trying to dodge responsibility at all. Unlike
Pilate, this crowd wanted credit for Jesus’ death and assumed that they could simply move on and forget about their
reprehensible deeds. And once the horrific action was out of sight and out of mind, they could go back to sleeping
soundly at night!
How much different are we, really, than Pilate or the Good Friday crowd? “Oh, it’s not my fault,” we say. I
can’t be held responsible for words that I speak in the moment. I can’t be held responsible for angry words and
actions which are brought about by someone else’s provocation. I can’t be held responsible for my spiritual lethargy,
apathy or ignorance, it’s the pastor’s fault, it’s the church’s fault. I can’t be held responsible for my actions because
society has shaped me into who I am. Blame them. Blame society. Blame the church. Blame the pastor. Blame
God! Blame anybody, just don’t blame me. “I am innocent,” we say with Pilate, as we try to wash guilt from our
hands and hearts, unsuccessfully.
And then, when the law of God thoroughly and completely convicts us of guilt, when we can no longer
dodge the clear responsibility for our guilt and shame before our heavenly Father, our sinful pride surfaces, which
convinces us successfully that no matter what we have done, no matter how deeply we have saddened our God in
the rebelliousness of our sins, no matter how reprehensible our thoughts, words or deeds have been, that sin really
isn’t that bad, that we can simply “get over them,” putting them out of sight and out of mind, and once we’ve put
our crimes against our God out of our minds, then God will forget them too.
Not so! Instead of trying to wash the blood of our guilt from our hands, which we could never do, like Lady
Macbeth, we’d be scrubbing for all time, and the stain would remain, let us look to the blood of Jesus to wash us
clean. These statements that we have examined this Lenten season all have a bit of irony to them and today’s is no
different. The blood that the Good Friday crowd beckoned for is the cleaning agent through which souls are made
clean and presented as holy and righteous before the Father in heaven.
The apostle John in his first epistle tells us: “7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and
purify us from all unrighteousness.”
So, yes, let his blood be on us! Let his blood cover us and all of our unrighteousness, because nothing we
can do, nothing we can say, no ritual we participate in, no outward cleanliness, nothing we can offer can remove the
stain of sin which has penetrated us to the core. Scrub and scrub as we may, we cannot even begin to cleanse
ourselves of the guilt that we have because of our transgressions against our creator. Thus, let His blood, the blood
of the atoning sacrifice, the blood of the great High Priest be on us!
Hebrews 10:11-13, and 17-18: “11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and
again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one
sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13 Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool,
17
Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” 18 And where these have been forgiven, there is no
longer any sacrifice for sin.”
Let his blood be on us – such ironic words that both reveal the cold and hardened hearts of the Good Friday
crowd, and also reveal today a solid and firm trust in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins
and for salvation! The very blood that the crowd demanded has been applied to our hearts through the gospel so
that we are washed and cleansed thoroughly, through and through, of all our sins. The very blood that the crowd
ached to see has been poured out upon us through God the Holy Spirit through the means of grace so that our guilt
and shame, which we could never ever scrub away, try as we might, would be gone forever. Yes, let his blood be on
us, so that we do not have to accept eternal responsibility for our sins, but find in his blood an eternal cleansing
from our sins. Let his blood be on us and on our children for unending generations to come! Amen.