On the surface, Who killed Jesus seems like it would make for the most boring game of Clue ever. There’s no mystery, no intrigue, no need to use incredibly tiny pencils to make secretive marks on an overly complicated scoring sheet. The Bible pretty much tells us the answer, right? Well, yes. And yes. And also yes.
Believe it or not, the Bible gives three different answers to the question “Who killed Jesus?” They aren’t separate answers, as if the writers of scripture couldn’t agree, but rather three different layers of answers. One builds on the next, which builds on the next. Like those Cadbury Creme Eggs you rightfully set aside for better Easter treats, there’s more buried just below the (chocolatey) surface.
Who killed Jesus?
The Bible lays out three answers:
- A Historical Answer, involving specific people living in Jerusalem in the 1st century…
- An Ethical Answer, unpacking right, wrong, and the steep price of justice… and…
- A Spiritual Answer, reconciling how an eternal deity could actually die.
Grab your notepad and magnifying glass, and we’ll uncover the answers quicker than you can say “Elementary, my dear Watson.”
Who Killed Jesus? A Historical Answer
All four gospels—the Biblical accounts of the life of Jesus—give significant airtime to his arrest, trial, and crucifixion. And they name names. (Cue the Law & Order “dun dun” sound effect.)
Let’s step into the courtroom.
MOTIVE - The Pharisees
- Religious experts in the Jewish Law, and committed to personal holiness above all else, the Pharisees were often on the receiving end of Jesus’ harshest teachings. Turns out, they didn’t like being called to the carpet for their hypocrisy, hard-heartedness, and preference for the rules of God over a real relationship with him. After he raised a dead man back to life, and with public popularity quickly shifting toward Jesus, the Pharisees reached their breaking point. Led by the high priest, Caiaphas, they begin to put together a plan to rid themselves, once and for all, of their chief troublemaker.
MALICIOUS INTENT - Judas Iscariot
- Though his name is forever linked to betrayal, scripture doesn’t explicitly give us the “why” behind Judas’ decision to cooperate with the Pharisees. One Biblical account tells us that Judas was in charge of the disciples’ money, and was pretty loose with the books, so perhaps coin was his chief motivator. Or, like another Judas 150 years before him, maybe he had hoped Jesus would lead a political revolution against Rome—and when they didn’t pan out, he jumped ship. Or, perhaps it was the influence of the evil one over a disciple who never fully believed in Christ’s claim to be the son of God. Either way, Judas accepted a meager payment of 30 pieces of silver from the Pharisees (likely less than $500 in our current American currency) in exchange for leading their armed guard to Jesus. It all went down in the Garden of Gethsemane, after Jesus had spent a night there in anguish and prayer. Aside from one lopped-off ear—and Jesus even fixed that—the arrest was pretty inconsequential. The guards took Jesus to the Jewish religious authorities, who, because they didn’t have the power to execute a prisoner, led him on to the governing Romans.
MANPOWER - Pilate and the Roman Authorities
- The man with the authority to carry out capital punishment was Pilate, the Roman Prefect (essentially a governor) of Judea. The religious leaders bring Jesus before him, but Pilate isn’t convinced that Jesus has done anything wrong. Time after time, he examines Jesus, but finds no reason to condemn him. (Scripture says Pilate was aware that jealousy was motivating the Pharisees). While this was going on, a crowd had gathered, shouting for Jesus to be crucified. With the masses being stoked into a fury and on the verge of a riot, Pilate gives in to their demands, throwing Jesus into the gears of the Roman justice system. He is brutally beaten and mocked by Roman soldiers before being forced to carry his cross outside the city limits, where he is crucified. Famous for their brutality, Roman soldiers oversee the entire ordeal, from start to finish.
Historically, the execution of Jesus was a group effort. Pilate and the Roman justice system fired the gun; the Pharisees put it into their hands; and Judas provided the bullet.
But that’s only the shell of the Easter egg. There’s much more inside.
Who Killed Jesus? An Ethical Answer
Ethics is the philosophical study of morality—what’s right, what’s wrong, and who decides? Believe it or not, ethics has another answer about who is responsible for the death of Jesus.
This ethical answer is important, because it puts to rest an alarming historical trend, one that has ebbed and flowed in the 2,000 years since Jesus’ death: antisemitism. Some misguided believers have used the historical answer as a reason to punish and persecute Jews. This is utter madness because (a) Jesus and his original followers were Jewish, (b) the Pharisees might have delivered Jesus to Pilate, but by no means did they represent the opinion of all Jews across the ages, and (c) persecuting anyone is a (seemingly obvious) contradiction of the life of Jesus— you know, since he taught us to love our enemies and bless our persecutors.
Those who have found a reason for antisemitism in the death of Christ are missing the entire point. Scripture is clear. Like Murder on the Orient Express, scripture’s ethical answer to who killed Jesus is, well, all of us.
John the Baptist, a prophet and Jesus’ cousin, first identified Christ as “the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” In ancient Jewish custom, an unblemished lamb could be offered at the temple for the forgiveness of sins. In John the Baptist’s words, years before the cross, there are echoes of what is to come.
In a letter to a church in Rome, one that included Jews and Gentiles, early missionary Paul lays out a pretty clear road for us to follow, one that leads to this ethical answer.
He explains that everyone has sinned, and that the price of sin is death—and not just physical death, but (eventually) an eternal death, permanently separated from a holy God. Yet even when we didn’t deserve it, because of God’s great love, Christ died in our place, just like those sacrificial lambs. For those who believe in Jesus’ sacrifice, his sinless life is credited to our account, putting us in right standing with God forever.
John, one of Jesus’ closest friends and disciples, explains it well (with a new vocabulary word you can take with you) when he writes:
“We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2)
A word that hasn’t been in regular use for 150 years, a “propitiation” is a gift given to gain favor with someone who is at odds with you. When you bring home flowers for your wife after an argument, you’re offering propitiation. And that’s what Jesus’ death does for us. He received the punishment we were due, so that we wouldn’t have to face it.
Which leads us to the ethical answer. You killed Jesus. And so did I. So did my wife, my kids, my sweet little grandma neighbor, that politician you really don’t like (and the ones you do), and even Mother Teresa. Together, we all killed Jesus, because without our sin, there would have been no need for him to die in the first place.
I understand that this revelation can feel heavy. Probably, rightfully so. But there’s still one more layer to bite into. Don’t jump ship yet.
Who Killed Jesus? A Spiritual Answer
Go ahead and let the pressure out of your guilt balloon. You had a hand in killing Jesus, yes, but you can’t make anyone (especially God) do anything they don’t already want to do.
This is the surprise at the center of our who killed Jesus easter egg. At the end of the day, the ultimate responsibility for the death of Jesus lies… well…on his own shoulders.
In John 10, Jesus makes this abundantly clear:
“I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” (John 10:17-18)
This passage, and so many others (like here, and here, and here) are key to understanding that the death of Christ wasn’t a tragic accident—it was a deliberate act of bravery, willingly chosen by Christ to secure salvation for all who would follow Him. Jesus was a volunteer, not a victim.
Humans are naturally drawn to stories of sacrificial valor—to the fireman who rushes into a burning building to save a child or the soldier who runs into enemy fire to save civilians. That’s what Jesus did. He saw our need, and put his body in between the threat (death) and us.
So while some historical figures conspired to have Jesus killed, and our sin gives us all some culpability in the Messiah’s death, the spiritual answer to who killed Jesus is probably the most powerful: Jesus did. He chose to die, so that the stain of sin could be permanently erased from all who would acknowledge his sacrifice on their behalf and trust in his power to save them.
The Three Cards In The Middle
Before every game of Clue, three cards go into a secret envelope in the middle of the board. One card names the killer, another the room where the crime was committed, and the other the weapon used.
Thankfully, the three cards for our make-believe special edition of Clue: Who Killed Jesus? aren’t a secret.
One would be the historical answer: The Pharisees + Judas + the Romans.
Another card would be the ethical answer: because of sin, we all had a part in Christ’s death.
The final card would cover the spiritual answer: Jesus willingly offered himself as the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf, freeing us from the consequences of our broken spiritual condition should we choose to put our faith in him.
Thank God, in this version of Clue, we all win—no tiny pencils necessary.
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Disclaimer: This article is 100% human-generated.
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At Crossroads, we major on the majors and minor on the minors. We welcome a diverse community of people who all agree that Jesus is Lord and Savior, even if they view minor theological and faith topics in different ways based on their unique experiences. Our various authors embody that principle, and we approach you, our reader, in the same fashion. You don’t have to agree with every detail of any article you see here to be part of this community or pursue faith. Chances are even our whole staff doesn’t even agree with every detail of what you just read. We are okay with that tension. And we think God is okay with that, too. The foundation of everything we do is a conviction that the Bible is true and that accepting Jesus is who he said he is leads to a healthy life of purpose and adventure—and eternal life with God.
