Matthew 27:25

Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us and on our children.

From the beginning, Pilate had miscalculated badly: He had not insisted upon proper legal procedure in demanding definite charges with sufficient testimony; he had not reckoned with mob influence, the chief priests outgeneraled him. It had now gotten to the point where he was facing a tumult which might develop into an insurrection. And so he continues the weakling's course in trying to shift the blame from his own person. Calling for some water, he washed his hands before all the people as a token of his innocence. He wanted to be held blameless in the entire matter; the guilt of this innocent blood should not rest upon him. In making this statement, he was either a hypocrite or a coward. Either he wanted to salve his conscience by declaring Christ's innocence openly, or he declared that he was forced into a condemnation against his sincere belief. In either case he was guilty, though he places the whole blame on the Jews. "But thus it always happens with the blood of Christ the Lord and with that of His Christians. The older Herod murders the innocent children about Bethlehem. His son murders the holy John the Baptist. And both of them thought they might get some benefit out of such murder. Pilate here also does not consider it a serious matter that he condemns Christ to death. He fondly imagines that, as he thinks of it, God will also think of it, and consider him blameless. But without doubt the wrath of God did not hesitate about coming, and the house, generation, and name of Pilate was annihilated, and body and soul condemned to hell and everlasting fire. There he found out how innocent he was of this blood. " The governor's action only brought out a most blood-curdling curse on the part of the people: May the blood of this man be upon us and upon our children! If this man be innocent, and we demand His death as a guilty person, may the punishment of such a crime be visited upon us, and upon our children after us! A little more than a generation later, this terrible curse was visited upon them, then their account was demanded of them with a heavy reckoning, in one of the most horrible judgments of God that history knows of.