Wow.
It came as a shock because until then (and until re-reading the Gospel accounts of the temple guards arresting Christ, of the Sanhedrin accusing Jesus and of the Pharisees and the religious leaders demanding that Pilate crucify the Messiah), it just seemed to fit better that Christ had been accused and then crucified to satisfy the evil outbursts of an angry mob of sinners.
But for "The sinners did it" explanation to be true, then you've got to ignore Christ's triumphant entry and welcome into Jerusalem ("Palm Sunday") and believe instead that the same crowd of people who placed palms fronds at Jesus' feet after having heard of the miracles He's performed and who'd worshipfully praised Him as the Messiah then somehow, just a few days later and two thousand years before CNN and Fox News, somehow all woke up together in the same identical enraged state of mind, climbed out of bed before dawn and together skipped their morning coffee to rush across town and arrive at Pilate's court just in time to demand Christ's crucifixion.
It doesn't make sense, because that's not what happened. What happened was that Christ was accused, tried, flogged and turned over to be crucified before most folks in the city heard a whisper about it.
Even if we accept that Christ was hounded and persecuted by the Pharisees, we like to think of the Pharisees as a kind of secret police who kept tabs on Jesus' whereabouts and preaching through spies and informers.
But it wasn't like that at all. According to scripture, here's several examples contradicting popular impressions:
Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.
- Luke 7:36
When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table.
- Luke 11:37
Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"
- John 9:40 [emphasis added]
Sounds like in addition to being more in love with their religion than with God, the Pharisees were outright opportunists as well. They were self important ladder-climbers willing to invite Jesus over for dinner (who sometimes even took time to travel with Jesus), and paid attention so long as Christ and his message were curiosities that offered the chance of serving and profiting the Pharisees' ambitions and purposes.
But then Christ started rocking the legalistic boat and threatening the religious order by calling the givers of the law (both Pharisees and Sadducees) the offspring of snakes, accusing the Pharisees of being hypocrites and identifying them as sons of hell.
Uh oh suddenly the Pharisees ... and the temple chiefs ... became indignant and turned their wrath on the God (through His son, The Prince of Peace) they self-righteously claimed to worship and honor in every way.
Two thousand years later, how on earth did we forget that?
