“O LORD, do save, we beseech You; O LORD, we beseech You, do send prosperity! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD; We have blessed you from the house of the LORD” (Psalm 118:25-26 NASB).

The words of Psalm 118 are important because they are almost word-for-word what the Jews in Jerusalem said to Jesus only short days before his crucifixion.

More than 100 years before Jesus was honored as a conquering king, the Jews greeted Simon Maccabaeus in an almost identical fashion, waving palm and willow branches crediting him with saving their nation.

Days later, however, the crowd’s voice changed. Instead of proclaiming his innocence before Pilate, they cried, “Crucify him!” (Matthew 27:22). The change in the crowd is odd for more reasons than the obvious.

The Jews’ rulers had gone to the crowds and incited them against Jesus (Matthew 27:20). The rulers probably appealed to the people’s love of Jewish nationalism and changed their minds. Whatever the reason, it is particularly interesting that the crowd, some of whom probably had called for Jesus’ enthronement as a king, now called for his blood.

The crowd’s statement, “His blood shall be on us and upon our children” (Matthew 27:25) is particularly interesting. For if these people wanted salvation from their sins, they would necessarily need his blood on them.

We need the blood of Jesus on us if we want to be saved from sin to serve God. Unless that blood is on us, we will never be saved (Hebrews 9:13-14). That blood is contacted through baptism (Romans 6:1-7; Ephesians 1:7).

Have you been washed in the blood of Jesus?

John Henson