Furthermore, all three groups believed that the Old Testament prophecies regarding the Messiah would be fulfilled. (Aiuto). In fact, Jesus was not the first person to be proclaimed the Messiah. Understanding that there was a tremendous amount of strife and competition in the Jewish community is important, because it makes it clear that while some Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus, it can hardly be suggested that all Jews were responsible for Jesus' death. Instead, Jewish involvement in Jesus' death seems explainable by one of the truisms of murder investigation: murders are generally committed by same-sex members of the victims' racial group. Because Jesus was a Jewish male, it should come as no surprise that some Jewish males played a central role in his trial and execution. However, that statement should not be viewed as either anti-Semitic...
While some Jews played a central role in Jesus' death, his apostles were also widely Jewish, Jesus self-identified as a Jew and had no interest in preaching to Gentiles, and the founders of the Church were Jews who initially preached to a strictly Jewish audience.
Of course, a study of the Gospels makes it clear that even the subgroup of Jews involved in Jesus' death cannot be fully blamed for it. Jews may have been in charge of religious and civil law in Judea, but they were an occupied population and unable to carry out trials and executions. Rome certainly played a role in Jesus' trial. It is important to understand that occupied Judea had a complicated political system; Jews were permitted to be basically autonomous, as long as they paid taxes to Rome and followed basic Roman laws. However,
