Foundry UMC DC: Sunday Sermons
Religion & Spirituality:Christianity
What’s With the Blood?
A homily preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC, April 19, 2019, Good Friday.
Text: John 18-19
In so-called “progressive” Christian circles, there’s many a joke and aspersion directed toward what are often called the “blood hymns.” For ages, Christians have sung with gusto about the wonder-working power of the blood of the lamb, about being washed in the blood, nothing but the blood of Jesus that will cleanse me from my sin, and on it goes. For some the concern with these songs is theological, for others, they just find the whole concept and focus distasteful or weird.
But the truth is that blood is at the center of our faith story. It is important to consider why.
In the ancient world, blood was a powerful symbol of life itself. Our spiritual tradition from ancient times until now holds that God is the source and sustainer of life, so the symbolic connection between blood, life, and God is deep.
The Passover our Jewish siblings observe beginning tonight commemorates their liberation from slavery in Egypt. The Seder (ritual meal) recounts the story of the Exodus (Ex 12:3-11) including the ritual of the “Passover lamb” whose blood was wiped on the doorpost as a sign calling for God’s mercy—for those inside the house to be passed over or spared from the final plague that would strike Egypt; that plague is sometimes described as the angel of death. In the story, the blood—the power of life given by God—is protection against death.
Embedded in this archetypal story of our faith, are themes of oppression, liberation, God’s saving love and presence, sacrifice, and…blood.
It’s not hard to understand why we make a connection between the sacrificial lamb of the Passover and Jesus. Both the lamb and Jesus are innocent. Both the lamb and Jesus are killed. Both the lamb and Jesus are involved in a larger story that has to do with oppression and liberation. And—the way the equation often gets presented—just as the blood-marked doorposts provided protection for the enslaved Israelites in Egypt, being “washed in the blood” of Jesus marks us for mercy—saves us from judgment and from death and brings liberation.
I believe there’s truth in that, but—oh my—can it get twisted.
The familiar phrase “Jesus died for me” makes it sound as though I don’t have to die even though Jesus both taught and modeled that to follow him required “losing our life.” “Jesus died for my sins” makes it sound like I don’t have to take any responsibility for my sins—including my complicity with the kind of sin that put Jesus on the cross in the first place. “Jesus came to die” makes it sound like God’s “plan” and focus is death when, in fact, the whole point is life, life, and more life—and not just for “me” but for the whole creation.
Jesus didn’t go to the cross so that we could bathe in his blood in some macabre way, or magical way, in order to get out of suffering and accountability. Jesus didn’t go to the cross so that we could wear the cross as an ornament instead of carry it as a calling to mercy and justice for all people. //
Jesus’ blood represents Jesus’ life. Jesus’ life is a life that showed us what God’s love looks like when it is fully human. That love is seen in gentleness, courage, humility, wisdom, radical inclusion, justice, and in solidarity with the suffering and oppressed. Jesus’ flesh and blood were offered to us not just on the cross but from the moment of the Incarnation. Jesus’ blood—Jesus’ life!—had “wonder-working power” from the beginning!
What if every time we think about the saving power of Jesus’ blood we think not only of the blood at the cross but of when the blood was flowing through Jesus’ body as he reached out to embrace and include women in his inner circle, as he perceived the persons around the edges who no one else gave any notice, as he went toe to toe with the most unstable, violent, power-hungry leaders of the local Roman empire for the sake of justice for the poor, as he gathered the children around him with gentleness and joy, as he taught that all people (not just certain tribes or classes) have dignity and worth and the capacity to participate in God’s mighty acts of salvation, as he moved through conflict with strength and clarity but without violent retaliation, as he had compassion for both the outcast poor and the outcast rich, as he showed us how to truly love God and love neighbor.
The reason his blood flowing from the cross matters so much is that it is the blood, the life, the love that revealed God’s perfect love for us. Jesus had blood the whole time. And who he was and what he said and did before he was killed is what makes the cross in any way sensible and saving. Jesus’ blood, freely shed, is a confirmation and affirmation of everything Jesus had done in his life. It proves that he wasn’t just trying to win a popularity contest or to show how awesome he was…He wasn’t just saying he loved us, wasn’t just pretending that he was in solidarity with the poor and with all the innocents who are slain, not just pretending that justice and mercy were at the heart of his ministry. The blood proves it all, proves God’s love for us because while we were yet sinners, Jesus’ love and solidarity remained steadfast and that meant suffering and death.
The blood of Jesus is both convicting and hopeful. It is convicting because it reveals our own capacity to do violence, to kill, to reject love and the call to justice and mercy. But the blood also gives hope—because the self-sacrifice of Jesus shows that even when you are at your very worst, even when you have betrayed love, denied love, hurt others, slandered someone, failed to acknowledge your participation in the systems of injustice in which we swim—even then, God loves you and will stand up for you even to the point of death. The compassion, love, and mercy Jesus showed in life is the same compassion, love and mercy that flows from his head, his hands, his feet…
The “blood” of Jesus—the Jesus way of life, the Jesus way of love, the Jesus way of forgiveness, the Jesus way of self-giving, the Jesus way of communion with God—when that “blood” is what marks you, you move toward liberation and toward a life free from the fear of death. When the blood—the life—of Christ marks you, you will begin to understand what it means when Jesus says you have to lose your life to save it. And you will give thanks for the dignity and challenge of so great a call, you will give thanks for the gift of this wonder-full, wonder-working new life. May it be so.
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