Blood is one of the most important and frequently used symbols in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The Book of Leviticus teaches the life of a creature is in its blood. (Lev. 17.11; Deut. 12.23) Blood is life. Genesis also says, “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” (Gen. 9.4) Don’t drink blood! Perhaps the idea of vampires drinking blood might come from all these teachings about blood.
The use and understanding of blood are not limited to life. It’s used to purify something unclean. The priests were told to offer up the blood and sprinkle it around on the altar. (Lev. 1.5) Purify yourself with the blood before you enter the sanctuary of God. In the Christian Scripture, especially the letter to the Hebrews says, “According to the Law, in fact, nearly everything must be purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Heb. 9.22) In the 1st lesson from the Book of Exodus, we can easily see how the blood is differently symbolized and used, yet quite powerfully. God instructs Moses and Aaron that the blood is taken from the slaughtered lamb that is a year old male without any blemish. We’re talking about the Passover. This blood of the lamb is to be marked on the doorposts of their houses where they live and eat the Passover meal in a hurry. The blood becomes the sign that God will pass over the Israelites without killing their firstborns. It’s not merely a pass mark, but the symbol of God liberating the Israelites from slavery, the symbol of God’s salvation. This first lesson from the Book of Exodus was read at the Easter vigil service by ancient tradition. The Church Fathers allegorically interpreted the metaphors used in this first lesson in terms of Christ’s sinlessness, suffering, and resurrection. (The early Church tradition basically Christianized the Passover story. Or it contextualized the story in the Christian situation.) For example, slaughtering the lamb in the evening was interpreted as representing the death of Christ on the cross in the evening (St. Cyprian) or the end of the ages (St. Jerome). Another obvious example of this connecting the Exodus metaphor to Christ is the blood. St. Chrysostom taught that if this blood of the lamb, animal blood had great power, how much more power does Christ’s blood have? St. Martin of Braga also said, “Christ the lamb, by his blood, frees us from the slavery of death.” (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scriptures: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, pp. 56-57) We ourselves can follow this way of relating the Exodus lesson to Christ as we connect eating the unleavened bread with eating the Body of Christ, the living bread. The blood that particularly matters in the Christian sense is the blood of Christ. Every Sunday, the celebrant or chalice bearer serves you with the saying, “The blood of Christ, the cup of salvation.” This blood, we drink every time we come to the Table of God. And this blood, not only do we drink at the Eucharist but also is marked on our foreheads through Baptism (according to St. Augustine, Ibid.), just like the blood of the lamb was marked on the doorposts. Though this image of our foreheads marked with the blood may look a bit gory and cultic, it at least helps us remember. We, Christians believe that we are marked and saved by the blood of Christ. Now what this blood of Christ does to us is something radical. We’re reborn, reshaped, restored, rewired, re-membered as God’s beloved. This sacred blood transfusion transforms and transfigures our entire being. My identity is no longer on my own. I belong to God whose love never ends whether I live or die. I have this personal experience with God in which I feel embraced, cared, and loved as who I’m supposed to be and to become in the image of God. Again and again, I am found by God, never abandoned. Jesus becomes part of who I am. Rather, I’m embedded and embodied in Him. I become part of him, part of his Body. And this transformation process is not a private, individual matter, but a personal one, which always involves a community, a group of others who also have encountered this divine love shown in Christ Jesus. Personal and communal. In this secular age when everyone is busy searching for self-identity, purpose, or meaning of life, we, Christians begin from one definite identity. That is God’s beloved. God’s children. We find ourselves in the love of God shown in Jesus. We discover others as God’s beloved and are becoming one Body. And this seemingly new identity Christ gives us is actually a restored one, healed and reconciled. Even though we’re baptized in the baptism of Jesus where we die and rise with him, we are still used to our old selves. This new identity takes education and formation. St. Paul urges in his letter to the Romans to put on Christ. Put on the armor of light. Put on the blood of Christ. He’s not talking about how religious we ought to become, but how we live our lives, loving others, not only fellow Christians but also those who are not! We do this act of love because we are embodied in the body of Christ who loves, forgives, heals, and loves, forgives, heals again. I don’t own myself, but God does. I belong to something bigger than myself. I become part of the assembly called the Church, the Body of Christ. In this light, we read today’s gospel lesson. Our deed is never an individual, private matter. My action matters to the Church. Your action matters to the Church. We’re organs, veins, cells of Christ’s body. Our Prayer Book clearly tells us in its catechism, whether lay or ordained, that we “represent Christ and his Church.” (BCP, pp. 855-856) And this new Christian identity we receive by grace through faith in Baptism always requires another Christian in order to be complete. Thus, Jesus promises us, “...where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Mt. 18.20) We all know the saying, “Blood is thicker than water.” It means my biological tie is stronger than anything else. Its original saying, some say, is to be “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb." As Christians, we who do not share the water of the womb are linked by the blood of the covenant. We believe the blood of Christ is thicker than the water of the womb. This is a new human construct. Then what can the Church, we offer to the world? As two or three of us are gathered in the name of Jesus Christ, we offer a “ritual of healing” to the world. We bring in our body as the body of Christ the sacred reality to the world; the world that separates human beings from documented to undocumented, from legal to illegal, from superior to inferior, from "who’s in" to "who’s out." Whenever we gather together in the name of Jesus Christ, not only do we believe Jesus is in our midst but also remember our presence represents Christ and seek Christ in all persons, however the world divides one from the other. May those who are hurt and wounded find the presence of Jesus Christ, our loving and compassionate God in our presence. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
|