Sunday
10/31/21 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “The Blood Of Christ”
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 146:1-10
New Testament Scripture: Hebrews 9:11-14
Gospel Lesson: Mark 12:28-34
In our culture today there are a lot
of ways that many people speak about blood. Yes, I said blood, the stuff that
flows through our veins. Someone will sometimes say of their job for example,
that doing their job “is in their blood.” Talking about blood is a pretty
common thing in many ways. We sometimes refer to people’s “bloodlines.” We
might say that we love someone “with all our hearts,” realizing that our hearts
pump and circulate our blood throughout our bodies. In fact, I have seen advertisements
for blood drives that say, “give blood, give life.” The general idea then, is that
blood is life.
Given this, blood is significant, and is
a topic that we talk about a lot. For example, if someone makes you angry, then
you might say that they made your “blood boil.” Or if it someone is cold and
unfriendly, you might say that they “have ice in their veins.”
The subject of blood is also very common in the
bible, as well. If blood is seen as part of what makes our life possible, and
if the heart pumps the blood, are we shocked then that it is in the bible. In the
Roman Catholic Church in fact, some of you maybe have seen statues of Jesus
where on the statue you can see Jesus’s heart. This “Sacred Heart,” is what the
church across the street is named after. The heart and “The Blood Of Christ,”
as the heart pumps the blood. It is not a mystery then that we love with our
hearts and our souls. On Valentine’s Day we give people heart shaped candy, or
candy in a heart shaped box.
In looking at our reading from Hebrews
9:11-14 again this morning, we hear about “The Blood Of Christ”. Once again, we
hear starting in 9:11:
11 But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), 12 he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption (Heb. 9:11-12, NRSV).
In this reading from the Book of Hebrews, that Apostle Paul
is comparing animal sacrifices in the Old Testament of the Bible, to the New
Testament of the Bible. In part, the blood of sacrificed animals, which was
seen as the life of the animal, was sacrificed. We hear every time that we partake
of communion that Christ’s body was broken for us, and that his blood was shed
for us. Blood is significant in the Bible and in our culture today. In fact, we
just heard once again, that eternal redemption and salvation is made possible
by “The Blood of Christ.”
In our United Methodist Hymnal, hymn # 362 is called “Nothing
but the Blood” (UMH, 362). The first verse of the hymn, as you might know goes
like this:
“1. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Refrain: O precious is the flow that makes me white as snow; no other fount I know; nothing but the blood of Jesus” (UMH, 362).
As
the scripture says, and as the hymn “Nothing but the Blood” says from
scripture, we are saved through “The Blood of Christ.” Some might ask though,
but aren’t we saved because Jesus died for us? Sure, but the heart pumps the
blood, and the blood goes through our veins and keeps us alive. As I said, some
blood banks advertise to encourage people to give blood with slogan “give blood, give life.”
All throughout the Old Testament or
Hebrew Bible, our Jewish brothers and sisters would offer animal sacrifice, and
spill the blood of these animals. These sacrifices, along with repentance and
atonement would be a way to atone for sins. The problem is this though, we all
largely keep sinning. As a result, the Jews needed to then offer more and more animal
sacrifices, and this was also done in Egypt. During the very first Passover in
Egypt, the Jews were told to take a pure and spotless lamb and sacrifice it.
They were to take the blood of that lamb and put in on there doorposts and
lintels. The blood of the lamb would cover them, so that death would not come
that night to their first-born child. The blood. They were told to smear the
blood of the lamb, the life of the lamb. Since humanity
continued sinning however, animal sacrifices were offered over and over again.
It seems almost like madness to us today. I mean could not we just sacrifice
one animal and that would good forever?
As Christians, we believe that our once
and for all sacrifice for humanity was and is Jesus Christ. In fact, our Book
of Hebrews reading for this morning concludes once again with 9:13-14 saying:
13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God! (Heb. 9:13-14, NRSV).
So do I think that I am saved through “The Blood of Christ?”
Yes, I do. Do you? In fact, it says in 1 John 1:7:
7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin (1 Jn. 1:7, NRSV).
So “The Blood of Christ” cleanses us
from sin. Jesus’ shed blood is the sacrifice that was made for the sins and brokenness
of all of humanity. All we have to do is turn from our sin and our darkness and
believe in and on Jesus. In doing so, we are cleansed and washed by his blood.
For we cannot be perfect before God on our own. God wants us to be righteous,
holy, and like Him, and only through Jesus Christ can we accomplish this.
It is no mistake then that at the Last
Supper in the Upper Room once again that Jesus took the Bread and the Cup and
said, “This is my body broken for you,” and “this is my blood shed for you.” In
Acts 2:28 it says:
28 Keep watch over yourselves and over
all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the
church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son (Acts 2:28, NRSV).
The Apostle Paul writes in Colossians 1:20 of Jesus:
20 and
through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on
earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross (Col. 1:20, NRSV).
We are saved by the blood of Christ,
blood that flowed from Jesus’ heart that some call his “Sacred Heart.” You see
friends, as the song title says, “There Is Power In The Blood.” How significant
is blood? Well, we sometimes say, “blood is thicker than water,” as our biological
family is our blood. We need to love and have loyalty to our biological family.
Flesh of our flesh, blood of our blood.
In the Book of Leviticus in the Old
Testament is says in 17:11:
11 For the life of the flesh is in
the blood; and I have given it to you for making atonement for your lives on
the altar; for, as life, it is the blood that makes atonement (Lev. 17:11, NRSV).
In the Book of Leviticus,
it says that the life of our flesh and our bodies, is our blood. In the Book of
Genesis, emphasizing to the Jews the significance of blood it says in 9:4:
But you shall not eat flesh with its
life, that is, its blood (Gen. 9:4, NRSV).
The Book of Revelation
1:5 says of Jesus:
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, (Rev. 1:5, NRSV).
In
1 Peter 1:18-19 it says this:
18 You
know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors,
not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19 but
with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or
blemish (1
Pet. 1:18-19, NRSV).
In
Romans 5:9 it says of Jesus:
9 Much
more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be
saved through him from the wrath of God (Rom. 5:9, NRSV).
What
can wash away my sins? “Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
In looking briefly at our gospel of
Mark reading for this morning, once again, one of the scribes asked Jesus what
the most important commandment from God is. Jesus answers picking up in 12:29
saying:
29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mk. 12:29-30, NRSV).
Some might ask then, “Well if Jesus
said to love God and our neighbor as ourselves, does it matter than that Jesus
shed his blood for us?” Yes, because Jesus’ shed blood is what covers us from
sin and reconciles us to God. After centuries of prophets like Isaiah and Ezekiel
calling us to holiness and us failing, God sent his son Jesus. Jesus, the new Passover
Lamb, shed his blood and died for us. This is not for a night, but for
eternity. Like the blood of a pure and spotless lamb on the doorposts and
lintels of the Jews in Egypt, Jesus covers our hearts and souls with his blood
for eternity.
We are then freed up to love God and
neighbor, without fear, worry, and trepidation. As far as the
blood of Chris though, the great reformer Martin Luther said this:
One drop of Christ's blood is worth more than heaven and
earth (https://www.azquotes.com/quote/851985).
After Jesus told one of the scribes to
love and God and love your neighbor as yourself, the gospel for this morning concludes
once again saying:
32 Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; 33 and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question (Mk. 12:32-34, NRSV).
We are called to love God and to love
our neighbors as ourselves, but how are we made free from our sins? As song title
says, “Nothing but the Blood” Of Jesus. Amen.
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