There’s Blood Everywhere

A Sermon on John 6:51-69 for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Series B, 2021

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is the third week in a row we’re taking our Gospel lesson from Jesus’ bread of life conversation in John, chapter 6. It’s the end of the chapter, but compared with the last two weeks, Jesus introduces something new. At first they were weirded out that Jesus told them that He was bread. Then they were weirded out that Jesus, whom they watched grow up, told them that He had descended from heaven. Today, it gets even weirder than that, because Jesus tells them that they will be eating His flesh and drinking His blood.

As Christians, we today shrug and say, “well, that’s the Lord’s Supper.” We generally don’t have any idea just what this meant to them in that day. But blood is a really big deal in the Old Testament. So if it meant something big to them, it also means just as much for us. Because blood is holier than holy. Blood cleansed every vessel in the temple. Blood is what conveyed the forgiveness of sins. Not even the high priest entering once per year into the Most Holy place was holy enough to put any blood whatsoever to his lips. In fact, they were expressly forbidden to do so. 

From Leviticus, “…[Y]ou shall eat no blood whatever, whether of fowl or of animal, in any of your dwelling places. Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.” In fact, the command goes clear back to when Noah got off the ark, and for the first time, all animals were considered food. The Lord said to Noah, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.”  

Again the Lord later tells His people, “I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life…. [T]he life of every creature is its blood.” 

The sacrificial worship of the Old Testament confessed something truly grand with its actions. The sacrificial animal died. The fat and organs were always burned on the bronze altar. The meat was either consumed by the priests in a sin offering, or the people in a thank offering, or by God Himself in the burnt offering on the altar. Every part  of the animal except one was destroyed in one way or another. 

The part that was never destroyed was the blood. Blood was applied to the altar, but never in the place where the fire was. It was painted on the four corner horns. It was poured beneath it. It was brought into the holy place and applied to the inner altar of incense. It was brought into the most holy place and sprinkled before the mercy seat. 

Whichever way God directed them for each ritual, the blood always remained. It dried there and stayed. And in this way, the animal, though slain, stood alive before God forever. Alive, because the life is the blood. And that blood stood everywhere in the tabernacle and the temple. As the author of the Hebrews tells us, “…[H]e sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” Therefore, the sacrificial altar never represented death, it was life, and life before their eyes in the blood.

The worship of God was always was connected to the forgiveness of sins by the shedding of blood. Even from the very beginning. Abel’s sacrifice of a lamb was well regarded, as its blood conveyed forgiveness. Not caused, but conveyed. Then, Abel’s blood from the ground cried out even after he was dead. The blood of the lamb in the first Exodus Passover told the angel of death that life reigns here, and death must pass over. In the rest of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, blood is mentioned one hundred times, in conjunction with how to run the Old Testament liturgy. 

Blood was at the center of the whole life of Israel. It was found where Almighty God was present with His people. It was found where sins were forgiven by God’s mercy. It was found on all that was holy. It was never destroyed, but always stood as a confession of life everlasting. It was the visible hope of resurrection, in which the Pharisees believed. And to which the Sadducees had to blind themselves, as they worked around this blood of life every day. 

We see that Old Testament blood alive in the throne room scenes in the book of Revelation. The Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, standing though slain before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. The martyrs who were slain are found alive beneath the altar in heaven. The implication being that the blood of their sacrifice was not merely a marker of death, but the marker of resurrection and life. 

Now we come to our Gospel lesson where Jesus mentions that He is not only bread to sustain life from day to day. Jesus is Himself the sacrifice that all that blood was pointing towards. The blood of the animals conveyed forgiveness. The blood of Christ creates forgiveness. And that blood isn’t applied to an altar. It’s applied to you.

The blood of Christ is sprinkled upon you. Painted on you as though you has horned corners or doorposts. Poured out before you to stand forever as your life. Placed on your lips. The catch though is this. You are made more holy than the Old testament high priest. You are made more holy than the holy of holies in the tabernacle and the temple. You are made more holy than the blood of every animal whose lives covered their whole place of worship. And that has consequences. 

Now when we sin, it is no longer just inevitable actions of a sinner. Each and every sin of ours takes on a gravity that it never had before. We defile what God made remarkably holy. Not even the small sins are ones we can ignore, as we profane what God sanctifies. This is why Paul makes such a big deal about how we walk as Christians, not only in today’s epistle lesson, but in everything he writes. “[A]t one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light  (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.” 

Our Old Testament lesson today too, from Proverbs on wisdom would have us turn away from our sin, and have us dine on what Wisdom has to give. ““Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” To him who lacks sense she says, “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight.”” We are made to do good. We are saved to do good. We are made holy to do good. So do good, and not evil. Do what God commands, not what the world or our own sinful hearts desire. 

So we try. And when we fail, when we fall short, Jesus takes His blood and sprinkles us again, paints it on us again, pours it out before us again. Places it on our lips again. Because of His blood, we do not despair when we fall into our sins. His blood paid for them all. He purchased us out of sin, death and the devil by His great sacrifice on the cross. The Father sent the Son to die on our behalf, trading His holiness and life, for our unholiness and death. We do not despair in the face of our sin. We should only despair when we try to justify our own sins. It is then that we cling to ourselves and let go of Christ. But Christ does not let go of us in return so easily.

The blood of Christ matters. It had to be shed in order that it would be yours. And the Lord’s Supper is the easiest application of that. But the blood of Christ shed at the cross is also yours in your baptism. The blood of Christ is yours when you hear His saving Word. The blood of Christ is yours when your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The blood of Christ is yours when you believe what the Holy Spirit has delivered to you in the Gospel. And of course, it’s places on your lips today, just as He has promised on the night when He was betrayed. 

You receiving Jesus at His cross, where the sacrifice is made, where He shed His blood for you, where His life is revealed, this is what Jesus means when He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” 

Jesus lives in us. And His life forgives our sins. His life makes our lives holy. His life raises our life from out of death. His life gives us eternal life with Him forever. The Lord has been showing us that this is exactly how He works from the beginning of creation itself. And that work of His continues right here among us today. Jesus Christ has shed His blood for you. And He gives it to you.

Let us pray. Holy Father, you sent Your Son to shed His blood for our sake. By His blood forgive our sins, raise us from death, and give us life everlasting. Through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Rested, Fed, and Strengthed

A Sermon on 1 Kings 19:1-8 and John 6:35-51 for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, series B, 2021

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In our Old Testament lesson, Elijah had just come off of his greatest victory imaginable. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel had put into place the worship of Baal as the official religion of Northern Israel. Their prophets numbered nearly a thousand. Elijah was the only one to stand against them. He challenged them to a contest. If their god would burn their sacrifice without them putting fire to it, he would give up. But if it went the other way around, then everyone would know who God is.

They went first, and they prayed all day, doing everything, including the drastic and painful, in order to get their god to light the fire of their sacrifice. Elijah waited as they tried, making fun of their god. Elijah made the worst possible decision, and doused the wood and the altar with as much water as it would take. Yet the fire from the Lord consumed the whole thing, altar and all. At his success, he ordered all those false prophets to be rounded up and killed, which the people gladly did in the face of such a sign from the true God.

This was supposed to be the moment where Elijah won. This was supposed to be the victory march into the palace, and the overthrow of the evil monarchy. This was supposed to be the end of the struggle, and the people were going to return to the Lord their God. But the very next hour, Elijah was running for his life. Elijah was all alone. Victory had turned into defeat. And Elijah just wanted to die. “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” 

In our Gospel lesson, the people who had followed Jesus had just come from the most amazing thing they had ever seen. That guy turned five loaves of bread into enough food for five thousand men, plus all the women and children to boot. And then He just gave it all away. In that day, that was a lot of labor saved. An incredible amount of time that they didn’t have to put in. This could change everything. 

But then Jesus just ups and disappears on them. They put their heads together and find Him in Capernaum. But now He’s talking about being the bread of life that descended from heaven. And yet, the area around Galilee isn’t that big in those days. They knew Joseph. They knew Jesus’ mother Mary. They saw Jesus as a child as He grew up. He’s not fooling anyone here with that schtick. 

They had their hopes way up after the bread miracle in the wilderness. But it didn’t matter how much bread he gave out, if this was His message. I am the bread of Life that comes down from heaven? What are they supposed to do? Eat Him? Their disappointment was immense. Jesus was not succeeding in being a winsome evangelist. And so they grumbled about Him.

Just like the grumbling people of God in the wilderness way back during the Exodus. Complaining about the bread God gave them, so they do just as their forefathers did. They gave up on Jesus, and returned to how things used to be before He showed up. It didn’t turn out to be the win everyone hoped for. Instead it was a loss too great to bear. As we will hear in next week’s Gospel lesson, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” 

  These aren’t the kinds of stories we want to hear. This isn’t the outcome we have in mind. We want our victories to last longer than this. We want the things we work so hard for to last. Once we get what we fought for, it’s not fair that it would all be lost again so quickly. How could things turn south so fast? It’s one thing when it happens somewhere else. When the politician we wanted lost, or even won. Or to the family of one of our friends. That’s disappointing. But it happens to us. And when it does, it’s devastating. You know what losses you have endured. You know the pain it leaves. As a result, we cry out that it isn’t fair. We say that there was no good that could have possibly come from such an outcome. How dare God let these things happen to me.

But as such it is for us who would control our own outcomes by the power of our own wills. So long as death has power over us, there will never be a permanent victory. One day or another, it always comes crashing down. Nothing lasts forever in a world that cannot bear the weight of its own sin. And us expecting any different is sheer naïveté. It was always going to end badly. And I think we as Christians know that part. 

What surprises us is that Jesus doesn’t take those things away. He doesn’t make them stop. Even though that’s what we want Him to get rid of the most. We want it so much that we will tell Him that if He doesn’t take care of it, then nothing else matters at all. Isn’t that what Elijah did when he told God to take his life? Isn’t that basically what the Jews told Jesus as they left Him? If we can’t have all our sorrows or needs erased right now, then why bother at all? This world hurts too much for us. The losses are too great. And if God were any god at all, He wouldn’t let them happen to me.

Such a cry reveals more about our hearts than we like to admit. It shows us who we are: selfish, sinful people. And so we tend to cover that part of our heart up, lest anyone see it. Or we hurt too much to bother. Or we come to a point where we wear such a badge with pride. But how we react is not at all the same way our Lord reacts. 

Elijah doesn’t have his life taken away. He is given rest. He is fed. He is told that the journey is too great for him. And that no amount of his own endurance would have ever been enough. The people who walked away from Jesus were likewise not abandoned. This was not the last they’d see or hear of Jesus. They’d be there in Jerusalem for the Passover, when Jesus died and was raised. They’d be there for Pentecost, when the disciples proclaimed the resurrection of Christ. They’d be there when evangelists went out to their towns and villages. And they would be given rest, they would be fed, and told that their journey was more than they could bear. 

Likewise, we are given rest. Rest from the collapsing world when we sit at His feet and listen to His Word. We are fed. Take, eat, this is My body. Take, drink, this is My blood for your forgiveness. We see that the journey is too great for our strength alone. So we watch Jesus go where we cannot. We watch Him go to our cross. Endure our shame. Suffer our pain. Feel our grief. Die our death. Be buried in our grave. Of course it is too much for us. All of this is too much for us. 

Do you really think you getting things to turn out in the way you want will really make that much difference? What went wrong cost God His life. And it was our own sin that did it. Yet our Lord making that great sacrifice changed everything. It didn’t make all losses we suffer not happen. It gave them a meaning that they wouldn’t have otherwise.

Because now we are no longer pushed to and fro by the seismic upheavals of the world. We are no longer at the mercy of forces outside our control. We no longer are bound by our own sin. For you stand with the one who overcame the sin of the world. You stand with the one who conquered death itself. You stand with the one whom Satan fears. And no matter how much the world throws at you to endure, it has already been endured for your sake. Because the Lord endures what we endure. The Lord suffers what we suffer. The Lord cries when we cry. And all of it connects us to His cross, His death, His resurrection. 

When these things happen to you, take heart in knowing that the world is really trying to get rid of Christ, and that it has already failed forever. Stand in Christ’s strength in this moment. For Jesus Christ has you in His hands for eternity. In this, you are equipped to face everything in this world. Even to face the last moments you will live on this earth. You are being prepared, and are now ready to endure those last moments, because you have the bread of life. You have Christ with you today. And He will bring you through this vale of tears to His holy mountain for eternity. 

Let us pray. Almighty Father, give us rest, feed us, and strengthen us for the journey ahead. Give us the bread of life always, that is Your Son Jesus, so that even though we face death here in this world, we will never face it again in the next. Through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.