Well, here it is, the Wednesday of Holy Week, the last few hours of Jesus' life on Earth.
There's a song playing on Christian radio stations right now that touches my heart concerning this week. The chorus reads, "He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our sins. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by his wounds, we are healed." The song is called, well, By His Wounds by Mac Powell, it's on YouTube if you want to hear it in its entirety.
But, how true that is, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Christ this week, and by his wounds, his ugly wounds that led to death, we are all healed.
In 1 Corinthians 12 my man Paul points out that
Just a a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is part of it.
Classic scripture, right?
The church as the body of Christ.
You know, whenever I hold a meeting here at the church, I always like to start it off by doing a check-in with everyone present. A check-in is something as simple as going around the circle and telling everyone your favorite restaurant. But more often than none the prompt for my check-ins are this, "If we are all considered the Body of Christ, then which part of the Body are you?"
Now, think about that for a second, which part of the Body are you?
Most answers are his hands, feet, his ears, his heart, the brain, being on church staff I usually say I am the digestive system.
But you know, in over the hundred times I have used this prompt, not one person has ever come back with being, His blood.
Matthew 26:26 reads, Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus' blood is forgiveness. And that is what we are all seeking. And, that was made available to us all, during the end of this oh so holy week.
You know what ties families together? Yes, their blood lines. And seeing that we are all the Body of Christ, we are all family too, sharing the same blood.
Later today when you are alone with Jesus, I encourage you to include him in as you reflect more deeply on this thought of being the Body of Christ and more specially on being the blood of that body.
We all know, nothing will function within this body without the presence of blood.
Join in prayer, would you-
Heavenly Father, Healer of our Wounds,
As we walk together through Holy week may we remember, that beyond sin there is unconditional love, beyond death there is life unimaginable, beyond brokenness there is continued forgiveness, beyond betrayal there is grace poured out eternally. May we remember these things and give you thanks.
Amen.
