Blood, Passion and Sacrifice (Saturday, Week 2, Year 1)

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In the ritual sense of it, there is no sacrifice without the shedding of blood. In an attempt to make a distinction between the Old and the New, the Letter to the Hebrews (9:2-3. 11-14) further highlights that the high priests of the Old Covenant sacrificed goats and calves, the blood of which was shed and sprinkled for purification. But Christ, as a high priest of the New Covenant, shed His own blood once and for all to secure an eternal redemption for humanity. Let us focus on the symbolism of blood.


“Blood” is life: it is a strong metaphor for passion and sacrifice. To say that you will do something until the last drop of your blood is an indirect way of saying that you will give it your all: that you will do everything humanly possible to make it happen. Christ was so passionate for our redemption that He deemed it very necessary to literally shed His own blood in order to secure our redemption. In Mark 3:20-21, His friends went out to seize Him because they thought that He was mad: “…for they said, ‘He is beside himself’”. Why that thought from His friends? Why that expression from them? Jesus was so passionate to address the needs of the people such that wherever He went, the crowd gathered. He didn’t even have time to eat. His passion for the needs of others was so strong and uncommon to be understood as normal. That is why His friends called Him a mad man.


The keyword here is PASSION. What FUEL is to an engine is what PASSION is to the human spirit. Whatever one is very passionate about, the person goes out of his or her way to achieve. It is only a person filled with PASSION and LOVE that can sacrifice his/her convenience for the sake of others. Jesus was very passionate about our salvation. He not only sacrificed His convenience and meals for the sake of His people (cf. Mk. 3:20), He also literally shed His own blood on the cross for you and me. The question is: What am I really passionate for? Is it worth my "blood"?  

    

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, may I be consumed by the zeal for the cause of right and justice, Amen.


Have a restful weekend!



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