Usually, blood is not a good sign. We learn that from a very early age. From the first time you skinned your knee on the playground, you learned that seeing blood—particularly your own—is bad. As you grow older you’re reminded that if you’re looking at blood, then something unpleasant has probably happened. Now imagine seeing the blood of your leader. Many people here today don’t have to imagine. You’ve seen a president assassinated on television. There are some who point to the assassination of John F. Kennedy and say that America has never been the same since, and maybe they’re right. Under normal circumstances, seeing the blood of your President, or the blood of your King, does not mean good things.
There are exceptions, however. Here are a couple fictional examples. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic “The Lord of the Rings,” there is a scene where a King named Theoden lies dying on the field of battle. The blood of the King is visible, but that blood was shed in a noble cause. King Theoden had led his nation in a direct confrontation with evil, and the forces of good prevail. Another fictional example is found in C.S. Lewis’ “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” where the Lion of the title, Aslan, goes to the Stone Table in order to purchase the redemption of the boy Edmund. The powerful animal allows himself to be bound and shorn and relentlessly mocked, until finally his blood is shed at the hands of the White Witch. The two human girls who watch this all happen are at first horrified, but later, when Aslan returns to life, they realize that the blood he shed purchased their brother’s forgiveness. In these works of literature is a clear echo of a person who changed the world; the echo of a King whose shed blood did not mean defeat but victory.
When Jesus and his disciples gathered around a table on the night when he was betrayed, they gathered to remember an event in which blood was not a bad sign, but a good one. They were about to eat the Passover meal. Passover was the day when God’s people re-lived what He did for them in Egypt. For four hundred years they had toiled as slaves to the Egyptians. Finally, when God was ready to move, he told them to eat a special meal to prepare for what He would do. He told them to eat bread without yeast, because He was going to act quickly. There would be no “rise time” for their dough. He also told them to select a perfect lamb to eat—and most importantly, they were to take the blood of the lamb and paint it on the doorframes of their homes. The angel of death would be sent through the land of Egypt, killing the firstborn of every household, but when the angel saw the blood of the lamb, he would pass over, sparing those who had obeyed the Lord.
For more than a thousand years, God’s people celebrated this holy day every year by eating the Passover meal. In many ways, the meal that Jesus ate with His disciples was the same as always. But at the same time, this meal is different. At this particular Passover, Jesus says something no one had ever said before…from Mark 14:
And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take, this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
The disciples would be seeing a lot of Jesus’ blood in the next few hours. Just after eating this Passover, they went with Jesus to the garden of Gethsemane. There, Jesus prayed to His Father with such intensity that he was sweating “great drops of blood” (Luke 22: 44). After Jesus was arrested, a crown of thorns was pushed down onto his brow. The Roman whip tore Jesus’ back to shreds. The rough crossbeam ground into his shoulders. And then they witnessed Jesus’ body pierced with nails and a spear. The disciples saw a lot of their King’s blood in those few hours—blood they had betrayed; blood they had denied; blood they had sinned against.
Blood is not usually a good sign. When the disciples saw the blood of Jesus, they could only see it as something terrible. At the time, they could not grasp the sign of the Passover. They could not grasp the sign of the blood that saved God’s people from death. They could not recall the words Jesus had spoken to them at the table—“This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” But in time, after the resurrection, they would understand. They would come to see how the pieces fit together. Jesus’ followers would not only come to believe it, but they would proclaim that they had seen the new covenant poured out before them; they would preach and teach God’s exceedingly generous and gracious love poured out in the blood of Jesus. They had been there to see Jesus’ blood as it was spilled, and they would stake their lives on this; that it was not a bad sign; on the contrary: Jesus’ blood was forgiveness. In Jesus’ blood there is life.
In that Upper Room, the King, condemned to die, hosted a meal. An odd thing for a King to do, perhaps, but that meal is a clear echo of a person who changed the world; the echo of a King whose shed blood does not mean defeat but victory, and that echo has reached your ears. Because today/tonight that same King, your Lord Jesus, invites you to be at the table with him. The new meal he gave to his disciples that fateful night is the same meal he offers to you. At this altar table, in this church, Jesus says, “Take, this is my body…This is my blood of the covenant.” The King who speaks these words is the One whose Word caused all things to be made at the beginning of time. With this bread and wine, you have the body and blood of Jesus. He has spoken this into reality for you.
Come to the King’s Table. Believe that His blood is life for you. The blood of Jesus is the forgiveness we need, and the need is desperate. Why desperate? Because we neglect God, even though we know he should be our top priority. We fail to love the people in our lives, though we know we ought to. We hold grudges, we gossip, we live selfishly, and then have the nerve to complain against God when things don’t go the way we want them to. We desperately need forgiveness. We need the complete forgiveness that is given in no other way than in Jesus’ blood.
Here, at the King’s Table, you can start all over again. Here, at the King’s Table, receive a life-giving transfusion of His blood. Leave the King’s Table today/tonight refreshed and re-made. God holds no sin against you, because Jesus’ blood has been shed. This King’s blood is not a bad sign. It is beautiful, for those who believe; in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
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