Monday, March 9, 2020
695 - Lifeblood
Spirituality Column #695
March 10, 2020
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
Lifeblood
By Bob Walters
“Let His blood be on us and
our children.” – the Praetorium mob shouting at Roman governor Pontius Pilate
after persuading him to crucify Jesus, Matthew 27:25
In our current season of enhanced
public-health-obsessive but probably prudent handwashing – thanks, Coronavirus
– let’s look at the most famous handwashing episode of all time: Pontius Pilate
washing his hands of the blood of Jesus.
First, to be clear, the one has
nothing to do with the other – Pontius Pilate and Coronavirus, we mean. But we are a couple of weeks into the holy
season of Lent leading up to Easter on April 12 moving toward that remembrance
of the last days, arrest, trial, blood, cross, crucifixion, death, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Throughout Christendom, much is
always said about “the blood of Jesus.”
It covers our sins, washes us, and heals us. The blood of Jesus – and only His blood –
provides for our righteousness before God because in His grace our sins and
fallenness are forgiven. Our faith in
Jesus as the Son of God – that He was Who He said and showed He was – restores
our divine relationship in the heavenly Kingdom. We were created in God’s image, and our faith
in the blood of Christ is our passport back home.
We realize that to non-believers,
that last paragraph is gobbledygook. But
a Holy Spirit-infused faith shows us that the blood of Christ brings renewed
life to humanity, though we are free to accept or dismiss the truth of the
Bible. Pilate famously washing his own
hands of Jesus’s blood (Matthew 27:24), just prior to the public chorus cited
above (Matthew 27:25), often confuses the hopeful message Jesus actually
delivered.
Pilate was perhaps the most
reluctant executioner of all time. He
knew in his soul Jesus was innocent, was of another realm, posed no imminent
threat to the earthly sovereignty of the Roman empire, and himself became spiritually
fearful while dealing with him. The
crowd, shouting for the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus, forced
Pilate’s hand as the Roman hoped to keep peace for the Passover in Jerusalem.
But Pilate had no peace, really. The crowd shouted, Pilate washed his hands of
Jesus’s blood, and then loosed upon Jesus the ugliest beating and death
imaginable.
Yet, it was as it had to be. The crowd inviting Jesus’s blood “to be on
us and our children” – unbeknownst to them – was exactly as it was meant to
be, but not as they ignorantly and self-righteously proclaimed. Jesus was going to the cross indeed, but, in
truth, for them and for their children so they might one day know the peace
of Christ.
When we see only the violence and
ugliness of the cross, and when we embrace only guilt and the apparent
punishment, penalty, payment, price of our sins – it is a wholesale sign that,
like the shouting crowd, we are missing the grace of Jesus’s blood.
Jesus’s blood was shed for us not
in destruction and rejection, but in healing, reconciliation, love, and
life. It was poured out not “against”
anyone, but “for” everyone.
The mob’s words foretold not the implied
curse, but described a truth no one yet understood: that in Christ’s blood was humanity’s
redemption, salvation, and eternity.
I believe heaven is an open shop
for the faithful, that Jesus came for all, and that the key into the Kingdom is
the gracious blood of the New Covenant of Christ.
So yes Lord, please, let your
blood be on us; and fill all our lives with your truth.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is not a
universalist but prays for everybody. He
is also going right now to wash his hands.
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