By David Faust

I have visited a lot of hospital patients over the years and I try not to be squeamish, but the sight of blood still bothers me. My wife, an R.N., handles it better than I do. So does my M.D. son-in-law who has spent a lot of time in hospital emergency rooms.

Nothing but the Blood

In Moses’ day people already realized that “the life of a creature is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11), but today we understand far more about the marvels of hematology (the study of the physiology of blood). There’s even a medical journal called Blood published by the American Society of Hematology. Our fine-tuned circulatory systems are evidence of God’s creative handiwork, delivering life-sustaining nutrients and oxygen to the cells of the body while transporting waste products away. You and I may not give much thought to plasma and platelets, hemoglobin and white blood cells, but we rely on our hearts, arteries, and veins every day. Blood is an amazing thing.

I still don’t like the sight of it though. When I hold my baby granddaughter with her innocent smile, I cringe at the thought of any pain that lies ahead of her. Like the rest of us, someday she will scrape her knee or cut her finger. I have scars from basketball injuries and bicycle accidents, from precision surgical cuts, and from the time my hand slipped while dicing an onion. Someday my sweet little granddaughter will have some scars of her own.

Everybody bleeds. No one makes it through life unscathed. We all have our scars. That’s why we need a Savior who bleeds too.

The Precious Blood of the Lamb

We can worship God from afar, but when we’re hurting we need him up close. More than a wispy spirit, we need the Word who became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1:1, 14). We need a gritty, down-to-earth high priest who can empathize with our weaknesses because he shares our flesh and blood (Hebrews 2:14, 4:15). We are redeemed by “the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19).

“Alas, and did my Savior bleed, and did my Sovereign die?” Yes! “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” (John 3:16). That saving love came at a price, and it involved blood. “See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down.” His head deserved a crown of gold, but it bled profusely from the crown of thorns. His hands brought healing to the blind and blessings to little children, and his feet deserved to be kissed, but nails fastened his hands and feet to the cross. “He was pierced for our transgressions, . . . and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

We don’t like the sight of blood, but we need to think about it anyway. We need to remember it at the Lord’s Table and ponder it on Good Friday. We should thank God every time we confess our faults to the Father, bringing him our wounds and scars, trusting that “the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

Everybody bleeds. The cross reminds us that Jesus came to stop the bleeding once and for all.

David Faust serves as the Associate Minister at East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Based on International Sunday School Lesson, © 2013, by the Lesson Committee. Scripture quotations are from the New International Version ©2011, unless otherwise indicated.

As you apply today’s Scripture study to everyday life, read Engage Your Faith by David Faust and the correlating Evaluation Questions.

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