In the Blood

Today I gave blood.

Well, it’s more like, they took blood. I can’t say I did something as noble as donate blood to a blood bank, when what really happened was that I went to a medical lab to have blood drawn for a round of routine tests. The blood-taker (technical name: phlebotomist) jabbed a needle in my right arm and drew blood from one of my veins.

Some blood-takers have a sense of humor. Others do not. One asked me, “Spell your first and last name for me.” I replied, “Y-o-u-r  f-i-r-s-t  a-n-d  l-a-s-t  n-a-m-e.” The needle stick hurt a bit worse that day. Another time, I asked if the phlebotomist’s work was “in vein.” Not a word in reply. And when I asked why they took so many vials of blood from someone who was supposed to be anemic, since that would leave me more so, the needle-sticker just said it’s surprising how little blood I need to get by. I asked her where I could go to make a withdrawal instead of a deposit.

Some blood-takers have a sense of humor.Others do not.

It’s amazing how much information the medical people can learn from a quart of blood (okay, it only seemed like a quart. It was more like a couple teaspoons. No, make that, a lot of teaspoons). They count the quantity of cells and platelets, and their condition. They detect and measure all kinds of proteins, fats, and sugars, from which they can detect one’s overall health and many different diseases. They can tell how well you’re taking care of yourself, and what problems you’re likely to have. In fact, they can tell all kinds of things from the DNA in your blood, including your ancestry and how suitable you are for blood or organ donations or transplants. It’s almost as if one’s entire life is in his or her blood.

The life is in the blood.

Which sounds almost biblical, because it is. The Old Testament law prohibits drinking the blood of animals (I’m sure humans are included in that law, too) along with their meat, because “the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood” (Leviticus 17:14). Deuteronomy 12:23 repeats the command: “Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.” Both passages are consistent with the command God gave Noah after the Flood, “But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood” (Genesis 9:4). For that reason, keeping a kosher kitchen has always required that the animal to be eaten was killed by being cut and drained of blood, not strangled.

Now, on the one hand, stating that one’s life is in the blood seems obvious. Blood is required for life – to provide oxygen and nutrients to the body’s cells and remove their waste products. If we get cut and “bleed out,” we die. If we lose blood from an injury or surgery, we may need a transfusion, or we die. Whether hunting food or fighting enemies in combat, one attempts to prevail by making the target bleed and die. In that way, the life is in the blood.

the teaching that “the life is on the blood” used to confuse me a bit.

But, on the other hand, the teaching that “the life is on the blood” used to confuse me a bit. I thought how we are body, mind, and spirit, and therefore our life is much more complicated than just what’s flowing through our veins. What if I do happen to eat some blood with my meat, such as with a rare steak? Am I taking the cow’s life into mine when I do? And what about transfusions – if I receive blood, am I absorbing another person’s being into my soul, like a vampire from an old horror movie? Since over my lifetime, I have eaten chicken, turkey, game hens, eels, tuna, sardines, perch, trout, pike, bass, crabs, lobsters, clams, oysters, shrimp, alligators, cows, pigs, lambs, elk, and even reindeer, have I become a veritable zoo? And what about my DNA-proven English ancestors and their penchant for blood pudding? I’m glad to say that’s one tradition I have not embraced!

Now that I have seen all the information one can glean from blood tests, I better understand how true the biblical teaching really is. For not only can the blood reveal underlying physical conditions, it can also show drug use, drinking, and sexual contact – in other words, social behaviors as well. (Note to readers: my blood work today was not for any of those reasons!)

But there’s an even more important way the the biblical teaching about blood and life is true and relevant to us.

But there’s an even more important way the the biblical teaching about blood and life is true and relevant to us. By the genius of God’s Word, this Old Testament truth is affirmed in the New Testament, only with a twist: for now the command is to receive new life through a different blood, the blood of Jesus Christ. John 6:53-55 spells it out in Jesus’ own words: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.“

Now, if I had some questions about what the Bible said about life being in the blood, the people who heard Jesus’ pronouncement that day were scandalized. Verse 60 tells us that even many disciples said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” And then we read in verse 66, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” This seems to refer to people other than the Twelve closest disciples, but still, these were followers and not enemies of the Lord. But though Jesus’ words form what is called one of the “hard sayings” of the Bible, his promise of life through his blood is our hope.

For it is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ that we have hope of forgiveness of our sins. Hebrews 9:22 says that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins,” and explains that whereas the priests used to sacrifice the blood of animals for our sins, Christ poured out his own shed blood as the sin-forgiving sacrifice for us. And while the priests had to continually offer the blood of many animals, Christ, our High Priest, offered his blood, once and done, as the final perfect sacrifice for our sins.

we receive new life in his blood.

By faith in him and his atoning sacrifice, we receive the forgiveness that his blood purchased for us – in other words, we receive new life in his blood. The New Testament is full of such promises related to Christ’s blood, affirmed by the Apostles’ writings:

• When discussing the Lord’s Supper. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:16 “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?”
• Paul writes also in Ephesians 2:13 to Gentile readers, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
• Peter says, “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
• And the Apostle John praises Christ “who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood” (Revelation 1:5).
  

So it appears that the most important blood is the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord, bled and shed for you and me, for it is in that blood, his blood, that we truly receive life – eternal life. Our life is in his blood.

Maybe I’ll mention that to my phlebotomist the next time I give blood . . .

May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Hebrews 9, John 6