WASHED IN THE BLOOD?
A few years before I was born, radio airwaves in many cities
carried the well-delivered, carefully constructed, persuasive sermons of Bishop
Fulton Sheen. How many of you have heard a broadcast of Bishop Sheen? What a voice; what a delivery; what a
message. Let me give you a taste of his
message. In dealing with Jesus’ crucifixion, his last supper, his resurrection,
and his appearances to his followers before his ascension, these words were broadcast:
Friends, as a soldier may return from
war wearing the ribbons of victory, so Jesus rises from the dead wearing the
scars of battle against sin! Everywhere
in the Easter scenes we meet a Great Soldier with His scars! Mary Magdalene,
who had anointed His Feet for His burial just a few days before, and then once
again knelt at His Feet on Calvary’s Hill, on Easter morn recognized Him to be
not the Gardner, but the Risen Savior, as clinging to his feet she sees there
the livid red memories of riven steel.
What a gift for words! Is the picture in your mind? He goes
on:
O Captain of the wars! Why wear ye these
scars? First, to prove the law of Christian life that no one shall be crowned
unless he has struggled; that no crowns of merit rest suspended on those who do
not fight; that unless there is a Good Friday there will never be an Easter
Sunday; that no one ever rises to a higher life without a death to a lower
one…Second, [Christ suffered] to prove his love. True love seeks not its own
good but the good of the other…True love is proven not by words but by offering
something to the one loved… [And] third, [he died] to solicit our love; Christ
rose not with wounds- for those would betoken a weakness after battle- but with
scars, glorious medals of victory on
Hands and Feet and Side.
What a picture that man paints. Let me close his quote with
these words, and these are my point today:
There are some who would have an
unscarred Christ; they would have the Christ on the Mount of Beatitudes because
they love beautiful sayings, but not the Christ on the Mount of
Do you know, my Confirmation families and all who are
gathered, that there are such heresies in our world today parading as
Christianity? My own children have run
in to fundamentalist youth who truly believe that since they accepted Jesus and
are born again that they are now free from sinning; that they actually live a
sinless life. They believe that with
all sincerity, even though Scripture teaches that “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”{Romans 3:23]
Jesus paid the terrible price for human sins to show us the depth of the holy
heart. Just as Memorial Days in our nation remind us to never forget the cost
of freedom, the Cross of Christ reminds us to never forget the cost of salvation.
Christians give thanks for both freedom and forgiveness.
Today in the midst of John’s first letter, where topics such
as love are prevalent, John slips a statement from Theology 101, giving
listeners a basic lesson in the doctrine that John helped form in the first
century. Here is the sentence from 1 John 5:6: “This is he who came by water
and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only, but with the water and the blood.” The lesson of John the letter writer and the
lesson of Fulton Sheen are the lessons of this book (the Bible.) We cannot just
cry out “Now I am saved, all is well!”
Nor can we say “Baptize my child and Heaven’s protection will be
assured!” It is by grace we are saved through our faith; God can save whom God
chooses to save! Nor can we revel in the Transfiguration of Jesus without enduring
the Crucifixion of Jesus. We cannot claim any power from Jesus’
For those who are professing their faith today, who are
taking this step on their own: the price that has been paid for you and for
others here who have professed their in Jesus Christ as Lord: Jesus has washed
your repentant heart not just in water, but in his blood. That is an image that
may seem distasteful, but it is the crucial ingredient in Christian theology.
Water and blood are forever before us in the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy
Communion. Both remind us of what Jesus
told us to remember to do until he comes again. Our world sorely needs more
good Christian examples. Be one; every one
of you, as you leave this place. Salvation
is your commission, not just your protection.
Jeffrey A. Sumner