The Blood Of Christ For Us

Maundy Thursday

1 Peter 1:18-20

"The Blood of Christ for Us"

18 You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,

19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

20 He was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake.RSV

Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus wh is the Christ. Amen

As we gaze at the cross, as we think about the events of this week. We turn our attention to the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross. We will zero in on the reality of that event. The cross was real, the pain, the suffering, the agony was real, so real that the earth shock and trembled from the dread and awe of the event.

Jesus died upon that cross. He suffered, he bore pain, he felt the sting of death, he felt the wrath of God, he lived in the human experience of knowing what sin is like. He lived knowing what the constant battle with Satan is all about. The cross of Calvary was at one time a horrible experience of suffering, but at the same time an expression of love on the part of God for all His children on earth.

As we focus on the cross of Christ, I would like our attention to be drawn to the sacrifice he made for us. I would like us to comprehend with our whole being that Jesus redeemed us with his precious blood.

The crucifixion of Jesus has in our time been sentimentalized into a pretty picture of an adoring Jesus who suffered with a smile on his face. Jesus was not crucified on a cross in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap. Jesus was crucified at a crossroads so cosmopolitan that they had to write His title in Hebrew, in Latin and in Greek. He was crucified at the kind of place were thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Jesus died in a most worldly way, a most inglorious way at the hands of the Romans who felt nothing, no remorse, no piety, no compassion.

Peter says in the text from his first letter that

"we were ransomed not with perishable thing such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."

Jesus’ blood was let for us and because of us so that our salvation might be secure with the Father. Jesus gave of himself, he gave us his body and he shed his blood for us. He sacrificed himself once for all time. Jesus sacrified himself so we would not be called on by the father to sacrifice our body and blood for the sins we commit. Jesus suffered in our place, he gave his whole being for us.

When we come forward this evening to partake in the meal Jesus gave to us, we can think back to the sacrifice he made for us on that cross. As we eat and drink this meal this evening; let us recall the cross, let us recall the sacrifice, let us participate in that sacrifice, let us live with Jesus that horrible death so that we can understand the uncomprehensible love he had for us.

Jesus is like the mother in the following story:

A story from Scotland tells of a mother’s dramatic rescue of her child. Workmen were blasting rock in a quarry. One day after they had attached the fuse and retired to a safe place and gave the alarm they saw a three year old child wandering across the open space where danger threatened. Every passing second meant death was closing in on the child.

The workmen called to the child and waved their arms, but he only looked on their strange antics with amusement. No man dared run forward knowing the explosion was only seconds away. The child most certainly would have been killed, had not his mother appeared at this moment of crisis.

Taking in the situation at a glance she did what her mother’s heart dictated. She did not run toward her son or yell to frighten him. Instead, she knelt down, opened wide her arms and smiled for him to come. Instantly the child ran towards her. Shortly later the area shook with the force of the explosion, yet the child was safe in his mother’s arms.

Jesus spread His arms wide open for us on the cross, so that we might have eternal live. His blood was spilled for us as He saved us from the implosion of sin and death