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“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

᛭ INI ᛭

The Lord doesn’t do things our way. He doesn’t fit in our boxes. He doesn’t change Himself so that He’s more palatable, pleasing to our wants or our modern way of thinking. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Is 55:8–9)

It is 100% clear from our Epistle reading and from the Parable that Jesus preaches in Luke 14. It all has to do with blood! That’s clear from Ephesians 2, but it’s also Jesus’ parable. Besides inviting all sorts of undesirable people to a banquet, but the host says something that has to do with blood. “All things are now ready.” (But more on that in a bit…)

The language and reality of blood and your salvation is what we moderns chafe against. It strikes us as wrong or archaic, antiquated, out of date, or well, just plain barbaric! But God’s clear in His Word. “The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sins.” (1 Jn 2) “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission,” (Heb 9) no forgiveness. We like the talk of salvation, grace, mercy, and forgiveness. But there’s only one way any of that’s true, and it’s offensive! It’s all through Jesus’ blood! As Paul puts it today:

THE BLOOD OF JESUS BRINGS YOU NEAR.

(I. Jesus’ blood brings you near to God.)

The blood of Jesus brings you near to God. You only have access to God through blood of Jesus. His cross reconciles you with God. You’re no longer an outsider with God, but you’re brought in, brought near by the blood of Jesus. Jesus’ pierced flesh broke down the dividing wall of hostility between you and God. God’s demand for justice over sin was satisfied, the breaking of His legal code was paid for, and the war between God and man was ended. There’s no more bad blood between you and God because of God’s own blood, the blood of Jesus. This is why when Jesus shed His blood and died the “curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” (Mt 26)

It’s not abstract. It’s real—real flesh, real blood, real death. Jesus’ flesh, broken, beaten, scarred, is your peace and reconciliation. Jesus’ blood, that flows through His veins, that dripped down the cross and on the ground, is your redemption, your salvation, your forgiveness before God. “His blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (Heb 12) His actual death, the death of the Son of God, is what put to death the enmity, the hostility, the war between God and man.

Jesus’ blood has to do with Jesus’ blood! Wherever Jesus’ Blood is there isn’t just access to God but the most intimate union and communion with God! This has everything to do with Communion! “All things are now ready” the host said in Jesus’ parable. The fattened calf for feasting would’ve been slaughtered. So also the blood of Jesus shed at Calvary has to do with Communion! It’s why Jesus instituted His Last Will and Testament in anticipation of His Suffering, blood, and death, that through eating and drinking His body and blood we would participate in “proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Cor 11)

Besides all that, THE BLOOD OF JESUS BRINGS YOU NEAR to God by giving you the forgiveness of sins, but also by uniting you with Jesus and Jesus with you, that Jesus would live within you and you in Jesus. “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood [remains] in Me, and I [remain] in him.” (Jn 6) “The bread I give for the life of the world is My flesh.” (Jn 6) “Blesséd is he who shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God.” (Lk 14)

(II. Jesus’ blood brings you near to each other.)

THE BLOOD OF JESUS BRINGS YOU NEAR. It brings you near to God, but it also brings you near to each other. Through Christ’s flesh, which bore His suffering, His blood that redeems sin, and His death that kills hostility, Christ has reconciled us one to another. As Paul says, Christ creates “in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.” The two made one here is Israelite or Jew and Gentile. And this affects every aspect of your “fervent love toward one another.”

Jesus’ blood brings you near to each other, but not just each other, everyone you meet! For Christ “Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” (1 Jn 2) This means that everyone you meet is someone Jesus’ shed His blood for, whether they believe that or not. (Tell them so!) That means they aren’t whatever they define themselves as, like the madness of the world today. No, they are “blood bought,” they are “died for.” So, we speak the truth to them in love, and show them kindness and mercy.

This also affects how Christians interact with each other. Whether that’s us as fellow congregation members, or you as a Christian spouse or parent, child or sibling. When we interact with each other, we aren’t just blood bought. We’re blood washed! The blood of Christ has brought us near to each other. This was done in holy Baptism. We are fellow baptized! “One body through the cross!” “Baptized into His death!” (Rom 6) “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3)

Not only are you baptized as one—so near to one another in Baptism!—but also so intimately near, so intimately one because of Communion. The broken laws between us, how we’ve sinned against one another, are swallowed up at Communion. For Christ’s flesh has broken that barrier between each of us who communion. His blood has brought us near to each other. We are all blood brothers in the blood of Christ! “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread. (1 Cor 10) Even as “the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind” (Lk 14) were all one at the banquet table in Jesus’ parable!

(Conclusion.)

THE BLOOD OF JESUS BRINGS YOU NEAR—near to God and near to one another. It isn’t just access, but intimate communion, fellowship, and unity. Certainly at the cross, where Christ died for all! Certainly at the font where all “our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Heb 10) So also, united to Christ and to God and to each other in the flesh and blood of Jesus at Communion.

The Lord’s Supper is for the forgiveness of sins, but there are aspects of that forgiveness that have more meaning to us at different point in our lives or at different stages of our walk with Jesus. “In the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given us…for where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.” (SC V) So, when you’re sins pile up, there’s always more forgiveness. When you’re isolated, here’s true union with Christ and with each other. When you want to love people more but your love’s wearing out, here’s the true feast of love! (Jude 12) Christ’s love FOR YOU! When you don’t want to die but live forever: “whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood as eternal life, and I’ll resurrect him.” (Jn 6) THE BLOOD OF JESUS also BRINGS YOU NEAR to heaven itself! The flesh of Christ breaks down the dividing wall of separation between you and God, you and each other, and the dividing wall between heaven and earth! When the flesh and blood of Christ are near so are “angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven.”

“Blesséd indeed is he who shall eat bread,” even the flesh and blood of Christ, “in the Kingdom of God!”

᛭ INI ᛭