Over at least the last 150 years there has been a tendency in certain seemingly Christian traditions to downplay the importance of the cross and resurrection of Jesus. The mantra goes something like this: Let’s just emphasize the moral and ethical teachings of Jesus. That’s what’s really important. No need to dwell on the nature of his death or the claims about his miraculous resurrection.

To be sure, the moral and ethical teachings of Jesus are important. They represent the highest levels of holiness, love, and devotion to God and our fellow humans. Yet, without the cross and resurrection there really is no power to even begin to carryout the moral and ethical teachings of Jesus.

Along these lines there seems to be a notion of Jesus apart from His blood, meaning the blood that He shed on the cross for our sins. There is a woke Jesus in the minds of many. There is a patriotic, flag-waving Jesus in some people’s narrative. There is a Jesus who just smiles and winks at willful sin. Really, there is a Jesus who seems to look a lot like the world and yet looks very unlike the Jesus on the pages of Scripture.

I heard a sermon recently that touched on the importance of the blood of Jesus. So it got me to thinking. What is the benefit of His shed blood for us? And is it really something we can take or leave? Or, is it absolutely central to the faith we claim to hold?

So, I looked up references to blood in the Bible, sifting to pinpoint those that refer to the shed blood of Jesus. I found several benefits (at least 12). I also discovered that these benefits are not optional, as if we can take them or leave them. Instead, they speak to the very heart of what it means to identify as Christian.

Here’s the first benefit of Jesus’ blood: A New Covenant. When Jesus shared the bread and the cup with his disciples, He used wine to symbolize the blood He would soon shed on the cross. “For this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins” (Matt 26:28). The parallel passage in Luke records Jesus saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood” (Lk 22:20; compare Mk 14:24; 1 Cor 11:25).

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God had promised a new covenant for the people of Israel (Jer 31:31-34). He said it would not be like the old one given after the Exodus. That Covenant was largely a set of written rules they were required to follow. But in the New Covenant, the Law would be within them, written upon their hearts. In the days of the New Covenant, God declares, “…I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jer 31:34).

So at the last supper, Jesus was saying He would bring this New Covenant through His death, that is, by His blood. The bottom line is that when you believe in Jesus you are forgiven of all your sins based on His vicarious death and welcomed by God into His New Covenant Community. The New Covenant is made available to all people through faith in Christ.

The blood of Jesus, far from being some extraneous, unimportant detail, is the basis for God’s New Covenant with humanity. Paul summarizes the gospel message, in part, by saying “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor 15:3). If there is a dark side to Jesus’ moral and ethical teachings, it’s that none of us has truly lived up to them. That is why Jesus willingly gave up His life, dying on the cross all those centuries ago. He died for our failure to truly be all that God has called us to be.

Praise His name forever!

Pastor George