Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Daily Devotion

Today's Scripture
Hebrews 9:1–14

Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. For a tent was constructed, the first one, in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the Presence; this is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a tent called the Holy of Holies. In it stood the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which there were a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot speak now in detail. Such preparations having been made, the priests go continually into the first tent to carry out their ritual duties; but only the high priest goes into the second, and he but once a year, and not without taking the blood that he offers for himself and for the sins committed unintentionally by the people.

By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the sanctuary has not yet been disclosed as long as the first tent is still standing. This is a symbol of the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various baptisms, regulations for the body imposed until the time comes to set things right. But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God! (NRSV)

The church my family attended when I was in elementary school talked a lot about blood. Scriptures and songs made prominent mention of “the blood of the lamb” and being “washed in the blood.” My parents and my Sunday School teachers calmly explained what it all meant to me — that Jesus’ death had forgiven my sins — but the imagery of blood in church always made me a little uneasy.

Today’s scripture puts me in touch again with that unease, though I accepted at a young age that any serious engagement with the Bible was going to involve dealing with blood. “Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!” says God to Cain in Genesis 4. Leviticus talks about blood a lot in describing sacrificial atonement rites instituted for the Israelites. Jesus tells his disciples that the cup he shares with them on the night of his arrest contains “my blood of the covenant.” And the epistles of the New Testament (most prominently Hebrews) explain the impact of Jesus’ death for us in bloody terms: “... how much more will the blood of Christ... purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!”

This is what theologians call a “sacrificial” understanding of Atonement, that is, the belief that Jesus’ death has done something for us. It relies on the typology of those sacrificial rites described in Leviticus, a typology Jesus also seemed to be appropriating. It’s powerful, the conviction that the unjust suffering and death of one who willingly submitted and did not resist, is the most powerful thing that has happened for us and for our relationship with God. Bloody powerful.

There are other ways Christians have understood that, too. Jesus’ life and suffering are a kind of moral example for us to follow, sacrificing our comfort and privilege for those in need. Others have spoken (and prayed and sang and worshiped) in a more general way about our life as believers “in Christ”; we participate in Jesus’ death and resurrection in our discipleship.

Our understanding of blood, Jesus, and faith has grown and changed over time (I note with interest that our denomination’s book of authoritative creeds and confessions does not contain a single mention of “blood” after the Westminster Larger Catechism, which is from 1647!)

Yet Jesus’ death will always be a constitutive element of Christian faith. We worship Jesus as savior, one who suffered and bled for us and for all the world. In this, we don’t glorify violence and bloodshed but humbly submit our lives to a story in which the helpless suffering of a victim is transformed in God’s mercy into a mysterious emblem of strength.

Prayer

Savior of the world, what have you done to deserve this? And what have we done to deserve you? Strung up between criminals, cursed and spat upon, you wait for death, and look for us, for us whose sin has crucified you. To the mystery of undeserved suffering, you bring the deeper mystery of unmerited love. Forgive us for not knowing what we have done; open our eyes to see what you are doing now, as, through wood and nails, you disempower our depravity and transform us by your grace. Amen.

(Prayer for Good Friday, The Church of Scotland Book of Common Order)

Reflection written by Rocky Supinger, Senior Associate Pastor