Friday, March 6, 2015
BLOOD THAT TRANSFORMS
Once there was a little girl who received, as a birthday gift, a shiny cross on a chain. She wore it quite proudly around her neck. It was attractive and found a special place over her heart. One day she was approached by a man (one of those crabby guys that thankfully we don't meet too often). He said, with a tone of sarcasm in his voice: "Young lady, I suppose you think Jesus died for you on a cross. Well, if He did (and I'm not saying it happened) but if He did, I don't think it was pretty like the cross you're wearing. It was an ugly cross made from weather-beaten wood. I don't think you should wear it as jewelry. You wouldn't wear a hangman's noose or an electric chair around your neck, would you?"
The little girl was taken aback and didn't know how to respond at first. But after thinking for a while she said: "Sir, I do believe Jesus died for me on a cross. I know it wasn't pretty like mine. But I also know what they told me in Sunday School." "And what was that?" he queried. "My teacher said that whatever Jesus touches, He changes. I think that's true for this cross hanging from my neck. Jesus has made it into a thing of beauty for me."
The grouch was certainly correct in what he said. The cross on which Jesus died wasn't pretty. It was rough and crude, designed for His torment. But the girl was right too. Jesus' death has transformed that ancient instrument of torture into a beautiful symbol of the salvation He won for us at the cost of His blood.
He has also transformed our whole outlook on life, our purpose for living, so that we have the desire to honor God with our bodies and spirits which are His. We joy to sing:
On my heart imprint Thine image, Blessed Jesus, King of Grace,
That life's riches, cares, and pleasures Have no power Thee to efface.
This the superscription be: Jesus, crucified for me,
Is my life, my hope's Foundation, And my Glory and Salvation.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 179)
