Blood For Sale?
Sermon
Sermons On The Second Readings
For Sundays In Advent, Christmas, And Epiphany
Sol Levin recognized the profitable market for safe and uncontaminated blood in America. Consequently, he quit his successful job as a stockbroker in Tampa, Florida, and founded Plasma International. The company soon found, however, that not everyone is willing to sell their own blood for money. Plasma International soon had to start buying blood from people addicted to wine. Several cases of hepatitis were reported in recipients, so the company had to start looking for new sources of blood. With help from qualified medical consultants, Plasma International did extensive testing worldwide.
Eventually they found that several West African tribes had blood profiles that made them ideal donors. Plasma International signed an agreement with several tribal chieftains and negotiated with the local government to purchase blood. Business was conducted smoothly until a Tampa newspaper broke a story that the company purchased blood for fifteen cents a pint and resold it to hospitals in America for $25 per pint. Obviously the newspaper story created quite a controversy.1
The existence of commercialized blood marketing systems in our country is well established and has a long history. About half the blood obtained in the United States is bought and sold like any other commodity. Hemophiliacs, in particular, have enormous bills for blood. The threat of AIDS from contaminated blood is so great that it causes even the most courageous of us to pause and examine the need for blood whenever surgery is on the horizon for us.
Obviously today's scripture about the "better blood" of Christ has some real-life relation to us in which we can interpret what the author says. Certainly all the sacrificial metaphors of ancient Judaism are no longer meaningful. Neither are the contrasts between the perfect heavenly realities and the imperfect earthly copies as meaningful to us as they were to the Greek world. The religious assumptions about a Levitical priesthood foreshadowing the priestly work of Jesus Christ and heavenly sanctuaries contrasted with earthly tents are not there for us.
But we understand blood! We well understand the difference between clean blood and unclean blood. As the outrage over the Tampa newspaper story evidences, we even understand the difference between cheap blood and expensive blood.
The message from the epistle to the Hebrews offers the good news that those who have been disconnected from our divine source can be reinstated. Just as Ancient Christians could re-enter the worship of God through the sacrifices of goats, bulls, and calves, so can we through one whose blood is much purer than even the best of animal bloods.
The purpose of the sacrifice is to enable people to have new permission to enter the worship of God. Jesus is like a permanent free pass or, in Monopoly terms, "get out of jail free" card for you and for me.
All universities have two committees whose operations greatly affect the future of young people. One is an admissions committee. These are the people who decide to admit, to place on a waiting list, or to reject those who apply for places in the entering class. The other committee is a "readmission" committee. This second committee is extremely important for students who have been placed on academic probation. Once a student is accepted by the admissions committee, they must make the grades required to stay in good standing. The readmission committee is the committee that examines the students who are "on the margins" and rules on their right to return to the campus.
Hebrews tells us that Christ entered once and for all into the Holy Place in heaven with his own blood and obtained an eternal readmittance for all of us. We have a new permission to worship God. This single, unrepeatable offering of Christ's blood is a sacrifice that is good for all time.
The author of Hebrews is writing to people who were highly respectful of the traditions of Israel. The author realizes that there is a danger that these church members might abandon the name of Jesus Christ in favor of a worship of God that is more socially acceptable.
In this regard, worshipers need to grasp a bigger picture than that which is close at hand. We are part of a larger design than the social demands and rewards of the times in which we are living. The heavenly, once and for all nature of life needs to lift our little minds toward loftier awareness. A decade ago, a pop group named Kansas recorded a song called "Dust in the Wind."2 The lyrics were sad:
I close my eyes, only for a moment and the moment's gone.
All my dreams pass before my eyes in curiosity.
Dust in the Wind, all we are is dust in the wind.
Same old song, just a drop of water in the endless sea.
All we do crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see.
Dust in the Wind, all we are is dust in the wind.
Certainly our lives are more than "dust in the wind." There is blood for sale and the price has been eternally paid for us. Our modern lives, like the lives of the early Christians, are touched by the realities of sin and grace. There are moments in our experience when we push the presence of God far away and other times when the presence of God is very strong. This is the every day challenge of life, the struggle between emptiness and discipleship.
The text for today teaches us to understand life as atonement, within a framework of human sin and divine grace. God has blood for sale. The cost is faithfulness. The scripture walks a careful road without proclaiming a punishing God or one who simply does not care, either. Who really knows what God meant by the cross? The Christian church has never been totally comfortable with the idea of the blood of Christ. Yet our blood is our life. Jesus did not seem too concerned about his blood being for sale. In him God's being-with-us included God's being in the flesh and blood with us.
In a strange way we have a reversal of the first recorded murder in our sacred scripture. When we read the story of Cain and Abel, we find worship to have created a problem. Jealousy over an offering in worship leads to the first murder. Genesis reports a well-known verse: "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground" (Genesis 4:10). The verse can be compared to two gladiators fighting to the death in the arena. When one gladiator gets the better of the fight he looks up to the emperor who is watching the bloody contest. The world knows that if the emperor shows the "thumbs down" sign the victor has the royal permission to kill his victim. But if the "thumbs up" signal is given, the victim's life is spared. The Roman ruler has the fate of the unfortunate loser in his hands. More often than not, the "thumbs down" signal is the one given. The blood of martyrs always cries out from the ground to God, accusing those whose power could have spared their lives.
Every victim's blood cries unto God from the earthly realm. Only a great reversal can re-establish a relationship between victor and victim. This is precisely the message of Hebrews. The voice of Christ's blood cries unto humans from heaven. This blood can, indeed, cleanse our consciences from useless rituals, so we may serve the living God. We are readmitted to the circle of worship. There is blood for sale!
____________
1. See the case, "Blood For Sale," in William H. Shaw and Vincent Barry, Moral Issues in Business (Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1998), pp. 81-82. The case was prepared by T. W. Zimmerer and P. L. Preston for Business and Society (Cincinnati: South-Western, 1976), eds. R. D. Hay, E. R. Gray, and J. E. Gates.
2. For this reference I am grateful to the Very Reverend David M. O'Connell, C.M., President of the Catholic University of America, "Seize the Moment," a homily at The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, February 17, 1999.
Eventually they found that several West African tribes had blood profiles that made them ideal donors. Plasma International signed an agreement with several tribal chieftains and negotiated with the local government to purchase blood. Business was conducted smoothly until a Tampa newspaper broke a story that the company purchased blood for fifteen cents a pint and resold it to hospitals in America for $25 per pint. Obviously the newspaper story created quite a controversy.1
The existence of commercialized blood marketing systems in our country is well established and has a long history. About half the blood obtained in the United States is bought and sold like any other commodity. Hemophiliacs, in particular, have enormous bills for blood. The threat of AIDS from contaminated blood is so great that it causes even the most courageous of us to pause and examine the need for blood whenever surgery is on the horizon for us.
Obviously today's scripture about the "better blood" of Christ has some real-life relation to us in which we can interpret what the author says. Certainly all the sacrificial metaphors of ancient Judaism are no longer meaningful. Neither are the contrasts between the perfect heavenly realities and the imperfect earthly copies as meaningful to us as they were to the Greek world. The religious assumptions about a Levitical priesthood foreshadowing the priestly work of Jesus Christ and heavenly sanctuaries contrasted with earthly tents are not there for us.
But we understand blood! We well understand the difference between clean blood and unclean blood. As the outrage over the Tampa newspaper story evidences, we even understand the difference between cheap blood and expensive blood.
The message from the epistle to the Hebrews offers the good news that those who have been disconnected from our divine source can be reinstated. Just as Ancient Christians could re-enter the worship of God through the sacrifices of goats, bulls, and calves, so can we through one whose blood is much purer than even the best of animal bloods.
The purpose of the sacrifice is to enable people to have new permission to enter the worship of God. Jesus is like a permanent free pass or, in Monopoly terms, "get out of jail free" card for you and for me.
All universities have two committees whose operations greatly affect the future of young people. One is an admissions committee. These are the people who decide to admit, to place on a waiting list, or to reject those who apply for places in the entering class. The other committee is a "readmission" committee. This second committee is extremely important for students who have been placed on academic probation. Once a student is accepted by the admissions committee, they must make the grades required to stay in good standing. The readmission committee is the committee that examines the students who are "on the margins" and rules on their right to return to the campus.
Hebrews tells us that Christ entered once and for all into the Holy Place in heaven with his own blood and obtained an eternal readmittance for all of us. We have a new permission to worship God. This single, unrepeatable offering of Christ's blood is a sacrifice that is good for all time.
The author of Hebrews is writing to people who were highly respectful of the traditions of Israel. The author realizes that there is a danger that these church members might abandon the name of Jesus Christ in favor of a worship of God that is more socially acceptable.
In this regard, worshipers need to grasp a bigger picture than that which is close at hand. We are part of a larger design than the social demands and rewards of the times in which we are living. The heavenly, once and for all nature of life needs to lift our little minds toward loftier awareness. A decade ago, a pop group named Kansas recorded a song called "Dust in the Wind."2 The lyrics were sad:
I close my eyes, only for a moment and the moment's gone.
All my dreams pass before my eyes in curiosity.
Dust in the Wind, all we are is dust in the wind.
Same old song, just a drop of water in the endless sea.
All we do crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see.
Dust in the Wind, all we are is dust in the wind.
Certainly our lives are more than "dust in the wind." There is blood for sale and the price has been eternally paid for us. Our modern lives, like the lives of the early Christians, are touched by the realities of sin and grace. There are moments in our experience when we push the presence of God far away and other times when the presence of God is very strong. This is the every day challenge of life, the struggle between emptiness and discipleship.
The text for today teaches us to understand life as atonement, within a framework of human sin and divine grace. God has blood for sale. The cost is faithfulness. The scripture walks a careful road without proclaiming a punishing God or one who simply does not care, either. Who really knows what God meant by the cross? The Christian church has never been totally comfortable with the idea of the blood of Christ. Yet our blood is our life. Jesus did not seem too concerned about his blood being for sale. In him God's being-with-us included God's being in the flesh and blood with us.
In a strange way we have a reversal of the first recorded murder in our sacred scripture. When we read the story of Cain and Abel, we find worship to have created a problem. Jealousy over an offering in worship leads to the first murder. Genesis reports a well-known verse: "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground" (Genesis 4:10). The verse can be compared to two gladiators fighting to the death in the arena. When one gladiator gets the better of the fight he looks up to the emperor who is watching the bloody contest. The world knows that if the emperor shows the "thumbs down" sign the victor has the royal permission to kill his victim. But if the "thumbs up" signal is given, the victim's life is spared. The Roman ruler has the fate of the unfortunate loser in his hands. More often than not, the "thumbs down" signal is the one given. The blood of martyrs always cries out from the ground to God, accusing those whose power could have spared their lives.
Every victim's blood cries unto God from the earthly realm. Only a great reversal can re-establish a relationship between victor and victim. This is precisely the message of Hebrews. The voice of Christ's blood cries unto humans from heaven. This blood can, indeed, cleanse our consciences from useless rituals, so we may serve the living God. We are readmitted to the circle of worship. There is blood for sale!
____________
1. See the case, "Blood For Sale," in William H. Shaw and Vincent Barry, Moral Issues in Business (Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1998), pp. 81-82. The case was prepared by T. W. Zimmerer and P. L. Preston for Business and Society (Cincinnati: South-Western, 1976), eds. R. D. Hay, E. R. Gray, and J. E. Gates.
2. For this reference I am grateful to the Very Reverend David M. O'Connell, C.M., President of the Catholic University of America, "Seize the Moment," a homily at The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, February 17, 1999.
