Blood on My Hands

I once heard a Roman Catholic priest say, “Sacraments are messy.” This spoken within the context of a video documenting the Roman Catholic RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) just after he finished baptizing a number of folks. It was, in fact, messy. Those baptized got very wet. He may also have been speaking with regard to their understanding of the Lord’s Supper as a “re-sacrificing” of Christ’s body and blood – not Scriptural at all (Hebrews 9).

Nevertheless, this morning, the celebration of the Sacrament did get a bit messy – literally – for me this morning. Some of the wine spilled onto my hands. And a wave of theology came over me. Christ’s blood, present in, with, and under the Sacrament of the Altar was physically on my hands. My hand was sticky, just like real blood gets sticky before it dries. His blood on my hands. How true. “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus, whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:36) My sin nailed him to the cross. I am guilty. And look at the price paid. His blood on my hands. What shall we do?

“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” His blood is on my hands, but he does not hold it against me. For I am baptized. I have died with Christ and have risen with Christ. That same blood of his on my hands is also my forgiveness.

The Sacraments are messy – physically in their administration, but also messy because of Christ’s messy, bloody, ugly death on the cross that paid the price of the gracious gifts of forgiveness of sins and eternal life freely offered through them.