The Power of Christ’s
Blood
GOOD FRIDAY
From the Catechesis by Saint John
Chrysostom, bishop
If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood,
we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt.
“Sacrifice a lamb without blemish,” commanded Moses, “and sprinkle its blood on
your doors.” If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an
irrational beast could save men endowed with reason, he would answer that the
saving power lies not in the blood itself, but in the fact that it is a sign of
the Lord’s blood. In those days, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the
doors, he did not dare to enter, so how much less will the devil approach now
when he sees, not that figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on the
lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ.
If you desire further proof of the power of this
blood, remember where it came from, how it ran down from the cross, flowing
from the Master’s side. The gospel records that when Christ was dead, but still
hung on the cross, a soldier came and pierced his side with a lance, and
immediately there poured out water and blood. Now the water was a symbol of
baptism and the blood of the holy Eucharist. The soldier pierced the Lord’s
side, he breached the wall of the sacred temple, and I have found the treasure
and made it my own. So also with the lamb: the Jews sacrificed the victim, and
I have been saved by it.
“There flowed
from his side water and blood.” Beloved, do not pass over this mystery without
thought; it has yet another hidden meaning, which I will explain to you. I said
that water and blood symbolised baptism and the holy Eucharist. From these two
sacraments, the Church is born: from baptism, “the cleansing water that gives
rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit,” and from the holy Eucharist.
Since the symbols of baptism and the Eucharist flowed from his side, it was
from his side that Christ fashioned the Church, as he had fashioned Eve from
the side of Adam. Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the story of the
first man and makes him exclaim: “Bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh!”
As God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman, so Christ has given
us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God took the rib when
Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way, Christ gave us the blood and the
water after his own death.
Do you understand, then, how Christ has united his
bride to himself and what food he gives us all to eat? By the same food, we are
both brought into being and nourished. As a woman nourishes her child with her
own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own blood those
to whom he himself has given life.
“He surrendered
himself to death and was ranked with sinners, to give life to his people”.
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