Saved By Blood

Dr. Clement Yeung

During the recent Armenian earthquake, over 55,000 people were killed and thousands more injured. Many horror stories came out of the disaster. One particular story caught my attention and it was a young mother and her daughter.

The mother, about thirty years old, was found alive inside a collapsed building in the city of Leninakan, with her three year old toddler. They were trapped in a cellar for eight days before rescue arrived. The doctors were astonished to find little girl still alive, knowing that they had been without food or drink for the while time.

Later, the mother told her story. She apparently puncture each of her fingers repeatedly and had the child suck on them for nourishment. The toddler followed her instructions and survived. Though both had loss a lot of weigh, according to the latest report, the child was in good condition and the mother’s health was improving.

The mother’s blood literally saved the life of her child. The concept of the ability of blood to save, however, is not new. Attempts at transfusion were made in Europe u\in the early part of the seventeenth century by the Italian physician Giovanni Colle. Unfortunately so many patients died because of blood imcompatiblity reactions that the practice was banned in Europe after the late seventeenth century. History records also suggest successful transfusion among the South American Indians at an earliest date. Their success was due to the fact that nearly all these tribal Indians had the same blood type, O-Rh-positive.

The value of blood was appreciated back in the Old Testament days. Blood has always been regarded as the basis of physical life.. The ceremonial parts of the Mosaic law forbids the use of blood as food. Though the ceremonial aspect of the Old Testament laws may not be strictly adhered to, the significant of blood representing life is still widely respected.

A well known rabbinical maxim, recognized also by the author of the Epistles to the Hebrew was, “Without shedding of blood is no remission.” The reasoning of this maxim is that since life is in the blood, the sacrificial animal will die on behalf of the offerer by shedding its blood. Otherwise the sacrifice is not complete and there would be no remission of sins.

The Christians today still put a lot of emphasis on the value of blood, especially the blood of Jesus Christ. The author of the Hebrew Epistle writes: ”He (Christ) did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.” The understanding is that the blood of sacrificial animals only made the offerer outwardly clean but the blood of Jesus can clean our inner life. The concept of being saved by the blood of Jesus is so crucial to the Christian faith that it’s referred to regularly during the observance of the church communion.

In a sense, just like toddler being told to rely on her mother’s blood for survival, we are urge to rely on the blood of Jesus Christ for the cleansing of our inner life. There is no other source of spiritual nourishment except the blood of Jesus Christ. There is however, an important difference. The Armenian mother was trapped with the child. Jesus was not trapped in sin with us. He chose to come to shed His blood for us so that we may find life.