Sometimes You Need a Bowl of Blood

“This world is not my home/I’m just a-passin’ through.” Much of my theological career has been spent cautioning Christians that this good old song is deeply mistaken. This world, this planet Earth, is our home. We were made for it—literally made from it. And when God renews it, we will spend the age to come on it (Revelation 21–22).

Still, the song does strike an authentic New Testament theme. This world as it is presently constituted and governed is certainly not my home.

“My treasures are laid up/somewhere beyond the blue” is exactly in line with Jesus’ advice about investing our lives:

 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19–21).

Indeed, this question of treasure shows up several times in the New Testament in another striking contrast between the two economies.

Peter tells his flock to “live out your time as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ” (I Peter 1:17–19).

This kind of language is so familiar to well-churched Christians that its shock value has worn off. Let’s see if we can usefully recover it.

Several people in expensive suits confer over a mahogany table in a richly furnished room. They are making a huge international financial deal, so dollars, pounds, Euros, yen, yuan, and rubles are all in play.

The conversation is intense, with the principals poring over spreadsheets and calculators while assistants scurry quietly back and forth to their laptops for further data. Then someone walks into the room carrying a large white bowl—full of blood.

Consternation breaks out immediately. (I’ll let you imagine the actual expressions of shock and dismay.) “What are you doing with that?” someone finally asks the newcomer.

It all depends, doesn’t it?

The rest of the article can be read HERE.