‘We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.’ (Hebrews 10:10)
Putting his body on the line
It’s finals time! If you follow the AFL or local football and netball league, you’ll regularly see sports players put their bodies on the line. There are bruises, blood, and broken bones.
In our reading we hear that Jesus puts his body on the line for us. Yet he goes much, much further than sports players — we’re told he sacrificed his body to make you holy. But what does it mean that he ‘sacrificed his body’?
The story of the damaged side-table
Let me tell a story to illustrate.
There was a father and son who ran a successful wood furniture business. The father was a world renowned artist and wood worker. The son had taken up the family business and became a carpenter and artist in his own right.
The son was travelling in a different part of the country, when he discovered a beautiful mahogany side-table. It was part of a large — but dilapidated — estate that was up for auction. The side-table was in poor condition: it was covered in scratches; there were coffee stains from lazy servants; dirt, dust and cobwebs hid the exquisite wood; and there were some deep grooves and other damage from years of neglect and rough treatment.
But the son could see through all this. The workmanship was magnificent and the touch of his father’s hand was unmistakable: his side-table was one of his father’s earliest works, a piece that he often talked about and was sad for letting go.
The auction was for the whole estate: the run down mansion, all the furnishings, and surrounding land — the items were only to be sold as one collection. The son decided he would sell his house, his stake in the family business, everything, to secure the estate. He put in an early bid which would ensure he won the auction. He planned to restore the side-table as a gift to his father.
Auction day arrived. The carpenter son arrived early, excited and full of anticipation. As he walked into the foyer he overheard shouting and smashing from the adjourning room. Two thieves had targeted the auction, hoping to steal some of the more valuable items. Disappointed the auction was mainly aging antique furniture, they had begun smashing everything in a rampage. One of them was hitting a metal garden stake into the precious side-table.
The son cried out for them to stop. He rushed over and grabbed the stake. The thief hit the son in the head. His bleeding body collapsed onto the side-table, as the thieves escaped. It was there the son died — his blood washing away some of the dust and cobwebs as it pooled and flowed over the table.
After being notified of the death and the estate the son had bought, the father sent a team of carpenters to restore all the furniture in the house. Together they worked for years sanding the side-table, re-staining the wood, and restoring it to its former glory. The father moved into the estate and still lives there, enjoying the furniture to this day. The restored side-table has a special place in the mansion, displaying photos and mementos of the lost son.
Jesus is the carpenter son. You are the precious side-table. Jesus sacrificed his body to save you. God is in the process of restoring you so that you can be set apart for special use by your heavenly Father.
Jesus sacrificed his body to make you holy
I want to briefly unpack three things from our story that link with what the preacher to the Hebrews says in our reading.
Firstly, Jesus left everything to take a body. Like the carpenter son who left behind success and safety, Jesus risked everything to come to earth on a mission to declare his love for God the Father. Christ says that he took “a body you prepared for me.” (Hebrews 10:5). Jesus left his heavenly life behind and was born as a helpless baby — just like us. Imagine this! God prepared a flesh and blood body in Mary’s womb for Jesus to be born into this world. We confess this when we say Jesus was “incarnate of the virgin Mary” (literally means “in the flesh”).
Secondly, Jesus not only made a sacrifice by taking a body, he then sacrificed his body for you. He exposed himself to everything a flesh and blood body must endure: joy and suffering, victory and temptation, laughter and tears; his body even tasted death. He put his body on the line for you. Jesus became a human to do the will of God — he died on the cross as an obedient act of sacrifice. Christ said to God the Father, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” (Hebrews 10:9). The will of God was for Jesus to die on the cross to rescue you. Like that mahogany side-table, you are helpless to rescue yourself. Nothing you can offer meets God’s requirements or desire. Nothing! It is only the sacrifice of the body of Jesus that rescues you.
Lastly, like the carpenter son in our story, Jesus sacrificed his body to restore you. The preacher to the Hebrews says, ‘We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.’ (Hebrews 10:10). “Holy” means set apart for special use by the Father. “Holy” means being restored to your created glory. Like that side-table, your body and life is a shadow of what it is intended. You’re covered in scratches, coffee stains, dirt, dust, cobwebs; you’re damaged, perhaps at times even beyond recognition. But the body of Jesus is the source of your holiness. By his sacrifice you are being restored. God’s not done working on you. He is sanding you back, re-staining the damaged wood, returning you to your created glory.
Why? Why did Jesus put his body on the line for you? Because he sees the beauty given to you by your Creator God. He sees God’s workmanship — the touch of his Father’s hand is unmistakable. He sees that you have a special role to play in the house of God. He sees that you are set apart for special use by your heavenly Father.
Jesus makes you into his body
By sacrificing his body to make you holy, Jesus makes you into his body. Jesus no longer has a physical body on this earth — he has ascended to heaven. Instead you are made part of the body of Christ. St Paul says in Romans, “Each of us has one body with many parts. And the parts do not all have the same purpose. So also we are many persons. But in Christ we are one body. And each part of the body belongs to all the other parts.” (Romans 12:4–6 NIrV). You are incorporated into the body of Christ in your baptism, when your body is washed clean. You have a special part to play serving the other parts of the body. How are you serving? What gifts can you give to build up and support the body of Christ?
This brings us full circle. We have heard that Christ has been perfected and completed, and because of this he is bringing you to perfect completion — he is our perfected priest. We heard that Jesus is a priest forever, he sacrificed his body ‘once for all’ — he is our eternal priest. Jesus has ascended to heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father, he has the king’s ear — he is our heavenly priest. From heaven he gives better gives than the Old Testament priests: he offers his blood and his body — he is our blood-stained and bodily priest.
Blessing
‘Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.’ (Hebrews 10:19–22). Amen.
