Giving blood

This morning I went to my local blood bank, which is more correctly titled a ‘Blood Donor Center,’ to donate another pint of blood.  I have donated blood quite a few years.  I started going just once a year.  I didn’t like the idea of a big needle being jabbed into my arm.  I still don’t like it, but for quite a while I have gone six times a year, which is the maximum number of times a person can give blood.

The donor center I visit used to have different slogans as they tried to encourage more people to donate blood.  One of my favorites, the only one I still recall, was this:

Safe…simple…saves lives.

Which is really true.  I learned through experience that donating blood is safe and simple.  I still don’t like the needle being stuck in my arm, but that is the only hard part.  The whole donation process takes less than 15 minutes.  And then they have snacks while you hang out for another 15 minutes before heading off.  When it comes to donating blood, getting to the snacks is my favorite part. 

And donating one pint of blood saves about three lives.  Here is a link to that fact, and many other tidbits about blood and blood donation. 

I think that saving three lives just through one donation is something that could be regarded highly.  And I could take the number of times I’ve donated, multiply it by three, and pat myself on the back for all of the lives saved through my blood donation.  But that isn’t where I’m headed with this post. 

Donating blood in the way I did, i.e. “Safe…simple…saves lives” brings to mind one whose donation was a completely different matter. 

The Gospel accounts make crystal clear the fact that the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus was anything but safe or simple for Him.  This is something that He was aware of as it approached as He prayed in the garden, saying in Luke 22:42,

 “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

But saving lives?  That Jesus did, in ways that the mere giving of blood I did today does not, cannot, and should not ever compare.

Sure, lives may be saved through the blood I gave, but those lives are saved for but a moment.  The people receiving the blood I gave will die someday, and the giving of blood on my part, as meritorious as it could be made to sound, will not add one second to my life.

But the blood of Jesus, poured out for those who call on Him in faith, brings eternal life.  One passage, of several, that teaches this is in Revelation 7:13-14, where John writes,

“Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Today I am thankful that Jesus has given blood, a donation that saves lives for eternity.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The photo is from the Mayo Blood Donor Center website.

Supreme Sacrifice Day? Really??

Supreme Sacrifice Day?  Really??

At the start of March I received an email that had a calendar attached to it.  The email was related to cultural diversity and the calendar had listings of various “holidays,” noting something particular and unique for each day of the month.  Some days even had two events for that day.

The calendar had some things that might have been expected, such as the Jewish festival of Purim, on the 8^th, Girl Scout Day, on the 12^th, the date of their 100^th birthday, and of course, St. Patrick’s Day on the 17^th.

There were also much lesser known, to me, days, such as Multiple Personality Day on the 5^th and Something on a Stick day on the 28^th.  Minnesotans know that any day commemorating food on a stick should only fall during the state fair.

Now normally I wouldn’t even open something like this cultural holiday calendar but I believe that doing so on this occasion was an example of God’s hand at work in my life, and I pray that what the thoughts I write in the remainder of this blog are pleasing in his sight and bring glory to his name.

As I looked over the calendar March18^th jumped out at me, for it was labeled Supreme Sacrifice Day.  A label like that is something that captures this particular Christian’s attention.  So I clicked on the link and read these words:

“Supreme Sacrifice Day recognizes the ultimate sacrifice made by some for the good of others. History is filled with examples of people who offered the supreme sacrifice for other people.

We offer these examples:

• Jesus Christ gave the supreme sacrifice when he died on the cross for us.
• Soldiers in battle gave their lives to protect our freedom, our way of life, and to keep us safe.
• Fireman and police officers have given their lives in the line of duty, while saving and/or protecting people.
• More often than you think, a young man or a young women caught up in a love triangle, gave up the chase for the sake of their loved one.
• The list goes on and on and on.

Today is a day to reflect and offer thanks and appreciation to those who made the supreme sacrifice for us.”

And my response on reading that began, “Supreme Sacrifice Day? Really??”

Prior to opening this calendar I had never heard of Supreme Sacrifice Day, so I did a little bit of looking online.  And I didn’t learn much.

Virtually every entry I found for this Day had the exact information I cited in italics above, word-for-word.  When I looked more specifically to learn its origins, I came up empty.  So we have a specially designated day which “exists,” although with absolutely no information on whom created it or how it came to be.  And while it may be a ‘Day’ it is such a minor one in the pantheon of holidays that not even Hallmark has a card for it.

In the description for Supreme Sacrifice Day we are given a general definition followed by several examples, all of which, to my eye, are portrayed as relatively equal. 

I will agree that what I would classify as the supreme sacrifice is basically as stated, i.e. “the ultimate sacrifice made by some for the good of others.”  To be more specific I believe that the “supreme sacrifice” one can make for another is the giving of one’s life.  There is nothing else that a person could possess that would even come close in value to surrender for someone else than their life.

Many of us can think of examples where we might consider such an act.  As a parent I would throw myself in front of a car to save my child.  As a husband I would donate the last drop of my blood to save my wife. 

I agree that the examples above of someone in the military, law enforcement or fire-fighting giving of their life for someone else, someone whom they don’t even know, is an unparalleled sacrifice.  While my military service was in peacetime and I did not have to wrestle personally with that possibility, my son served one tour in Iraq with a Marine battalion.  As I prayed during the time he was overseas I recalled reading from the Marine magazine, Leatherneck, when my cousin was a Marine, which had an entire section in each issue devoted to telling the stories of Marines in Viet Nam making the supreme sacrifice for their fellow Marines.

To give one’s life for another is truly the greatest thing a person can surrender, and I think the examples I’ve outlined above demonstrate that.  In John 15:13 Jesus says,

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

Jesus speaks these words in his final teaching with his disciples before his arrest.  And while he teaches them something important about devotion and self-sacrifice he also points our vision towards himself and the unfolding of the final day of his life.

We can talk about the “supreme sacrifice” but I believe that in all of history there is only one “Supreme Sacrifice,” the act of Jesus giving up his life on the cross, a sacrificial act of love for his people.

In John 10 Jesus uses the metaphor of the Good Shepherd to prepare his disciples for what was to come, saying in verses 11 – 18:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

The sacrifice of Jesus is unique in several respects, particularly in that it is a sacrifice that didn’t save a human life for a period of time, but in that through his sacrifice those human lives that are touched by it are touched eternally.  Though their human life will one day end they know in Jesus the promise of resurrection to an eternal life with God.

In a way, the folly of Supreme Sacrifice Day has the ability to open our eyes to something that is perfect and true, the unique and defining moment in history from Good Friday to Easter. 

Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, let go of his life so that those who call on his name in faith would know the resurrection with him to eternal life that Easter foreshadows.

Here is a link to a version of the hymn What Wondrous Love is This.  I invite you to listen to its testimony of God’s profound love and ponder in your heart how God might be calling you towards him.  May you know God’s deep and abiding love in your soul, now and forever.

My friend, Mike Manning, has also written about Supreme Sacrifice Day on his blog, to be posted on Monday, March 19^th.  Click this link to read his perspective.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.