“Take and eat, this is My body; take and drink, this is My blood.” Jesus at the Last Passover
“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is within you?”  St. Paul in The First Letter to The Corinthians

What is this Wednesday?  Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday How will you observe each? 

When it comes to Valentine’s Day one traditionally might spend a good deal of money buying gifts or going out to dinner to show love on Valentine’s Day.  I used to buy a box of chocolates for each of my daughters—but not until the day after when they went on sale!

When it comes to Lent one traditionally might spend a lot of emotional and spiritual energy giving up something, like chocolate for example, in order to deny something that the body enjoys, in order to show a measure of sacrifice or serious devotion to God.

Let me ask another question.  How much are you worth?  In his book “The Body”, Bill Bryson begins with addressing the question of how much it would cost to “build” a human body.  He arrives at the conclusion that even if it were possible, it would be quite expensive.  But of course it isn’t possible.  No one can construct a human being.  We are each fearfully and wonderfully made, in the words of Psalm 139; each of us are a unique miracle.  That which gives us such value is not the elements of which we are comprised, but the Spirit of God which lives within. 

Consider your body for a moment.  Consider how valuable you are, just as you are!  It’s difficult to do, for far too often we don’t value ourselves.  We look upon our bodies, as something imperfect or an object to be ashamed of.  Perhaps we’ve had the perspective drilled into us by misguided and even harmful religious teachings.  But God created our bodies!  And furthermore, God took upon Himself a Body!  If the body was so bad, why would God want to be associated with it?  God gave up His body, in the person of Jesus, in a very shameful way, being punished, and pummeled, condemned, and crucified, hung on a tree naked for all the world to see.  What shame!  In love Jesus subjected Himself to this shame to remove the mistaken and misplaced shame we far too often feel about our own bodies.  Therefore, the message of Lent shouldn’t be one of self or bodily mortification, but of God glorification in the comforting and reassuring truth that God loves you, body and soul, just as you are!

And then there’s the blood.  Of course, we must connect this with Valentines Day and Lent, because that miraculous organism called the heart, the traditional locus of love, is constantly pumping blood to maintain our beautiful bodies.  Just as the love of God never ends, so too the heart never rests.  It is constantly working to keep blood flowing throughout the body.  And what does that blood do?  SO much, but at the very least it carries oxygen throughout the body, the very breath of life, and makes a return trip through the kidneys and liver in order to cleanse the body from all impurities.  What an appropriate illustration for the Blood of Christ, which does the same.  Jesus gave up His blood to “oxygenate” our blood with the Spirit of Life, and to cleanse our blood of all our impurities. In so doing we have been set free, just as the passage in Revelation says, “Worthy is Christ the Lamb who was slain, whose blood set us free to be people of God.”

Love and Lent.  Body and Blood. They go together. 

You know, for many years I would start Lent by deciding to give up something; to deny myself of something I enjoyed.  To mortify my flesh.  To try and be more like Jesus.  I am not ashamed to say that I failed miserably each and every time.  The only thing that practice accomplished was to make me feel more self-righteous during the few days I was successful, and more guilty each time I failed.  I see now that Lent is not about beating myself up for “sins” of the body, but rather recognizing and relishing the beauty of the body, and what a gift it is.  And it is about celebrating the life of love that flows from and through Jesus, the very  heart of God, who creates in us a new heart, a clean heart, a heart filled with love for God, others, and ourselves. 

How do you see your body?  How do you view Lent?  How do you receive and give love?

How might a new perspective on the body and blood of Christ, and your own body and blood, change your perspective on Lent and Love?