Thursday, April 12, 2007

Blood Brother


Have you ever thought of Jesus as your blood brother? Let me tell you a story by Sue Monk Kidd:

"On a hot and hazy summer day, under the canopy of an oak tree, my son Bob and his buddy Michael, both nice, are swinging on the ropes that dangle from the tree limbs. They've spent part of the afternoon watching the Lone Ranger and Tonto on television. Now they ride the old rope swings...a cowboy and an Indian brave, shouting, "Hi-ho, Silver, away!" It's all wonderful magic that rolls like a tumbleweed out of their imagination.

But as I watch from the kitchen window, the magic is broken. Michael slips from the swing and lands on a tree root. He picks himself up, staring at his palm and a slight trickle of blood winding onto his wrist. I shake my head at all the cuts and scratches of summer. Already that morning Bob had cut his thumb on a tin can buried in the alley, and I had treated and bandaged the wound.

I reach for the trusty box of Band-Aids and make my way outside. But as I approach the oak, I notice the two of them locked together in whispers. My son peels off his bandage and lifts his tin-can cut toward Michael. Then in a secret moment under the tree, the magic that had been interrupted suddenly resumes. The two boys touch their wounds together just as Tonto and the Lone Ranger had done...solemnly becoming "blood brothers." And when they are finished, the pain in Michael's face has vanished.

I treat the wound and slip away, sure that something special had happened across the landscape of this ordinary summer day."


After reading this story I was in awe at what this bond, this blood bond could do to the boy who was in pain, crying and bleeding. These two boys took the pain they had each endured and turned it into healing. I know we have all thought of Jesus as different things: our Lord, our Savior, our friend, our lover. But have you ever thought of Jesus as your blood brother?

Jesus endured wounds and death on the cross. He did this for you and me. You and I endure wounds in everyday life. We get hurt, we cry, feel pain. What would be an amazing thing to do? Take that pain you endure, just as the young boys in the story did, and become a blood brother with Jesus. Take your hurt and pain to him. He endured his wounds so he could do this for us, so that he could become our blood brother to take away our hurt and our pain.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Amen sista!! Very well said! I thank God I am Jesus' blood brother!