While partaking of the water in sacrament meeting this Easter morning, the following words came to my mind, “Take, drink in remembrance of my blood.” I then saw in my mind Jesus on the cross with a crown of thorns and drops of blood rolling down his face. That’s when I thought of “his sweat was as it were great drops of blood,” and the following thoughts came flooding in. I immediately recorded them:
Was Christ not covered in blood and sweat when he was taken by his accusers from the garden? Did not the elders who condemned him touch and be near this man covered in blood, which made them “unclean”? Was he not still covered in this crusty dirty mess when brought before Pilate? Before he died on the cross, was more blood not added to these layers of filth by the scourging, the crown of thorns, and the nails?
Now imagine as the women, his apostles, and other believers dutifully and mournfully took him from the cross and washed and prepared him to be placed clean in the tomb. They in turn made themselves “unclean” in preparing his body for burial. Yet, Christ shed that blood for all of them–his accusers and abusers and his family, friends, and followers–to cleanse them all, to cleanse us all.