He is risen!

A blessed Easter to everyone.

Today, in honor of our Lord’s death and resurrection, I’d like to reflect on our spiritual adoption. In the Bible, those who wished to atone for their sins did so through a sacrificial ritual. Worshipers shed the blood of a perfect sacrificial animal (often a lamb, goat, turtledove, bull or pigeon, depending on the person’s financial resources) and offered it to God as an expression of their penitence and devotion.

In the New Testament, when Jesus speaks of himself as the sacrificial lamb, he’s explaining that his own death and resurrection will create a new covenant – one that takes the place of the sacrificial system – a covenant in which God freely extends forgiveness to all who seek it, once for all.

On the last full day of his life (a day Christians now call Good Friday), as Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples, he passed them bread and wine, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me…this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:18-20).

Christians remember Jesus’ broken body and shed blood whenever we partake of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper (known by many as Holy Communion). As we do so, God reaffirms His covenant to unify all believers as His adopted children.

1 Corinthians 10:16-17 says:

Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

Jesus invites us to become his adopted child when we confess that we've blown it and ask for his forgiveness. When we accept Jesus as our savior, he breaks the bonds our sin holds over us and introduces us to a new life in which he claims possession of our heart. We are "reborn" as his adopted child.

He then instills in us a true sense of belonging – to Him and to each other. This sense of belonging to God's family isn't passed down through bloodlines, but through the blood Jesus shed to provide us permanent release from our sins.

Today, Christians throughout the world celebrate the new life we have because of Jesus' sacrifice. We celebrate our adoption day.