What Would Jesus Do with his blood?

I have been a minister in America for almost twenty years and I have studied theology and religion for twice as long. But there are still moments of utter bewilderment over some aspects of American religiosity.
           A lady was captured on camera leaving an evangelical megachurch in the middle of a pandemic. She was clearly flouting quarantine rules. When she was challenged by a reporter about the dangers of infection she asserted emphatically and repetitively that nothing could possibly happen to her, because she was “covered in the blood of Jesus”.
         It gave me a pause. What a unique religious statement! It likely came from some feverish evangelical hymn. Still, what a strange and violent religious image! Some Voodoo (or Santeria) blood rituals come to mind but there is hardly enough blood for sprinkling. The closest religious parallel to being covered in blood could be taurobolium. That was an ancient practice in which initiates were showered with the warm blood of a bull which was sacrificed right above them. This ritual was also supposed to give participants astonishing supranatural powers or protection.
        I know that that lady was not covered by any visible physical blood. She meant it metaphorically and she almost certainly never heard about the ancient rituals. But parallels are uncanny.

Join us this Sunday in worship. We will ask: What would Jesus do? What would Jesus do with his blood in the midst of Pandemic? Join us in worship to reject selfish magical potions, join us to rejoice in true self-giving love.