The Color Red

"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." - Isaiah 1:18 "Much of the Old Testament -- and alot of the New, in fact -- is stained in red. This is not good news for our trendy mauve gospel. No color will stop people in their tracks faster than red. Real red. Blood red. No one bleeds rose. They bleed red, like Jesus did because of our sin. "Red is an arresting color, especailly on someone else. When we see blood on ourselves, we automatically go into a state of shock which cushions our reactions, but on someone else, we are often repulsed by what we see. I have a recurring fear when I'm driving the freeways that sooner or later I will be the first on a scene of a serious traffic accident. I imagine someone pinned under a car while hundreds of gawking motorists pass on by, and I struggle hypothetically with whether I would care enough to stop and help. I imagine someone's life flowing out on the streets and wonder what I would do. I almost think I would rather be the victim of a terrible car accident -- rather have it be my own blood -- than to be whole and healthy and witness such an ugly scene. "What was it like, I wonder, to se Christ bleed -- to watch the thick red life flow out of Him and turn dark as it slowly seeps into the brown dirt around the cross -- to want to put it back, and not be able to do anything about it?" - John Fischer's, On a Hill Too Far Away