Spiritual Bone Marrow

Today is Easter Sunday.  Easter has always had a special place in my heart because it comes in spring, which is my favorite season.  But somehow this year was even more special than usual.

For my friends who are not Christian, Easter represents a time of welcoming the new life that is coming up this time of year, after a long, hard winter.  We certainly had more than our share of 'long hard winter' this year, and seeing all the flowers on the trees and the leaves bursting out of branches everywhere, the whole world turning slowly from dead and grey back to life and green really does make me want to celebrate.  SO much life!! So much color!  Warm sunshine!  It's just glorious.

But the meaning of Easter goes so much beyond that, to me.  It is when we mark the death of Jesus on the cross, and His subsequent resurrection from the grave!  After the 'cold and death' of trying to live on our own and find meaning, suddenly LIFE bursts forth from death, and we are saved, ushered into the warmth of His love and forgiveness, into a life of glorious meaning and 'color'!

The example given by our pastor this morning explained it just perfectly, yet in a way I'd never heard before.  He told the story of a man who had been diagnosed with leukemia, and was told it was inoperable, and that he would absolutely die unless a marrow donor could be found in time.  The man proceeded through chemotherapy to kill off all of his own, diseased blood, and all of his body's ability to make it's own blood.  Then, with only a few days left before he would be likely to die, a donor was found.  The donor was a 19 year old girl, and within days, he was receiving the precious gift of her bone marrow.

As his body began to accept the new bone marrow, and make new, healthy blood, the man was told that if he ever needed blood work done, that when his DNA was drawn from his blood, doctors would see her DNA.  That his body would forever be changed, because his blood was now the same as her healthy blood.
He read these verses shortly after:
Galatians 2:20
I am crucified with Christ.  Nevertheless, I live.  Yet not I, but Christ lives in me.  And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Just as his bone marrow was totally replaced, and that 19 year old girl now lived inside him, because she gave of herself to save him, in the same way, Jesus poured out his own blood so that He could give life to us, and live inside us, a sort of spiritual bone marrow transplant.

All that to say, that as a member of the National Marrow Donor Program, and someone who very MUCH hopes I can someday give that gift to someone, this was an entirely new way to see Easter Sunday, and brought SO MUCH extra joy to the day!  Hallelujah, He is risen....and He LIVES....IN ME!