24th August 2025

Why does the shed blood of Jesus speak a better word than the spilt blood of Abel? To begin to answer that question we have to go back to the dawn of human history. Abel was a righteous man (Matthew 23:35) and in the book of Genesis, we read that he pleased God with his offering (Genesis 4:4). In a moment of envy and anger, his brother Cain attacked and killed him (vv.5-8) and God said to Cain, ‘What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.’ (v.10). 

Abel’s blood cried out for justice; it bore witness to an innocent life taken by violence, a life cut short by sin. The blood of Abel represents every injustice, every wrong, every act of violence committed since that day. It demands an answer, a reckoning, a judgment. Abel’s blood is a testament to the cost of sin, a call that echoes through the ages, a cry for vindication.

Thankfully, history does not end with Abel’s blood. When we look to Calvary, we see another righteous man, Jesus the Son of God, unjustly condemned and crucified. Jesus, though sinless, shed his blood for others as the willing sacrifice for the world’s redemption.

The blood of Jesus speaks a different word, a better word, because while Abel’s blood cries out for justice and retribution, Jesus’s blood cries out mercy and forgiveness. Where Abel’s blood calls for judgment, Jesus’s blood proclaims grace. Where Abel’s blood exposes the sin of humanity, Jesus’s blood covers sin and washes it away. Jesus’s blood provides what Abel’s blood never could: the forgiveness of sins. As Paul wrote, ‘In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace…’ (Ephesians 1:7). Jesus’s blood makes possible a restoration that Abel’s blood could only long for: the reconciliation of God and humanity.

Abel’s death reminds us of the brokenness of the world, the separation between God and humanity brought about by sin. It is the beginning of the bloodshed that stains the pages of human history. But Jesus’s blood marks the turning point: the moment when the curse is reversed, when the estranged are invited home, when enmity is replaced with peace, where we are washed clean and welcomed into God’s presence.

As we come and draw near to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, may we be people who echo this better word. Where there is hatred, let us sow love. Where there is injury, let us provide pardon. Where there is despair, let us offer hope. Where there are calls for judgment and retribution, let us forgive and reconcile. The blood of Jesus empowers us to be agents of grace in a world still marked by Abel’s cry.

Local congregation:
Grace Communion West Hampstead 
Sidings Community Centre
150 Brassey Road
West Hampstead
London
NW6 2BA

Meeting time:
Sunday 12.30 pm

Local congregational contact:
Gordon Brown
gordon.brown@gracecom.church

Word of Life contact:  
wordoflife@gracecom.church