Acts 20:28-38 / John 17:11-19
Blood has great significance in the Bible. Its meanings involve profound aspects of human life and God's desire to transform human existence. Blood is intimately associated with physical life. Blood and “life” or “living being” are closely associated.
To say that something is bought with blood does not merely mean that a quantity of blood is exchanged for that item.
To buy something with blood means to say a life is given up in exchange for that item.
In the 1st reading, St. Paul told the elders of the church of Ephesus that the Church of God is bought with the blood of Christ.
Jesus Christ offered His life on the cross so that we, the Church, can be redeemed from our sins and saved from eternal death.
St. Paul didn't have to shed his blood for the church of Ephesus or for any of the churches at that time.
But he did shed tears over each of them. It was an expression of how much he loved and cared for them as he foresaw the dangers they will be facing.
St. Paul shed tears and would have prayed to the Lord Jesus to protect the Church.
And in the gospel, Jesus said that He will keep watch over each of us and that no one would be lost, except when we choose to be lost.
We are not asked to pour out our blood for the salvation for others. Yet like St Paul we must also shed tears and pray for our salvation and the salvation of others.
Tears, together with prayers, are the lens we need to see Jesus.