The perishable becomes non-perishable

At church today I was struck by an idea in 1 Peter 1:17-19:

If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

The author of 1 Peter refers to silver and gold as perishable and blood as imperishable. The irony of that concept distracted me for several minutes. If I had a table and on the table was a tuna sandwich, a gallon of milk, a glass of blood, and a gold coin; which of those things would you identify as perishable? The first three. The sandwich, the milk, and the blood will all become increasingly unpleasant as they sit on the table day after day decomposing. The gold will remain almost completely unchanged.

The passage in 1 Peter is describing a new world with a new way of thinking. Blood, which was once perishable, is now more imperishable than precious metals. Going even further (and possibly leaving the text in question), the spilling of blood which once marked death now marks new life. The author is telling the reader that the world has been turned upside down because of Jesus.

This is nothing new or earth shattering I’ve just been a Christian too long to have noticed it before. The idea of Christ’s blood being non-perishable has been a given for me for so long that I failed to appreciate its significance. For a moment this morning it was a new and exciting idea.