Evangiles dits de François II, detail
anonymous; French
ca. 850
colored ink on parchment
5.25 x 4 cm
Credit: Bibliothèque nationale de France. Manuscript Latin 257, folio 12v

BLOOD AND WATER

“… but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance, and immediately there came out blood and water.” John 19:34

About this account of Jesus’ crucifixion, Origen of Alexandria (ca.?185–25) observed,

In other dead bodies the blood coagulates and pure water does not flow forth, yet in Jesus’ dead body the miracle was that even after his body was dead water and blood poured forth from his side. (Contra Celsum II:36)

While blood flowing from Jesus’ heart could seem a natural outcome, the “miracle” of the water might be explained biologically if the lance had pierced the pericardial space of the heart that had collected large amounts of fluids in a condition known as cardiac tamponade.

Theologians trying to understand the significance of this unusual occurrence have seen in it a fulfillment of the prophecy of John 7:38 which has been translated from the Greek to read:

If any man is thirsty and believes in me, let him come and drink of me. For it has been written in the Scripture: “Streams of living water shall flow from my heart.”

In his commentary on this verse Augustine of Hippo was to write,

…when Christ is dead, the spear pierces His side, that the mysteries may flow forth whereby the Church is formed. (Tractate in Joannem IX:10)

In this interpretation of the prophecy, Jesus’ pierced Sacred Heart is the symbolic origin of the Christian Church.

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