Text: Hebrews 2: 10-18
It’s kind of a let down. The Christmas Eve crowd has come and gone. Family and friends. If you had a real Christmas tree this year, it’s probably come down or needs to. We need to take this one down this week.
Yet in this Word we continue to marvel like Jesus’ mother Mary. We continue to celebrate the miracle of the ages. The Son of God who made the ground on which we stand, who hung the stars in the universe, clothed himself in weak human flesh. The eternal Son of God became my brother.
What a precious truth for us all! Yet the world passes by uncaring, worse yet rejecting the tender mercy of our God. How sad. But how glad. How glad we can be with this here:
GOD’S HOLY SON BECAME MY BROTHER
I. To suffer for me
II. To set me free from my worst fear
III. To be my great High Priest.
It was fitting, God’s word proclaims. What was fitting? It was fitting that God make our Savior perfect through suffering. Does that sound odd to you? Wasn’t Christ already perfect and holy? So what is God telling us here about his Son?
Well it helps to realize that the word for perfect here has the meaning of reaching the goal. Now that makes more sense. It was fitting that God make our Savior reach the goal of saving us through suffering. Ok but that brings another question. Why? Why was it fitting that this holy Child of Mary suffer? Why would a sword one day pierce her soul as Mary looked upon her dying son? Why? In a few simple words. Because of my sin.
What do you think when you see an important person escape prosecution for a crime he’s obviously guilty of? He should have paid. He should have been punished!
Well my sin deserves punishment. I may excuse it. I may refuse to admit it. I may brush aside my selfishness, my anger, my lust, my lack of love. I may fool myself by thinking, I couldn’t help it. But God’s Word is clear. My sin deserves punishment.
But here’s the amazing thing. That’s not what God wants. If he wanted us in hell, if he wanted to do away with us, he would have done it a long time ago. He wants something else for us all. He wants it so much, he sent his own Son. He sent him to become our human brother so that our brother Jesus could suffer what we deserve and save us from what we deserve.
Here I realize that it speaks of Abraham’s descendants. It doesn’t exclude us. That’s just who this letter is written to. We too are Jesus’ brothers. Maybe not his Jewish brothers but flesh and blood brothers.
So think about this. What the Word says here: The One who took all our shame and guilt and hung on that cross in our place is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters. Years ago when Jimmy Carter was president he had a brother named Billy. Billy caused his brother all kinds of grief in the media with his heavy drinking and the foolish things he would say to the press. At times, I have to think that President Carter felt ashamed to call Billy, his brother.
But look at Jesus. You and I made his suffering necessary. My sins and yours brought him shame, misery and despair. But what does it say here? The One who came to be my brother, the one who came to suffer for me is not ashamed to call me his brother.
Just think of that! For what is Jesus doing now? It’s hard sometimes to see, but he rules all things. His almighty hands have a firm, steady grip on the controls of the universe. And he calls me his brother.
And that goes for the Last Day as well. On that day when every person will stand before him for judgment, when the books will be opened, he will call me his brother. He will present us to his Father. God’s holy Son who became my brother to suffer for me.
What’s it like to live in fear? Ask a lady I once visited in the inner city of Milwaukee. She told me about the dry cleaning business her family once had in the store below. The neighborhood changed and robbery became a regular occurrence. Soon they couldn’t afford insurance. They had to install bullet proof glass. One day, things went from bad to worse. Thieves forced their way inside and beat her. It’s awful to live your life in fear.
But what a blessing when a fear is taken away. Well that’s why God’s Holy Son became my bother. To set me free from my worst fear.
Man’s worst fear is not hard to figure out. We fear loneliness, the loss of a job, violent crime. We fear being a failure. But above them all, man fears the day of his death.
It says here that the devil holds the power of death. You see, it’s the devil who brought death’s tragedy and hopelessness to our world long ago in a garden called Eden. But the good news of Christmas is this. God came to set us free.
You see, God cannot die. Father, Son and Holy Spirit have no beginning or end. So God the Son became a mortal man. He became flesh and blood like us so that he could die for us.
And his death set us free. It smashed Satan’s death grip on us all. Of course, Satan still troubles our heart. He still points his accusing finger your way and wants you to bele3ive. God must hate you. Death will send you to hell.
But we don’t have to listen. Like a dog howling at the moon, Satan can annoy us but he can’t hurt us. Instead we can point to a cross and say, There my God and brother paid for my sins. I am free. I am free not to fear death.
But wait a second. We still die, don’t we? We still have to go out to the cemetery Yes, we do. But we do not have to be afraid. You might even think about it like this. A father and his young son were driving somewhere. A honey bee came in the window and began to buzz around. The little boy got all panicky. The father had to act fast. Can you guess what he did? He reached out his hand, caught the bee and let it sting him. Then he held out his hand and said. Don’t be afraid. That bee’s stinger is right here in my hand.
When Jesus died on that cross, he took death’s sting. He let death sting him so we could be free. Oh sure death comes our way. It buzzes around in our lives. But we don’t have to be afraid any more. For Jesus has taken death’s sting and made death into something else. We fall asleep in Jesus and wake up in his blessed presence. So we celebrate Christmas. For my Lord and brother came and set me free from my worst fear.
What would you fin if you went up to the temple in Jerusalem in Jesus’ day? You’d find devout believers like Mary and Joseph or Simeon and Anna. But you would also find a temple establishment that was corrupt, power and money hungry. Worship had become big business for the Jewish priesthood. So it’s not surprising that Jesus cleared the temple courts and called it a den of robbers. Many of the priests were no longer serving God or the people. They were serving themselves.
But what do we find in Jesus? We find God’s holy Son who became our brother. And here we learn something we are not that familiar with, He became our brother so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God. And that’s exactly what he is even though we are not Jews. He became my great high priest.
In the Old Testament, God established a priesthood. The priests were to serve as a go between the Lord and his people. The priest was to offer the sacrifice a person was to offer for his guilt. Then on one special day, the Day of Atonement, the high priest would enter the holy of holies to sprinkle the blood of a goat sacrificed forv the sins of the people on the cover of the ark. He would also place his hands on another goat and send it outside the camp. That goat was to bear the sins of the people.
It all sounds very foreign to us but it served a purpose. For the Bible tells us that none of those things really took away people’s guilt. The priest and the many sacrifices were merely shadows. They were meant to picture another Priest who would bring a much better sacrifice. That great High priest is Jesus born for us long ago. For he offered himself. God’s holy Son, your great High Priest offered himself to pay the awful price for your sins once and for all.
And he can help you. He can help us when we are tempted. He can help us when we are tempted to stop trusting, to stop hoping, to give up on God and despair. Think about it. When you’re having a tough time, doesn’t it help to have someone come to your side who knows, who understands what you’re going through.
Well think about Jesus. Remember how he anguished in prayer in that Garden called Gethsemane. Remember how he sweat like great drops of blood during his torment there. Remember how he hurt for others. He is the ONE who hears your prayers. He is the one who has taken hold of your hand and walks with you every step of the way. He is able to help those who are being tempted. Your God, your brother, your great high Priest.
And so the Christmas trees are coming down. Vacations are all but over. There’s kind of a let down, isn’t there? But we can still be happy. For God’s holy Son became our brother. Amen.