A Word from Hebrews 2

This might seem like an odd question. But what is it about being human that you find to be most difficult? Is it the fact that you get sick and feel weak at times? Is it the fear you experience as a result of all the turmoil in the world around us? Is it worry about meeting your needs, or regret about past mistakes and current temptations? Or is life hard because you know that no matter how good, and wise, and careful you are…life won’t last forever?

Well, whatever the reason, I think most of us experience days when life feels overwhelming. And thankfully, as followers of Jesus, we know that we’ve been promised  the power of God to help us in this life and to sustain us in the next. And yet, I can’t help but wonder if we think of that promise almost like a “spiritual transaction” that has very little to do with the messiness of life. It’s almost like we think of God and Jesus chatting in heaven one day and deciding how to “settle accounts,” so that, if nothing else, at least we’d end up in heaven.

But as today’s word from Hebrews 2 reminds us, Jesus didn’t only “pay a debt,” so that he could redeem life from the outside. No, he entered completely into life’s hardship so that he could heal it from the inside! Hebrews puts it like this: “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood…It was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God…Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.” (Heb. 2:14, 17-18; emphasis added)

So today, in whatever way your life is difficult, please remember: Jesus understands, because he’s been there. And when you cling to him, he takes all the brokenness of your life and raises it into his life, so that you won’t have to face anything without his guidance, and help, and love.

Thank God that he became like us, so that we could become like him. Amen.