"Like His Brothers in Every Way" - Hebrews 2:17

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[Hebrews 2:14-18] Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Like His Brothers in Every Way

“He’s a man like us.” “Down to earth.” Men and women running for political office – by how they dress or their choice of words – go to lengths to appear as “regular folk”, someone like me. Or, in a helpful way, your heart surgeon might try to be “down to earth” when talking to you.

We like to believe that those in whom we put great trust are able to sympathize with us – that they know and care about what it’s like to be one of us. Yet, importantly, they are also unlike us in some ways – like, they know how to perform the surgery or are skilled in administration, etc.  

This sympathy is a powerful thing. Mom and dad’s sympathy already makes the skinned knee start to feel better. Sympathy in a time of grief from those who have also suffered loss and have survived it is a powerful help. And sympathy in the aftermath of tragedy, like the recent plane and helicopter crash, is a needed comfort.

It is simply helpful to know that someone else has felt what we feel, yet they are on their feet, standing with their head up. That lifts my head up.

Our second reading from Holy Scripture this morning was from Hebrews chapter two. Here we learn that our God and Lord is a great sympathizer. That He has become like one of us, truly. The Lord, the Son of God the Father, was “made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest.”

From highest to lowest – from pauper to president – you and I are flesh and blood. Beset with limitations. Weaknesses and frailty. Even in perfection, at our best, we are not God but are limited beings.

And, we do not live in perfection or at our best but in a fallen condition. “In Adam – that man from whom we all come – all die” [1 Corinthians 15:22]. “Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…” [Romans 5:12]

In our individual flesh and blood, and in the whole world, death reigns. We share a common, sin-fallen condition. It comes from our ancestors, in our flesh – we come from them – and is passed to our children from us. Death reigns, and sin and failure and mistakes are present – in this common, fallen human condition – and the fear of death enslaves [Hebrews 2:15].  

We are, at the same time, victims of grief and tragedy that befall us and culprits of wrong-doing and wrong-being that comes from us. These are connected – as symptoms of the same malady that affects us all.

Because of sin and death, we by nature live under grief. And, we, by nature, live under the Law. Pressed under the thumb of divine laws broken which therefore slay us with guilt, pierce us, condemn us.

What we need, and what we have, in Jesus, is a King and Ruler, a Great Physician and skilled Healer – a God and a Lord – who has become like one of us, in every way, and sympathizes.

God lives in relation to Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, One God – and God is, by nature, untouched by all other things. God is, by nature, unaffected by everything. He is the Almighty, the Untouchable, the Unapproachable Light.

But God became flesh and blood. In Jesus, God the Son became brother to us, sharing in the same flesh and blood we have. Taking upon Himself and experiencing limitation, weakness, fear, frailty, pain, grief. And life beset with tragedies. And life under the requirements of God’s heavy Law.

“When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law” [Galatians 4:4]. Jesus’ mother, under the Law, presented herself and Him at the Temple, offering the required sacrifice [Luke 2:22-24].

He was born surrounded by His mother’s labor pains [Luke 2:23]. He was raised in a family of sin-fallen people, like your family, and experienced the same tempers and arguing around Him that go on in your family.

He had the same emotions as us – joy and sadness – friendship and loneliness. Friends left Him at times. He experienced prejudice based on where His family lived – “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” And saw His countrymen hypocritically angry at the foreign Samaritans.

Jesus suffered the death of loved ones and good friends and wept [John 11:33-36]. And Jesus, though He had no sin, suffered all this as a burdened sinner [2 Corinthians 5:21] – under the burden of our sin: “He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities.” [Isaiah 53:4-5]

God, in His Son, has experienced life as His frail, broken creature – like you. “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things… Like His brothers in every way.”

Yet, importantly, unlike us in that one way: Without sin. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” [Hebrews 4:15]

Griefs in our life – like the death of loved ones – and tragedies like we witnessed in the D.C. plane crash this week certainly cause us to be tempted – it puts our faith through the wringer, through the hard test. “How can things like this happen?” 

And my sins – real flesh and blood wrongs – also certainly put my faith through the test: Can it really be that I still have a Savior?

Our God and Lord shared in our flesh and blood to be tempted like us in every way – but without sin – to not only sympathize with us but also to become our priest. Our sympathetic and once-and-for-all High Priest:

“He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” [Hebrews 9:24-26]. One Holy and Perfect offering, offered up by our Priest for us – the offering of Himself for His brothers and sisters.

                He became “A merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God” His Father, “to make propitiation – atonement – for the sins of the people. For because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.”

It is our Lord and God, Jesus, eternally God with the Father, who has truly become like one of us, down to earth. Having such a Brother and High Priest as Jesus, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” [Hebrews 4:16]

Now let us depart in peace and serve our neighbor by finding ways to point them to this same Savior that they also have in Jesus Christ. [Luke 2:29]. Amen.