Slices
Prepare
Do you think of Jesus as your Lord, master, friend, Saviour, brother, role model or…?
Bible passage
10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. 12 He says,
‘I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the assembly I will sing your praises.’
13 And again,
‘I will put my trust in him.’
And again he says,
‘Here am I, and the children God has given me.’
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Explore
As I write, it is the season for final football league and cup matches in the UK. These culminate in the victorious captain (not the manager) receiving the trophy and leading the team in their celebratory triumph. The captain has been through it all with the players.
Jesus has suffered for the sake of all those whom he comes to call his brothers and sisters (v 12). His suffering has enabled them to be made holy as he is holy (vs 10,11). By virtue of being a sibling of Christ they have become a son or daughter of God. (This is different language from Paul’s use of the concept of adoption: see, for example, Ephesians 1:5; Romans 8:15.)
Jesus’ ultimate goal as the ascended and exalted Christ was to be the pioneer of salvation, leading his brothers and sisters into God’s eternal presence (v 10). He played and won the match single-handedly. He has earned the right to lead his ‘team’ in their victory march.
The writer expands on the consequences of Jesus’ human suffering. The one who holds the power of death is utterly crushed. Death’s terrifying stranglehold is destroyed (vs 14,15). Jesus has been through it all. Remember his terror in Gethsemane and on the cross (Luke 22:42,44; Mark 15:34)!
Respond
If you or someone you know are going through a tough time, remember that Jesus has been there before us. Pray in the light of that.
Deeper Bible study
Lord, give me an open ear to hear your voice in the Scriptures today.
Verse 16 contains the last reference to angels in these first two chapters: ‘For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants’ (v 16). They explain why Jesus had to become fully human. God planned to bring many sons and daughters to glory through Jesus, the pioneer of our salvation – the one who blazed the trail for us and is now crowned with glory and honour. To do that, he needed to identify with those sons and daughters in every way, including their suffering. This identification was so close that he refers to them as his brothers and sisters. Since Jesus came to redeem his brothers and sisters rather than the angels, he didn’t become an angel: he became one of us.
He did this so that he could become a ‘merciful and faithful high priest in service to God’ (v 17). Aside from a hint in Hebrews 1:3 about Jesus making atonement for sins, this is the first explicit reference to the theme that will occupy the writer in chapters 5–10: Jesus is our great high priest. As Alexander Nairne wrote over a hundred years ago, it was as though the author was saying, ‘Think of him as a priest and I can make you understand’.1
The writer draws two implications here about Jesus, the merciful and faithful high priest. He was faithful to God in the past when he offered himself as a sacrifice of atonement to deal with our sins, and he is merciful to us now in his ongoing ministry before God. Since he was tempted as we are and suffered in that temptation, he can help us when we are tempted. These two aspects of the work of Jesus will be gradually unpacked as the letter proceeds.
References to suffering imply that the readers were enduring suffering and were tempted to give up. Pray today for those who suffer hardship for Jesus, wherever they are.
1 Alexander Nairne, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Cambridge University Press, 1922, plxviii
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Job 27,28; Luke 22
Pray for Scripture Union
Please pray that Isaac O’Brien, who is settling in after joining the Development Hub in April as a Content Assistant, will be grasping the key aspects of the role and that he will feel the satisfaction of knowing that he is making a contribution.
