During Christmas week and Holy week, I try to spend some time in the book of Hebrews. We find ourselves today at the end of Chapter 2. We will return to the Gospel of John later in January.
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy 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.
All through chapter 2, we have seen that Jesus became a human being because we ourselves are human. He did this “so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (2:9). No angel did this, and the thought continues that this is yet another reason why Christ is superior to everything and everyone, including the angels themselves. Christ’s sacrifice did two things: He destroyed the power of the devil (and the power of death) and he set us free from our slavery to sin, death and the devil.
Look carefully at the word “free” in verse 15. The Greek word has an extra prefix that augments the meaning slightly, so that it means “to set free or change by taking away or by physical removal.” The doors of our slavery have not just been flung open. As with Lot and his daughters, we have been snatched from the village of sin by the hand and pulled out of the ruin as destruction rained down from heaven (Genesis 19:16).
Ninety years ago (1919), the pastor who had served as president of the Lutheran college in my city (New Ulm, Minnesota) talked about this word “free” in verse 15:
Through this taking away, Christ changed the relationship
to death of those who had been slaves of death: He freed
them from the fear of death. (Prof. John Schaller)
We are free from death, and we are even free from the fear of death, because what lies beyond the stepping stone of the grave is greater and more wonderful than anything we can imagine. And its ours in Jesus.
17 For this reason he had to be made like his brothers 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. (NIV)
For the first time, we have a reference to Christ as “a faithful high priest.” This will be developed more in this letter. The picture is of a priest offering sacrifices to appease the wrath of God. But Jesus didn’t do this with the blood of mere animals, so that sacrifice after sacrifice would have to be made, or so that a limited, unbloody sacrifice would do nothing except stave off God’s wrath over sin for a mere moment or two. He became the perfect high priest, offering his own life on the cross to put an end to God’s anger for all time and for all eternity. He could not die unless he were human, and so Jesus became human. He became “like his brothers in every way,” permitting himself to be conceived, to grow in his mother’s womb, to experience the ordeal of childbirth, to suffer the indignities of being a helpless infant, and then to grow and learn and develop physically and even spiritually. He did all of it with no sin, but he did not do it without pain and suffering.
He did it to rescue us from our sins. He was merciful to us, his brothers and sisters, and he was also faithful to his Father in heaven. Look closely at the verb “to help” in verse 18. In Greek, it’s in the present tense. That means that Jesus helps us now, in this moment, and always. It’s the same word that occurs in Mark 9:24, when a hurting father cried out to Jesus, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Jesus helps us in all things, and he has already given us the most important help we need: the forgiveness of our sins. Ask for his help with what troubles you today, and trust him.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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