Pastor
Steve Geiger First Sunday after Christmas
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Hebrews
2:10-18
10
In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through
whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect
through suffering. 11 Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made
holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. 12
He says,
“I
will declare your name to my brothers;
in
the presence of the congregation 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 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. 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.
1.
He became like us
2.
He came to help
How
was your Christmas? Have you heard that
just a few times in the last few days?
During
the weeks that come before, it’s “Happy Holidays” or “Have a Merry
Christmas.” During the days that
follow, “So, how was it?”
Not
long ago I was visiting a long-term care facility—a nursing home—and I asked
the residents, who were very, very old, how their Christmases were, Christmases
a long, long time ago. “Do you remember
what you got for Christmas?” I asked?
One
lady—a doll. An older man? A little trumpet. Then, out of the corner of my eye I saw a face begin to speak
that most often is silent, and in the past when lips have moved, the sounds are
almost impossible to hear. This time I
heard. “My mother died on Christmas
Eve.”
I
wasn’t sure I heard her right. “Your
mother died on Christmas Eve?” Her
tears answered my voice.
How
was her Christmas? How strange it would
sound if she had said, “It was perfect.”
So much suffering, and it was a perfect Christmas.
Just
as strange it may sound to hear our heavenly Father say that he felt it was
perfect that Jesus should be made complete as our Savior through suffering.
Jesus
suffering, and the Father feels that this is just the right thing? It’s not that the Father feels so happy that
there’s suffering in the world. But
since humans by their disobedience brought such pain to this place, a Father
who loves you and wants you to be freed from suffering knows that for Jesus to
suffer too is ideal, the very best.
To
help us understand, God tells us a little more about us and Jesus. He tells us Jesus and we are the same in a
very special way. We have the same
Father. We Christians are sons of God
through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of us who have been baptized into Christ
have clothed ourselves with Christ. Jesus,
who has existed forever, is also a son of God—eternally begotten of the
Father. While this may blow our minds,
God assures us that we are brothers.
Because
we are brothers in this mysterious, beautiful way, it makes perfect sense that
we experience the same things. It made
perfect sense that God, who led many sons into glory, would make complete the
author of their salvation through suffering.
We, his sons, suffer. So Jesus,
our brother, also suffers.
Strangely,
our brother Jesus, who came to suffer with us and for us, isn’t ashamed of
us. We talk sometimes about the black
sheep of the family. We can be wrongly
embarrassed because someone in our family has done something wrong.
Think
of how many reasons Jesus has to be ashamed of us. Even as Christians, we have a sinful flesh. We will do things that we know are
wrong. We try not to think about others
who are caught in sin and don’t ever want to bring it up because that might
cause us trouble. We get lazy in our
Bible study. We complain about all the
things we want but don’t have instead of thanking God for all the blessings
that are ours. Jesus shouldn’t even
admit that he knows us.
Yet
he’s proud to be our brother. And he
can’t wait to share with us his joy.
One
of the great blessings of having a family is having people who want to share
their joy with you. On Christmas Day
evening, about 8:00 p.m., I got a phone call from North Carolina. My brother, my sister, my mother, my father,
my sister-in-law . . . they were lighting candles on a cake for my mom, three
days late . . . but they called me up so I could sing happy birthday with them.
Jesus
is so proud to be your brother that he calls you up when he has a happy moment
to share. What brings him happiness is
the goodness of God.
The
writer to the Hebrews quotes words from King David in Psalm 22, but these were
prophetic words, words reflecting the thoughts of our suffering Savior. In Psalm 22 Jesus speaks of people piercing
his hands and feet. Jesus describes
that moment when soldiers gambled for his clothes. Jesus prays that his Father would rescue him. Then Jesus says, “I will announce your name
to my brothers; in the middle of the assembly I will praise you in song.”
In
the middle of suffering, Jesus looked forward to sharing with you the goodness
of God, goodness certain even when you’re hanging on a cross and your last
possession has been torn from you.
Goodness
certain even when you are Isaiah and you’ve just been told that Assyria will
destroy the people of Israel. Isaiah is
quoted next by the writer to the Hebrews.
As his heart could have pounded with dread and with fear, first Isaiah,
and then also Jesus, confess, “I will put my trust in the Lord.” Literally, I will wait for him.
Isaiah,
knowing that he would see destruction.
Isaiah, knowing that he would experience pain. Isaiah, perhaps not knowing that he would be walled up in a city
with armies surrounding, armies that had just finished off Lachish, a city to
the west. Isaiah, perhaps not knowing
that he would be under siege by soldiers who had just finished skinning
Israelites alive, who took captured Jews and drove them, from bottom to top,
onto a sharp stick—impaled, with death most painful. The specifics unknown, but trouble soon to strike—known.
Jesus,
his pains would be even worse. Himself
the victim. Himself cursed.
Yet
Jesus and Isaiah, with confidence miraculous said, “I will wait for the
Lord.” Suffering, yes, but confident
that the Lord would bring victory and relief in the end.
Are
we always so confident?
Things
far less severe can go wrong in our lives, but instead of speaking with calm,
“I will wait for the Lord,” we look at our clocks and wonder where the Lord
is. We will suffer some illness or
experience some loss, but instead of remembering God’s reminder that we will
have sufferings but that they can’t compare to the coming glory, we will
imagine that God promised we’d have no suffering, so that we begin to feel he’s
breaking a promise, to blame, no longer loving. Is something hurting you right now? Are you calm and rejoicing, “For the Lord I will wait?” Or are you impatient and bitter and full of
complaint?
How
we doubt. How God should take away his
promises. How Jesus should turn on us.
How
strange to hear his attitude toward us.
Listen. Jesus says, “Here am I,
and the children God has given me.”
More
words from Hebrews. A quote from
Isaiah, who was going to wait for the Lord, even though life would become most
tragic. Who was going to wait for the
Lord with his kids.
If
there’s anything parents try to do, they try to protect their children from
danger. Here, Isaiah knows that there
will be suffering, yet he doesn’t see the suffering as danger. He says, “I will wait for the Lord.” And he says, “Lord, I’m going to wait for
you with my kids.” The kids God had
given him. So confident was he in the
plan of the Almighty that even if the plan would include suffering, he would
rejoice to experience it, and with his own children.
Jesus
confesses the same. He looks at you, his
brothers—fellow sons of God, by faith through baptism—and he sees you as his
own kids. In the midst of suffering, he
says to you, “We don’t need to be afraid of this, dear children.”
Why
not?
To
help us understand why we no longer need to fear suffering, Jesus points us to
his own experience with suffering.
Look,
he says. See how I willingly took on
flesh and blood, becoming like you, so that I could suffer. In my suffering I actually helped you!
Jesus
did help us through suffering. He
helped us in regard to the one who hurt us.
The devil hurt us. The devil
tricked the human race into doubting God.
Eve and Adam did it in front of a tree.
We do it in the face of suffering.
Jesus took on flesh and blood so that he could suffer but not doubt, so
that he could die, and by his death he crushed the devil, the one who had the
strength of death. The devil, who had
in his hands the destructive power connected with death. The devil, whose power at death is his
ability to accuse. He knows the sins you’ve
committed. He can’t wait to accuse you
before God.
While
we live he persuades us sin is attractive.
At our deaths he plans to use those very sins against us. By dying for our sins, however, Jesus undid
this wicked, Satanic plan. But by his
death Jesus rendered inoperative the devil.
Made him not work anymore. Took
the batteries out.
As
I was driving around the day after Christmas, I saw a remote-controlled
miniature Hum-Vee car. It needs
batteries. With batteries it was
crashing into a pop can. Without
batteries it’s still a remote-controlled miniature Hum-Vee car, but it doesn’t
do anything.
The
devil still exists, but by his death Jesus took the batteries out. Satan tried to get Jesus to doubt God, to
get Jesus to give him an opportunity to accuse. It didn’t work. Jesus
remained convinced that even if suffering was God’s will for him, that would be
OK. Jesus didn’t interrupt his walk to
the cross. Jesus drank the entire cup
of suffering, the hell you and I deserved, and he died. He died for your sins. Of what can Satan now accuse you? Then he came back to life, showing that
death has been conquered, that suffering is nothing to fear when you know that
resurrection is on the other side.
The
one who hurt you by tempting you to sin . . . the one who hopes to accuse you
and now tries to tell you that all is lost, that death must frighten you—Jesus
took his batteries out.
Jesus
helped in connection with the one who hurt you. He also helped in connection with the one whom you hurt.
To
doubt, to disobey is to make God our enemy.
We would get no less punishment by reminding God that the devil started
it. We are responsible, and we have no
power to undo what we’ve done.
Jesus
had the power. A faithful high
priest. Someone who stands between you
and God. Someone you can trust. Who gave his Father his body as a
sacrifice. Who willingly died the death
we deserved. When it was all finished,
the judge had a smile. The judge was
smiling when he thought of you. In
connection with your sins. It’s not
that he just accidentally forgot about them but might remember some day. He saw all your sins and is smiling because
Jesus suffered the punishment for them all.
Jesus
took the batteries out of your enemy.
Jesus put a smile on the face of your judge. But what about you? What
does Jesus do for you?
You
may say, “He’s already done for me everything that I need.” You’re right. How amazing, though, that Jesus wants to do something more.
Jesus
says, “I know that you will still be tested.
I know you will still suffer and be tempted to doubt, to become
impatient . . . you’ll be tempted not
to want to wait for the Lord.”
So,
Jesus says, I’m going to give you something more. I’m going to help you when you’re tempted. I understand how hard it is to suffer. But I also understand the joy of waiting for
the Lord, confident in his will, rising from dead. So, when you are being tested, I will run to help you by reminding
you of these truths. Like a doctor
whose beeper goes off, who runs out the door, flies into his car, races to the
hospital, to do what only he can do to help someone in trouble . . . so Jesus
will run to you when you are suffering, to share with you these facts: he knows
pain. He knows death. But he knows that pain and death are nothing
to be feared.
You
will know pain—maybe even a tough Christmas.
You will know death, maybe even on Christmas Eve. But know that in Jesus, pain and death—all
suffering—is nothing to be feared.
Because
Jesus became one of us. Because Jesus came
to help us with the one who hurt us and with the one we had hurt.
First
suffering, then salvation.
Amen.