Experiencing humanity in its fullest sense...

Last week, we looked at a section of a letter that was written to those who had stopped growing in their relationship with Jesus and who were considering bailing on Jesus, and discovered a timeless answer to the question “Why Christmas?”in that we celebrate Christmas because Jesus came to free us from the power of death through His death. Just as it was for these early Jewish followers of Jesus who were experiencing persecution, just as it has been for followers of Jesus throughout history, we celebrate Christmas because Jesus came to free us from the power of death through His death.

We talked about the reality that Christmas is significant because Christmas is about God the Father providing us the opportunity to be brought into the splendor and radiance of being adopted as a child of God through the suffering of His One and Only Son Jesus so that we could be insiders and a part of the family of God. Christmas is significant because Christmas is about Jesus entering into humanity to become “one of us” and to proclaim God to us before dying for us.

Christmas is significant because Christmas is about Jesus willingly entering into humanity so that His death on the cross would put an end to the power of the Devil to bring eternal death to those who were chosen by God to be rescued from their rebellion and become a part of the family of God. And Christmas is significant because Christmas is about God the Father demonstrating His concern to help those of humanity who He has chosen to experience the fulfillment of the promises that He made to Abraham to live in relationship with Him as part of the family of God that He would have His Son Jesus take on humanity and enter into humanity so that He could die for humanity.  Today, we see the writer of Hebrews then hammers this point home in Hebrews 2:17-18:

 Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

Here we see the writer of Hebrews reveal for us the reality that for Jesus to free us from the power of death through His death, He had to be made like His brethren in all things. In other words, Jesus had to experience the human condition in its fullest sense so the He could demonstrate His connection, unity, and solidarity with humanity. The writer of Hebrews then explained that the reason why Jesus experienced the human condition in its fullest sense was so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Now to understand what the writer of Hebrews is communicating here, we first need to understand a few things. The first thing that we need to understand is what the writer of Hebrews is referring to when he uses the phrase “merciful and faithful high priest.” In the Jewish sacrificial system, the High Priest represented the Jewish people before God. It was the High Priest alone who entered into the Holy of Holies in the Temple on the Day of Atonement to offer a sacrifice for his sins and for the sins of the people.  This sacrifice atoned, or covered the sins that had been committed. God would see the atoning sacrifice rather than the sin so that the penalty no longer had to be extracted from the person who had sinned.

Now that leads us to the second thing that we need to understand, which is what the writer of Hebrews refers to when he uses the word propitiation. The word propitiation is a big, fancy, church mumbo jumbo talk word that refers to satisfying God’s right and just response to our selfishness and rebellion.

Now with these things in mind, we see that the writer of Hebrews is revealing for us the reality that Jesus experienced the human condition in its fullest sense so that He could compassionately and reliably represent us before God.  Jesus experienced the human condition in its fullest sense so that He could represent us on the cross in a way that satisfied God’s right and just response to our selfishness and rebellion. And Jesus experienced the human condition in its fullest sense so that He could represent us on the cross in a way that removed the guilt that came as a result of the selfishness and rebellion of humanity.

And because Jesus experienced the human condition in its fullest sense, the writer of Hebrews explains that since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. Now the word tempted here literally means to discover the nature of something through testing. In other words, since Jesus experienced the human condition in its fullest sense; since Jesus character was tested through the suffering He experienced while here on earth; Jesus is uniquely able to render assistance to us in our times of testing and suffering.

You see, Jesus is fully aware of the testing that suffering places us through. Jesus is fully aware and is fully equipped to aid and assist us through the times of testing that suffering produces in our lives because Jesus has successfully passed the test of suffering. Jesus successfully passed the test of suffering in a way that put an end to the power of the Devil to bring eternal death to followers of Jesus who have been adopted into the family of God.

And that is why Christmas is significant. That is why we celebrate Christmas. We celebrate Christmas because Jesus came to free us from the power of death through His death.