Our Brother and Our God

We have just passed through the Christmas season, a time for festive, family gatherings; for cookies and cakes; for brightly wrapped-packages and trees decorated in gleaming, colored lights. In a matter of months, we will be celebrating Easter, a smaller holiday but one also celebrated with its due amount of food, new clothes, and festive gatherings. And there is something rather ironic about these two holidays--the fact that all this tinsel and glitter, all this hoopla and to-do, these gleaming trees and brightly colored eggs are centered around a single baby born to a poor woman in a cowshed in a small town in a backwater province of the Roman empire some two thousand years ago who ended His life strung up as a common criminal. Jesus of Nazareth was seemingly an ordinary baby, born in the same way as anyone else. His family, his surroundings, the circumstances of His birth were all almost painfully ordinary. For the most part, His life was mostly ordinary as well as was His death. From a human perspective, there was nothing special about him, nothing to merit the songs of prophets and angels, nothing to justify the attention of shepherds and sages, nothing to explain an entire season dedicated to celebrating His birth and another holiday built around His death. How could something so ordinary also be something so extraordinary?

Only because He was not just a man. That baby born in Bethlehem was a man born like anyone else, but He was also God Himself. The man who died on Calvary was a man who died, just like everyone else, and yet He was also God. That is why the prophet said that he would be called Emmanuel which means "God With Us." God has always been with us as the creator of the world, as the ruler of the world, as the sovereign and sustainer of the universe and of the human heart. But on one starry night, God came to be with us as one of us. God has always been our father--our ruler and the source of our existence. But through the incarnation, God also became our brother.

Hebrews 2:9-18 deals with this subject. “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.”

Jesus, as God, was in principle high above all things, and yet He took on Himself the nature of man, stepping down lower than the angels, taking on an existence of flesh and blood, just like we have. He brought salvation for us so that now we may be part of His family, His people--and if we are, then He is not ashamed to call us brethren. This is the astounding fact of Christmas--that an ordinary human baby born in a feeding trough was also the Son of God. A writer named Tholuck remarks on the striking fact that in Christianity that we may call Jesus both "our brother and our God."

This fact that Jesus is our brother has several results. First,  because Jesus is our brother, we can be proud of our family.

Immediately prior to this passage, the writer had been reminding his readers of God's plan for mankind as outlined in the Old Testament. God chose man from the very date of his creation for special honor and authority. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." (Genesis 1:26) Mankind was given a nature which in some way mirrored the moral nature of God Himself. He was given authority over the whole earth and possibly over the whole universe. He was to be God's regent or subruler in the world, with authority over everything. He was given glory and honor and set over the works of God's hands, as the crowning glory of God's creation. Such was his exaltation that he was just below the angels in rank and authority.

That is what God had in mind when He created man; that was what the human family was supposed to be. But Adam and Eve sinned and brought corruption into the world so that God's plan for mankind has been lost. Far from having all things in subjection to him, man is weaker than all the things around him. The French mathematician and Christian thinker Pascal wrote these words about the weakness of man: "Man is but a reed, the weakest thing in nature... It is not necessary that the entire universe arm itself to crush him. A breath of air, a drop of water, suffices to kill him." We do see some hints of the original glory God intended for man in the fact that man, despite his weakness, has subdued so much of the world. But by in large, God's original intention for humanity is lost. Rather than being like a king over the world, man, in this world, is the little kid on the playground who gets pushed around by all the bigger kids.

And so we live in weakness and shame at what we are. Though there have been periods of time where man believed he could, through his own efforts, regain that original glory, now people have realized the truth--mankind is a failure. And so there is a growing sense of shame about who and what we are. That is the result of sin.

And yet, here in Hebrews 2, we have these words. “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour.” Jesus became a man, putting on flesh and blood, accepting His part as a member of this world with all which that includes. He accepted the suffering, the shame, the limitations that we all experience as human beings. He became hungry and sleepy just as we are; He was buffeted by the rain and winds exactly like anyone else. From His birth in a stable to His death on a cross, He experienced the weakness and problems of humankind. Jesus who, as God, was worthy of a position high above all things, took a position as man, lower than the angels, and suffered through everything we suffer, knowing sickness, weakness, aging, and the inevitability of death--the things which make up our lives.

In Philippians 2, St. Paul speaks of the humility of Jesus in becoming a man and going so far as to die on a cross, but then he adds what the result of this humiliation was: “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.” (Philippians 2:9-10) Because He willing sacrificed Himself to fulfilling God's will, God exalted Him to a position high above all things, as the Lord of the universe. Now, this is the interesting part. Jesus is God. And God is, by definition, high above all things anyway. God is automatically the Lord of the Universe. So how could Jesus be exalted to a position He already had? Because while Jesus, as God, had this exaltation, mankind did not. And so by becoming man and then being exalted, mankind has been exalted. If we look at the world, we do not see God's plan for man being fulfilled, but we do see Jesus, crowned with glory and honor.

And so we never have to be ashamed of being human. We still have many problems; we are not free of difficulties and sufferings and failures. We may not have much to be proud of, but we can be proud of our family. Jesus, our brother, has accomplished what we could not and so has received an honor which passes unto us all. When the world tells that human beings are worthless and futile, we can point to Jesus as the one shining exception, the proof of God's plan for mankind. Though now we only share in His glory by a family connection, there is coming a day when, through Jesus, God's plan for mankind will be fulfilled and those who trust in Jesus will also be filled with His glory; and what He has now will be shared with us, for He is our brother.

But that part is future, of course. And in the meantime, we still live on earth and experience our share of trouble and pain. And that leads us to the second point--that because Jesus is our brother, He knows our sufferings.

As the world stands now, to be a human being is to know suffering. We can avoid or escape some suffering--some people face more suffering than others--but we all have to face some. And Jesus was no exception. Jesus was God, exalted over all and existing in perfect peace and perfect joy. To go from that to the life of a man would be an incredible step down--even if he had lived as the greatest, richest, most important, and most powerful man on Earth. To go from the life of Heaven to the life of Earth would have been a tremendous sacrifice, even if He had the best of possible human lives. To live in this world is to suffer; for though we say that some people live a "good life," the truth is that all people largely go through the same sufferings, the same humiliations, the same problems. We are all fellow travelers on one common journey through the same stormy seas to the common destination of the grave, whether we travel first class or in steerage. And God, as Jesus, voluntarily booked passage on this doomed ship of humanity.

Over and over again in this passage, the writer mentions the suffering of Jesus. In verse 9 he says that this was the very purpose of Jesus becoming a man was “for the suffering of death.” In verse 10 he mentions that Jesus was made perfect or complete “Through sufferings.” Verses 17-18 sum it all up:  “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.”

Jesus could not truly have become a human being without suffering, without knowing pain and disappointment. And if you turn to the gospels, you will see that Jesus did indeed know suffering in His life, both physical sufferings as well as emotional ones. He knew the pain of losing a friend to death, of being betrayed, of being misunderstood, of being rejected. Mark 4:37-38 tells of something that happened while Jesus and His disciples were crossing the sea of Galilee: “And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?” In just those two verses, we see Jesus experiencing tiredness--for He was asleep--danger and suffering--for He was in the middle of a fierce storm--and being misunderstood--for His closest followers accused Him of not carrying about Him. And that's just two verses out of the life of Christ.

The dark path of sorrow was one He walked just as we do. He shared in our experiences of the bad side of life; He took His sip from the bitter cup of reality. Life in a fallen world, even at its best, is always a war--and in that war, Jesus is our brother-in-arms.

But not only did Jesus share in our trials but also our temptations. The Gospel record the famous “temptation of Jesus” when Satan met Jesus in the wilderness and tempted Him. But the Bible also makes it clear that this was not the only time when Jesus was tempted. Just as we are constantly under the siege of Satan, so Jesus also experienced the same barrage of temptations. Later in Jesus' ministry, He began to prophesy of His coming death to His disciples. Peter, not understanding, took Jesus aside and tried to argue with him: “Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.” And Jesus responded with these words: “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence [stumbling block] unto me.” (Matthew 16:22-23) These are the same words which Jesus addressed to Satan during His temptation in the wilderness. (Luke 4:8) Even though Jesus came to this earth for the sole purpose of dying on the cross, in His humanity He didn't want to do it any more than anyone else in their right mind wants to be crucified. And so there was the temptation to tried to avoid it, a temptation coming in the form of the words of a friend. Just like us, Jesus knew what it is to be tempted.

And because of this, Jesus is able to help us in our times of suffering. The writer says that because of His sufferings, Jesus was able to be a merciful and faithful high priest and then adds that because He knew temptation, He is able to succour those that are tempted. The word 'succour' means to-come-to-the-aid-of-one-who-calls-for-help. In other words, when we cry out to Jesus, we know that He will hear and will come to help us.

An old proverb says: “He jeers at scars who never had a wound.” As humans, we tend to be dismissive of the problems of others if we've never had the same problem; and even when we want to be sympathetic, it can be hard to sympathize with someone's troubles if you've never passed through the same experience. But there is a certain bond we have when we have gone through the same problem as someone else. And so Jesus, experiencing the same kinds of sorrows and problems we experience, is able to sympathize with us and help us. When we go to Jesus, we are going to someone who knows what we're going through and who can help us. Jesus will never laugh at our scars because He has His own scars still in His hands.

And so in our time of trouble, we have someone to go to. We don't have to pray to an angel or a saint or the little altar boy to intercede to God for us. We can go to our brother, Jesus Christ, who experienced the same sufferings and experience we have and so is able to sympathize and to help us. Later in Hebrews, the writer says this: “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-16) The words of one famous Christmas Song put it this way: “The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger,/In all our trials born to be our friend;/He knows our needs, to our weaknesses no stranger;/Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!”

But not only is He our source of help but because Jesus is our brother, we have an example to follow.

For the Jews of NT times, it was hard to accept this idea that the Messiah, that God Himself would become a man, would become the brother of man. In order to prove that this isn't any new, strange idea, the writer points to several Old Testament prophecies that point to this reality, prophecies in which the Messiah refers to His people as His brothers. And one of those verses is very interesting. In verse 13, quoting from Isaiah 8, it says “I will put my trust in him.” We wouldn't think of Jesus putting trust in God since He is God. But if you look at His life, you will see that He did affirm faith in God, for He was also a man and it is man's role to have faith in God.

Jesus' life was one of prayer; constantly He went to His Father in prayer. We don't get many concrete glimpses of His prayer life, but before the tomb of Lazarus, we do see him praying and His words are: “Father, I thank Thee that Thou hearest me.” He was affirming His faith that the Father heard His prayer and was going to answer it by raising Lazarus. In other words, He was putting His faith in God. When He prayed in Gethsemane, His prayer was one of trust in and submission to the will of God, putting His life in the Father's hands. And this attitude was carried through to almost the last words Jesus spoke before His death, words spoken through pain and exhaustion, were words of final trust and faith: “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.”

And this shows us that Jesus is our example. As God, Jesus is by definition the lawgiver, the one who tells us what to do. But as man, He also showed us what to do. He is our pattern. As he experienced temptations and remained holy, so we can experience temptation and remain holy. As He faced difficult times and still submitted to the will of God, so we can submit to the will of God even in difficult times.  As He suffered and yet held to his faith in God, we can suffer and hold to our faith in God.

This is actually shown in a very graphic way in this passage. Matthew 26:30 tells us the last thing Jesus and His disciples did before they left the upper room for the Mount of Olives on the night before Jesus' crucifixion, that last moment of safety and peace--it tells us what Jesus did immediately before going out, as He knew, to experience great suffering, shame, and death. And what he did was sing a hymn. David had prophesied that years before, in Psalm 22 which pictures the sufferings of the Messiah, but which includes these words that Hebrews quotes here: "I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee." (Psalm 22:22) Even at the gate of such suffering, Jesus gave praise to His Father, knowing that He was doing God's will.

The famous American poet Edgar Allen Poe wrote a poem about an angel named Isfrael. In the early part of the poem, he emphasized how notable Isfrael was for singing and praising. But in the final stanza he comments, "If I could dwell/Where Israfel/Hath dwelt, and he where I,/He might not sing so wildly well/A mortal melody,/While a bolder note than this might well/From my lyre within the sky." In other words, he was saying that the angels might not sing and praise so well if they had to suffer through everything we humans suffer. But Christ did suffer as a human, and yet He gave praise to God among the congregation. No one can say, now, that His praise is empty or one-sided; and no one can say that they have suffered too much to praise God. For God Himself suffered and yet praised God. And so we can praise God, even in (especially in) the bad times.

Jesus is our example; He shows us how we ought to live as human beings. For it as humans that we must live. Sometimes we almost think that in order to serve God we must escape from our human life; that is why some churches teach that you will never be able to live a truly godly life in this world. But Jesus took on Himself the nature of man, living an ordinary life here in this world--and so showing us an example of how to live a life pleasing to God, even as human beings living in this fallen world.

And that leads naturally into the final point. Because Jesus is our brother, we have salvation. Jesus is not just our brother; verse 10 calls Him “the captain of [our] salvation.” The Greek word translated captain means a leader, but it also has the idea of 'trailblazer' or pioneer--someone who carves out a new path and leads people down it (see NET Bible, Hebrews 2:10)--someone who makes a new road, who discovers a new way to go.

Jesus became a man and took on everything that we have, except for sin. But He didn't come down to earth to leave earth the same way. He took on Himself humanity so that humanity could become something different. He became one of us so that He could lead us into a new path; He did not come to leave us in shame but to bring “many sons unto glory.”. Jesus did not come to Earth to offer a few pious platitudes and then leave things exactly as He found them. He did not come primarily to teach, or reform, or instruct. In this sense, Jesus was like a super-hero--He came to save the world. He was the change He wanted to see in the world. Irenaeus, an early Christian thinker, wrote, "Because of His boundless love, He became what we are in order that He might make us what He is."

He came to save us from death by experiencing death Himself, by cutting a new path through the valley of the shadow of death. Verse 9 says that Jesus became a man specifically for that purpose “that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” Adam Clarke mentions that it some ancient cultures, a criminal who was condemned to die for his crimes would be given a cup of poison and forced to drink it. “The reference in the text seems to point out the whole human race as being accused, tried, found guilty, and condemned, each having his own poisoned cup to drink; and Jesus, the wonderful Jesus, takes the cup out of the hand of each, and cheerfully and with alacrity drinks off the dregs!” (Commentary, Hebrews 2:9)

Only by becoming a human could Jesus experience death. But because He did experience it, because He died, He has taken away the curse of death from us and opened a way through it. Verses 14-15 speak of Jesus destroying death and the fear of death by defeating the Devil who, in some sense, held the power of death.  This was the purpose of Christ's work, to destroy death, to abolish it, to destroy its power. Isaiah had prophesied this when he said: "He will swallow up death in victory." (Isaiah 25:8) But in order to destroy death, He had to die and to die He had to become a human. And because He has, because He became our brother, He has defeated death and given us the possibility of eternal life beyond the grave. When we come to death, we are coming to a place where our Lord has already been.

But not only did He destroy the power of death, but also the power of sin. Verse 11 says: "Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.” Jesus was the holy one, who lived a holy life, consecrating Himself to God's will and now He has made it possible for us to be made holy, delivered from the power of sin, and dedicated to God. We are all one family and so can share in what He had, in His holiness. Holiness is not something that exists far away, floating up in the clouds somewhere. For thirty-three years, it walked on this earth in a bodily form; in one man, holiness and humanity were united; and so we, as humans, can share in that holiness for it belongs to Christ our brother. Jesus calls believes his brothers. On this, John Wesley comments "With a like acknowledgment of his near relation to them, as younger brethren, who were yet but in their childhood, he presents all believers to God, saying, Behold I and the children whom thou hast given me." (NT Notes, Hebrews 2:13) He joined the family of man so that we could join the family of God; He partook of flesh and blood so that we could become partakers of the divine nature. Gerard Reed writes: "As God's Son, sharing the very being of Yahweh himself, Christ Jesus salvaged human nature by refilling it with His divine presence...  As Jesus Christ's brothers, join-heirs with Him, we share the nature He assumed and made holy." (C. S. Lewis and the Bright Shadow of Holiness, 170) Because Jesus is our brother, there is salvation for us.

A children's Christmas song asks, "Would the tallest mountain chose to be an anthill?/Would the rolling thunder chose to be a squeak?/Would the mighty ocean chose to be a raindrop?/So why would God chose to become like me?" Why would God become a man, sharing all our pains, our humiliations, our little joys, and, ultimately, our inevitable death? Why would the maker and ruler of all things choose to become a helpless baby wrapped in ragged clothes and sleeping in a cattle's feeding trough? God was always our creator; our sovereign; our lawgiver; our protector; our Lord--all that He was since before the beginning of time. But only by being born, only by coming to earth, only by assuming human nature could He become our brother. The God for whom are all things and by whom are all things became a man so that He might bring many sons to glory. Because Jesus is our brother, we can have pride in our family, for in Him God's plans for humanity have been fulfilled. Because Jesus is our brother, we have someone who knows all our sufferings and can sympathize with us and who has shown us a path through it which we can follow. And because Jesus is our brother, there is salvation for us. Because God became a child of man, men may become the children of God. Because He came to us, we may come to Him. Because He shared in our life, we may share in His life--and His life is the life that lasts forever.