READ | SERMON NOTES
Summary l The writer of Hebrews declares that Jesus is not ashamed to call us His brothers and sisters (V11). Jesus proved this by His incarnation at the first Christmas when He came down to our level and identified as our peers. Why is Jesus, the Second Person in the Trinity, not ashamed to become like us and identify with us? Jesus had good reasons to be ashamed 1) because of who He is and 2) because of who we are.
Who Jesus Is
The writer compares Jesus to God’s angels. Angels are awesome, heavenly beings much more powerful than earthly creatures. A single angel could bring down an entire city. People fell to the ground when angels appeared to them in glory, some even worshipped the angels. Yet Jesus is incomparably superior to the angels. The reason is that angels are creatures created by God but Jesus is God Himself. Angels worship Jesus as their Lord and Creator.
Who We Are
Human beings are made from the dust of the earth. We are earth creatures, weak and lowly. Human beings rebelled against God, repaying God’s grace by spitting in His face and turning away. Disgraced and fallen with ingratitude and foolishness, we face a life of suffering and vulnerabilities. Physically we face death and are vulnerable to viruses and bacteria which can enter our bodies and kill us. Emotionally we are weak. Stress and failed expectations lead to emotional turmoil and anguish. Spiritually, we are also vulnerable to temptations. We keep falling into sin, becoming slaves to sin, conquered by obsessions, unhealthy thought patterns, trapped in addictions, causing us to lose control over our lives. Satan takes advantage of our vulnerabilities to rule over us.
Though Jesus has every good reason to be ashamed to identify with us, He is not ashamed because He loves us so much that His entire focus is on our predicament and need rather than His exalted status and how unworthy we are.
Jesus became fully human to suffer and die so that He could free us from sin. As human, He experienced our sufferings, vulnerabilities and severe temptations by Satan so He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest to represent us before God (V14-18).
The passage speaks to us through three groups of people.
Three groups of people that we are ashamed of:
1) Ourselves
An honest reflection of our life will reveal thoughts and actions that are wicked, selfish and prideful. We sin, ask for forgiveness and then sin again. We may feel far away from God and doubt if God will accept us.
Remember the first Christmas when Jesus came to be one of us while humans were languishing in sin and disgrace? We can come back to Jesus and submit to Him who is not ashamed of us.
2) Those who have hurt or wronged us
We should forgive and love them just as Jesus did with us. Freely we have received from God, freely we give. We pray that God will open our hearts to forgive, lead us to wish good for them and even create situations for reconciliation.
3) People who are different from us
Society is fragmented because of socio-economic and racial divides. People in the higher strata of society do not interact with those in the lower strata. We develop stereotypes of people not in our group and avoid interaction with them. Have we become ashamed of people with different background and comfortable interacting only with people like ourselves?
The gospel is not confined to any particular group. Jesus’s love tears down barriers between Him and disgraced, lowly creatures like us. Jesus focussed on people outside who are in need and what can be done with them and for them. Will we also remove barriers between us and others and look for opportunities to share and journey with them?
Prayer: Jesus proved He is not ashamed to call us His brothers and sisters by His incarnation, sharing fully our human condition to the point of horrendous suffering and shameful death on the Cross. May God help us to respond to this truth in a way that is appropriate and pleasing to Him.
(Sermon notes by Woo Choi Yin)
PONDER | REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- Consider how God has spoken to you through this sermon. What are 3 points that stood out for me in this sermon?
- What are 2 questions (or things) that I struggled with?
- What is the 1 promise that I may rest on, or 1 thing that I may do?
