Readings for today: Hebrews 1-4
It’s Christmas. A season where we celebrate something called the “Incarnation.” It’s a big word but then again we need big words to describe the miracle of God becoming flesh and blood. God taking a human body for His own. God becoming one of us. How does one begin to describe the infinite becoming finite? The invulnerable becoming vulnerable? The all-powerful becoming powerless? How does one begin to wrap one’s head and heart around the reasons why the Creator would empty Himself to become one with His creation? Why the Lord of the universe would leave His throne and humble Himself to become a servant? Why the immortal God would subject Himself to mortality and suffering and death? Then again, perhaps that’s the point. The Incarnation is not something we can ever fully or truly understand which keeps us coming back each year to marvel at what God has done.
The author of Hebrews helps us probe the mystery a bit. These first four chapters give us a deeper glimpse into what it means that Jesus made Himself one of us. Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature and He upholds the universe by His power. (Heb. 1:3) Jesus is the eternally begotten Son of God who is given dominion and authority and power over all God has made. (Heb. 1:5, 8) Jesus is the Creator who was and is and is to come. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Heb. 1:10) At the same time, Jesus is also subject to death and was made perfect through suffering. (Heb. 2:9-10) Jesus was made like us in every respect so that He might identify with us and represent us before God as a faithful high priest. (Heb. 2:17) Jesus is tempted in every way just as we are tempted and though He remains without sin, He can sympathize with us in our weaknesses. (Heb. 4:15)
Why is all this important? What difference does all this make? Again, the author of Hebrews clues us in. Because Jesus is both God and Man. Because Jesus has both a fully divine and fully human nature. Because Jesus offers the perfect sacrifice to God on our behalf. We can approach the throne of grace with confidence and receive mercy and help in our time of need. (Heb. 4:16) We have a faithful, eternal high priest constantly interceding for us in the heavens. We who share in Christ are offered Sabbath rest in Christ which means we can let go of our all fears and anxieties and strivings. This is why Jesus came, friends. God looked down on His creation and saw the creatures He had made in His own image living lives of quiet desperation. Hopeless. Helpless. Struggling. Suffering. Hurting. Wounded. And He loved us so much He refused to let us remain in our pitiful state. Not content to send a servant, He sent His Only Son to show us the full measure of His great love and to deliver us from the power of sin and death and the devil. This is why the Incarnation is so important. This is why we celebrate at Christmas.
Readings for tomorrow: Hebrews 5-8