“It was fitting that God,[i] for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father.[j] For this reason Jesus[k] is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,[l] 12 saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters,[m] in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.” 13 And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Here am I and the children whom God has given me.” Hebrews 2:10-13

“According to prior verses, Jesus was sent in human form specifically in order to suffer death on behalf of mankind. Verses 10 and 11 explain how this makes Jesus “perfect” as a sacrificial substitute for humanity. Humanity is tempted, and so was Christ (Hebrews 4:15). Humanity faces death, and so did Christ (Hebrews 2:9). This means that, as Christ was raised from the dead, so will those who believe in Him be raised (Romans 6:4; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 2 Corinthians 4:14; Hebrews 2:17; 10:12). The full explanation of this thought runs all the way through verse 18. This passage also continues to remind the readers that Jesus Christ is the eternal Creator. Earlier verses specified that Jesus was co-creator with God the Father (Hebrews 1:2). Here, that same Creator is the one sending Jesus in order to restore our relationship to God. The phrase “founder of their salvation” comes from the Greek archēgon tēs sōtērias autōn. The word archēgon carries the idea of being a leader, a pioneer, or an example. Some translations use the English term captain. This idea of Christ being our trailblazer, and our model, is seen throughout the New Testament (1 Corinthians 11:1; Ephesians 5:1; Colossians 1:18). This same term will be used of Christ in Hebrews 12:2, in a similar context. This word is also seen in the original Greek of Acts 3:15 and Acts 5:31; interestingly, all four of these references are spoken directly to the Jewish people.” (What does Hebrews 2:10 mean?, bibleref.com)

No one likes to suffer. No one! Suffering is the one thing most of us will do anything to avoid. We spend lots of money and time every year to reduce our suffering if not to attempt to avoid any situation that may cause us suffering. In a new paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research states that living with chronic pain makes people so unhappy that they’d need to earn between $20,000 and $50,000 per year more to be as happy as they would be otherwise with no pain. That is a lot of money to spend to avoid suffering.

Why does Christ have to suffer? Here, in Hebrews, we learn that Christ suffers so that he will be the leader of our salvation. As the leader, he has experienced all that humanity experiences every day. We are tempted: Jesus was tempted. We are constantly faced with death: Christ suffered death on the cross. So our suffering is understood as a part of the human condition. Again, no one likes to suffer — but when we do, we know we have a savior who also suffered. It may not make suffering easier, but it gives us hope that our suffering builds within us a character of faith that transforms our suffering into endurance, and ultimately into peace.

Pastor Dave

5 Now God[a] did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. 6 But someone has testified somewhere, “What are human beings that you are mindful of them,[b] or mortals, that you care for them?[c] 7 You have made them for a little while lower[d] than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor,[e] 8subjecting all things under their feet.” Now in subjecting all things to them, God[f] left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, 9 but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower[g] than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God[h] he might taste death for everyone.” Hebrews 2:5-9

What would you do with a 19-year-old Christian young man, who wrote in his diary, “9. Resolved, To think much, on all occasions, of my dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death”? As you read through his 70 resolutions, you encounter things like, “7. Resolved, Never to do any thing, which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life.” “17. Resolved, That I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.” If that young man lived in a modern evangelical home, his parents would probably be looking for a good Christian psychologist to get this kid’s focus off of such morbid subjects. Maybe a prescription for Prozac would help!

That young man was Jonathan Edwards, who went on to become the great revivalist preacher of the First Great Awakening. His writings are still immensely helpful to believers, 300 years later. Lest you think that he was a gloomy, depressive type, I should point out that his first resolution was, in part, “1. Resolved, That I will do whatsoever I think to be most to the glory of God, and my own good, profit, and pleasure, in the whole of my duration; without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence.” Edwards realized, even as a teenager, that to live for God’s glory in light of death and eternity was to live for the greatest personal good, profit, and pleasure.

It seems to me that modern evangelical Christians are far too focused on the here and now. We’ve lost the central focus that Edwards had, even as a teenager, of living each day in view of death and eternity. The modern view is, “Heaven is a nice thought, but I want the good life now. If Jesus can help me succeed in my family, in business, and in my personal emotional life, that’s what I want! I’ll think about heaven when I’m in my eighties.” As a result of our shortsightedness, we don’t handle trials well. It is unknown how we might handle persecution, should such arise against the church, but it probably would free up a few seats on Sunday mornings.” (Our Glorious Destiny in Christ, bible.org, Steven J. Cole, 2003)

We do not handle trials well, do we? We are so quick to bail out of most things when we do not get our way, do not see immediate success, and do not sense immediate change. If it seems the diet is losing instead of us losing weight after a week, we try something else. If someone looks at us the wrong way, we immediately think they are an idiot. Why do humans think we are entitled to things — that life owes us something? G-d has placed humans, at least according to the writer of Hebrews, G-d has placed humans lower than the angels so that we learn from the trials of life — and that we learn to live as if this might be the last hour of our life. We need to appreciate the blessings we have today — not expect that we deserve the blessings to which someone else has been blessed.

The trials of today teach us the wisdom we need for tomorrow so that we can appreciate the suffering and death of Jesus — from which comes life for all people.

Pastor Dave