Hebrews 2:5-18

A human rules the world. A human is in charge. A human is the most powerful in all the earth. There have always been stories, movies, novels about someone wanting to take over the earth. Most of science fiction has some wicked mastermind directing his armies to take over the world and rule ever country. Of course, they never do.

But a human already rules the world. And this is not fiction. This is not a story. And this human is no wicked mastermind. This human is our Lord. This human is our Savior. And, get this. This human is our brother. He’s like us in every way, which if we just sat quietly and let that sink in would be amazing. He’s like us, in that He enjoys a good meal. He’s like in us that He loves a good belly laugh. He’s like in us that He likes to spend time with good friends. He’s like us. He’s us.

Today we celebrate Epiphany. In the Christian Reformed Church, we haven’t historically done a lot with this day. When we hear the word Epiphany, some of us think of the wise men coming to see Jesus. And that’s a good example of epiphany. Epiphany means appearance, manifestation. It’s our discovery of the child that came at Christmas. It’s good to celebrate epiphany, because the Christmas season ends so quickly. One day, we have the little baby in the manger and it’s great and we’re singing "Joy To The World" and then suddenly it’s 2008 and we’re done. We’re back to normal. And even though it’s been 10 days since we celebrated Jesus coming to earth, Christmas seems like a long ways away, almost a whole year.

Epiphany slows us down and makes us take another look at the child who was born. The child wasn’t just there for the shepherds that night the angels sing. He was there when the wise men came later. And He’s still here, if we will see Him. He has appeared.

And when we see Him, we’re a little surprised. I wonder if the wisemen were a little taken aback when they finally met this child. Were they expecting someone different, someone miraculous? Because when they arrived at Bethlehem, they discovered a small child looking very normal…very, well, human.

Because, verse 5:

We understand why those old pictures of Jesus have the halo around Him. The artist wanted to communicate respect and awe of the God who became human.

But the effect of those kinds of pictures is that we lose the humanity of Jesus. We forget that He is human. He is flesh. In fact, our mental image of Jesus is more like Gabriel than it is like Roger or Sylvia or Pete. That seems strange, even heretical to say.

And yet, it was not to an angel that the world was subjected, but to a man. Verse 6 points us back to Psalm 8:

In Psalm 8, we get a picture of what humanity could be. Psalm 8 pictures the ideal human being, and here in Hebrews 2, we get a name for this ideal human being. Human beings were not created lower than the angels. Human beings are made in the image of God. Angels do not carry that image.

But human beings smeared that image almost beyond recognition. And for a while, a long while, humans have certainly looked lower than angels. But God did something about this. God sent His Son to become human. Verse 7:

A Man, a human being, rules the world. Yes, He is God. Yes, He is divine. But don’t let that hide the fact that He is human. He is flesh. He is us.

And He is in charge. And this is a good thing. Our ruler is in touch. A good president knows the price of a gallon of milk, right? If he doesn’t know, then he’s out of touch. Our ruler of the world knows the price of a gallon of milk. He’s human. He knows the strength of temptation. He’s human. He knows the need for friendship. He knows the pain of loneliness. He’s human. He knows that people get tired. He knows that people need to blow off steam. He knows. He’s human. And His rule reflects this. Everything is under His control, and His humanity informs and drives His reign. Verse 8:

Which sounds true, sounds great, sounds Biblical, of course, but in reality, we have our doubts. Still verse 8:

Notice that verse 8 doesn’t say that there is still something NOT subject to him. Everything IS under His control. It’s just that we don’t always SEE everything as under His control. We see things going wrong, and we wonder. We see people doing nasty things, and we doubt.

But we see something else. Verse 9:

We see Jesus, a human being, who suffered right along with us. Jesus knows what it means to hurt, in the most violent form of suffering ever created. He was made like us so that He could suffer like us. He knows what it’s like to cry your eyes out. His tears came out like drops of blood. He knows what’s like to be utterly alone. His closest friends ran away when He was mobbed and arrested and beaten and whipped and nailed to a cross. His own brothers mocked Him, thought He was nuts. He was frustrated. He was annoyed. He got ticked off, sometimes at the Pharisees and sometimes at His own disciples. No one can say that Jesus doesn’t know. No one has experienced pain like Jesus has.

But the suffering was not pointless. It had a reason. It led somewhere. For Jesus, the experience of suffering was the necessary road that He had to walk in order to haul humanity back out of the mess we got ourselves into. Suffering was necessary to get us back to the glory we were created for. Verse 10:

Jesus came to lead the way back to glory. Others had led God’s people. Abraham, Moses, David. But none of them could lead all the way. None of them suffered like Jesus did and none of them could die for humanity like Jesus did and none of them could come back to life, like Jesus did. He led the way, and in order to bring us all the way, in order to make salvation complete, perfect, He had to suffer.

He took human suffering, His own human suffering, and He turned it into glory. And He does the same for His family. Verse 11:

A brother, or a sister, can be one of the closest persons in your life. Sure, you may have spats with them, but they’re always going to be your brother or sister. You can always go back and fix the relationship. You’ll always be family.

Jesus isn’t like your brother, He’s not LIKE a sibling. He IS your brother. If you know, if you believe that He died because you’ve done sinful tings, if you know, you believe that He came back to life so that you could live a new, good life, then Jesus is your brother. You’re related. Literally, you are blood brothers, because of His blood. It is not possible to change that fact any more than you can stop being a brother, a sister in your family.

And He’s not leaving His family, He’s not abandoning His brothers and sisters to the suffering. Verse 14:

It was a terrible day for Satan, that first Christmas. Up until then, for thousands of years, Satan had a perfect record. Every single human being was trapped in sin. 100 percent failure rate on the part of humanity, 100 percent victory for Satan.

And then Jesus was born. A human being who was not sinful. 99 percent victory for Satan. 99 percent failure rate on the part of humanity. 1 of us was pure. And that one went to work. He began to teach, first the teachers in the synagogue. He told parables about good Samaritans and a lost sheep and a prodigal son. He turned Himself over to a mob and He let them beat Him and kill Him, so that we could be free from the slavery of our fear of death. He lived and He died and He lived so that the suffering we experience would have an end, a good end. 1 human affected 12 humans, the disciples. 1 human brought 3000 humans out of slavery on Pentecost in Acts 2. 1 human has brought millions and millions of people, brothers and sisters, through suffering and out the other side. Satan’s failure rate has continued to increase as Jesus keeps rescuing human beings. Verse 17:

Jesus is human. He gets us. He’s like us in every way. So, then, when we suffer, He gets it. He understands. When the morning comes and the day stretches out before you and you’re not sure how you’re going to make it through, He understands that. And He makes sure you make it through another day. That’s His purpose. That’s why He came. When the night time comes, and the night stretches out and you’re not sure whether you’ll be able to sleep, He knows that too. And He makes sure you can relax and rest and get through the night. When the check book keeps running empty, He’s there assuring you that you’ll make it. When your family looks hopeless, He’s been there too. And He makes sure there is hope, there’s always hope. When temptations come and they are so strong and so persistent, they keep coming and coming, well, verse 18:

Don’t be ashamed of the temptations. Don’t shy away from Jesus. Stick close. He is. He absolutely understands that draw towards sin. He understands that yuchy feeling when sin comes close and tempts. He knows and He walks us back and He wipes off the gunk from that encounter and He lifts our head and He gets us up and going again in the right direction.

He is human. He is us in every way. Talk to Him. He’s your Brother. Enjoy Him. You have a lot in common. He is Lord, He is Savior. He is family.