Pentecost 20-Hebrews 2:9-11 (12-18)

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son,+ and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

‘But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.’ (V. 9)

So what is this verse saying? The writer is not simply speaking about himself and those who first received this letter. When the Holy Spirit wrote the Scriptures, He intended that such as was recorded would be taken to heart even by you and me. So, when this writer, by inspiration, states here that we see Jesus, he speaks to you.

So, how is it that you and I see Jesus? Where do we see Him? As Jesus himself states, we see Him in the least of those in this world. Those who are in need that we give them clothes, we visit them when they are sick or in prison, we feed them or give to someone a cold drink of water. (St. Mt. 25) However it is that we show mercy to those around us. It is in those that we see Jesus.

This is not the only way in which we see Jesus with our eyes of faith. We do not see Jesus in these with the eyes that are inside of our heads. You here today also see Jesus here in church, not just in your day to day life. You see Him in the word preached and in the sacrament when it is offered. Jesus comes to each of us, and we see Him, when we consume Him in His body and blood.

What the writer to the Hebrews is saying in our lesson is that death has been defeated! Our old foe has been de-fanged. Death for the Christian is like an old wolf or bear, toothless and weak, unable to harm anyone any longer. What Jesus did for you and me is prefigured in an old Greek myth that, for its hearers, held no hope.

It runs like this.

One day, Ulysses returned home from one of his adventures only to find his entire nation in mourning. Naturally, he asked what was wrong. The reply came back that the queen had died! Not believing such shocking news, Ulysses ran to the palace only to find that this news was sadly true. So, he went on his most dangerous adventure. He went to the lonely tomb and wrestled with the ancient enemy, death, and fought death for the life of the queen.

In this battle, the hero of the fable was able to snatch from death the life of his queen and take her back to the palace in his arms, giving her back to a stunned king alive. As I said, in the ancient tale, there was no hope that this was true. Even after hearing this story, those hearers long ago still saw their loved ones snatched from them by death. They had no hope of seeing them alive again.

If we bring this story over into Christianity, we can see how it is actually true! After all, our hero, our Christ, went to that lonely grave and wrestled death and conquered it for us. He now stands outside the tomb victorious, saying to all, all those who will listen, “I am alive, and because I live, you shall live also!”[1] In this way, we see how our God has used even ancient pagan myths to pave the way for this old wicked world to be ready for the coming of His Son in the incarnation at Bethlehem.

However, there is more to this verse. After all, for whom is this salvation for? Why was Jesus made a little lower than the angels? For whom is it that Jesus suffered and died as a human?

Your Savior did not just die for you. He did not only die for me. Jesus did not die only for those who believe in Him. Jesus did not even die only for the redemption of humanity. Jesus died for each and every human who has lived, is living and will live. This death was adequate for all, and able to rescue everyone from sin. Though, this death of Christ was effective only for some. Jesus also died for all of creation. It would be a strange thing indeed if Jesus had tasted death only for human sins and not for any other creature, when He knew all of creation had fallen.

We know this is real because of the witness of Scripture in other places. This is most obvious in the book of Romans: ‘For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.’ (Rom. 8:21; see also, Gen. 3:14)

Jesus also speaks of this when He speaks to us of creation groaning and of the birth pangs before the end. (St. Mk. 13:3-13) The patriarch Job also refers to the redemption of creation by saying: ‘the stars are not clean in His sight’ (Job 25:5).

‘For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.’ (V. 10)

So, we now see that Jesus is one of us. He truly became part of our family when He came as a baby in Bethlehem. All that we need to do is think of that familiar verse from John’s gospel: ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’ (St. Jn. 3:16) In this way, we get the idea of what the writer is getting at. This passage is showing us what kind of humility this is. This was a proper thing for God to do however. That is, Jesus the Son being made a little lower than the angels. The thought of this statement does not seem to make sense to us. Our fallen human reason does not want to allow for the possibility that God could be humbled.

Much less that God could be put to death in so cruel a fashion.

Our sinful nature wants to say that the incarnation was somehow not what the Bible presents it as. That is, the incarnation was the Son of God, true God Himself, taking on our fallen flesh and blood that He might redeem it and make that humanity, mine and yours, new again.

This does not make sense to us because, as this writer states for us ‘that he, for whom and by whom all things exist,’ took on this fallen humanity. We want to be offended by all of this. Your eyes of faith are not offended though. That faith, given to you by the Holy Spirit, remembers that God’s plan for your salvation did in fact include even this great humiliation. Even this works out to the glory of God.

Jesus is our elder brother. He is the author, He is the founder of our salvation. He is the leader of the sons of God (Rom. 8:29). There was no sin in Jesus, but He lived His human life in order to be truly our sympathizing and effective leader in His work of salvation. One cannot know human life without living it.

All of this was necessary. The shedding of blood was necessary for your salvation, as the writer to the Hebrews will later speak of (9:14). This High Priest of ours is Himself both host and sacrifice. He enters into the Holy of Holies before God and sacrifices Himself for the forgiveness of your sins and mine.

This death was offered once for you and me in order that we might be saved. You and I have now been changed from despicable sinners into the Father’s children. This was done so that we, each of us, might live forever with Jesus before the Father in heaven. We are our heavenly Father’s sons by adoption (Gal. 4:4). We will ‘dwell in the house of the Lord forever’ (Ps. 23:6). Because of this, we now sing:

‘So let us keep the festival
Whereto the Lord invites us;
Christ is Himself the Joy of all,
The Sun that warms and lights us
By His grace He doth impart
Eternal sunshine to the heart;
The night of sin is ended. Hallelujah!’
(TLH 195:4)

In Jesus’+ Name. Amen.


[1] Encyclopedia of Sermon Illustrations, CPH, p. 57 entry #223.