Pentecost 20 He is Able
Heb 2:9-18
† In Jesus Name †
Grace, Mercy and peace is yours, from God our Father, and our Savior, Lord, and Brother, Jesus the Christ!
Jesus calling the children to him….
Obviously, the boss had a different set of priorities that day, but then He often did. As He was working with the people that day, he had a different priority than his assistants thought. Though his assistants should have been used to his different ways, they messed up, and did exactly that which was opposite of his desire.
Like most men in leadership, when confronted by assistants who screw up, a level of frustration set in. Some would say he was irritated, some irate; some describe His attitude as displeased, and one witness uses the word angry. Seeking to please Him, his assistants did that which could put in jeopardy, the very mission, the very purpose He was there that day.
He came, to seek and save those who were lost, alone, hurting, and in danger.
They wanted to stop that, thinking that He was too busy, to engaged, to take time for those who needed him.
It would be like an aid, saying that the doctor and nurses were too busy to see his patients. That a teacher was too busy, to teach her students. That a shepherd, didn’t have time for the sheep.
Jesus chastised his disciples, for so completely misunderstanding His mission, as the Messiah. He scolded them for not understanding that Jesus wanted the children, and the adults, indeed, the world, to come to Him, that He might pour out His blessings on them. On us.
This day, we are not spending so much time looking at the gospel reading, as we shall looking at the incredible good news, that God gives us in the epistle.
He is able to overcome that which separates us;
Temptation
Fear of death
Slavery to sin
Un-cleanliness (sanctification)
In the example of the children being brought to Jesus, the disciples tried to stop them from getting to Jesus, to receive His blessing. Likewise, there are forces in this world, that would have stopped us, and will try to stop others, from receiving the blessings that He has done so much, to be able to give us. There are times that the opposition, the ones that oppose and seek to prevent us from being with Christ, are ourselves.
The last verse of our epistle reading, shows us one of our greatest challenges. Temptation. Before us, each and every day, there are temptations, challenges, tests, that we lack the ability to overcome, by our own strength. We may even fall to one temptation, while overcoming another temptation. Consider the person, who being tempted with lieng, or with acting out in anger, or in lust, wins the small battle. But in that victory, they take pride in their strength, and forget to give God the glory. Or the person who doing a good deed, must go seek out approval.
We are surrounded by temptation, and our adversary, the devil, knows how well, to make use of our failures, and our successes.
Satan would drive individuals to despair of life, throwing our very shortcomings up as barriers to our meeting Jesus. He would convince us of the futility in fighting temptation, and get us to surrender the fight. For how do we fight the inevitable? We know from life experience, that we often succumb to temptations, and that those temptations result in sin, in us building quickly another wall, between us, and God.
That is why death has such great power over the world, over us. It marks the end of being able to correct that which we have done wrong. It ends our influence over those we would advise, in the hope that they would not make the same mistakes we have made.
The Devil wanders, using the mastery of death to accuse us. That is what his names means after all – to throw things against us. Most often, our own sin. To remind us that we have not earned heaven, that our works do not merit anything, but judgment, and wrath, and death.
Even among the false, man-made religions of the world, our actions would fall short, far short of any ideal of perfection.
Another illustration. Friday, Ryan came to work on the pipe organ some more. He came in the church, and without greeting me, with the exception of the word Hi, he rushed towards the nursery, his 8 month son in his arms. Apparently, as I will find out, young children are capable of rendering themselves, unsuitable for company. We do the same, as we role around in the mess we have made of our lives. And like a young infant, we are not able to clean ourselves, from the mess we have got ourselves into.
And so the barriers between us, and Jesus go up, and we are unable to go to Him.
He is more than able
A few moments ago, we sang a hymn, a song of praise entitled, “He is Able”. Those words are echoed here, in the last verse of our epistle. Truly, He is able.
This passage is simply filled with testimony to the ability of Jesus, our Lord, and Savior. From quotes from the Old Testament, to comments that parallel the writings of the other apostles, it is a majestic, magnificent statement of the able-ity, of Jesus.
Let’s tour through the passage again,
First, He is able because he allowed Himself to pierce the wall, between us and God. Rather than our ascending to Godhood, and living perfectly according to God’s standards, Jesus was made, for a time, to be lower than the angels. He became, as we celebrate in two months, incarnate, a baby in a manger, who grew to a man who would be crucified. This was done for a purpose, that He could taste death, for mankind.
Next, the passage address the fact that Jesus is the founder of our salvation, He is able to do more than just “cause” it, the Greek indicates that Jesus is the architect, the one who planned this out, and caused it to be put in play. Our salvation, our deliverance from sin, satan, and death, was not assigned to a mere angel, but to the one through whom all was created. That is why He is able to lead, or bring many sons to glory.
He is able to break through what stops us from coming to Him, because He was able to break through even death. He participated in death, He went through it, and then, our text says, destroyed it, and the one who master’s it. Because Jesus communes with us, because He broke through that which divided us from Him, death is rendered useless. All of the accusations that the Devil can hurl at us, are likewise useless. For what the Devil would stop, the people of God, in communion with God, has happened!
We are able to commune with His Body and Blood, because He is able to make that happen! He is truly Able!
We go on, for the riches of this passage are incredible.
I mentioned before, Ryan’s son, and the striking parallel between his… sanitarily challenged diaper, and human lives. But even as Ryan cared for his son, and did that which was a great sacrifice, so to does Jesus cleanse our lives. The cost is higher, for the mess is greater. He offers the only thing that will clean our lives, His Body, and His Blood. For that is a priestly duty, to intercede between God and His people, offering that which is the only sacrifice, that enables us to be presented to the Father.
HE is able.
He is able
To bring many sons to the gospel
To be not ashamed of calling us his brothers!
TO share with us, His flesh and blood,
We are the children He calls to bless!
My friends, there are words of incredible meaning to us, in this passage. Words that are incredible deep in their significance, in their impact, in how they cause us to realize the blessing that Jesus calls us to share.
He is able to lead many, to bring many sons into the glorious presence of the Father, presenting us, as His work, the very reason He came to break through that wall that separated us from God.
But listen to these words, from verse 12,
he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
He is not ashamed to call us, His brothers. To gather us, not as sinners, not as failures, but as men and women, the children of God, His brothers and sisters.
That is the blessing that Jesus would share with the kids, who the disciples forbade to come. And those kids, in a very real way, are you and I.
The blessing the Father wanted us to have, and the reason Jesus, came, in humility, and lived amongst us. So that we could have direct access to God, as children have direct access to their father.
To be the children of God, not forbidden from His presence, but invited to His table.
And so with the Psalmist, we will sing praise, hymns which testify of the wondrous things He has done.
Guarding our hearts and minds, with the peace that surpasses all understanding.
The peace of God.
Amen?
AMEN!
