Hebrews 2:8-9 (NIVUK)
…In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
The writer continues today to reflect on Psalm 8. Yesterday we thought about how humanity was given the task of ruling over or being stewards of, the world, and yet this isn’t what we see, and perhaps even more so now than when this was written with the climate change crisis and crash in biodiversity. We may be dominating the world, but we’re hardly keeping it in harmony and good shape. However, the ‘them’s in this passage, and the equivalent in its quote in the previous verses, could all be rendered in the singular, him. There’s an ambiguity here. Could it be that the writer of Hebrews is pointing not just at our failure having been lifted up from the rest of creation, but also Jesus’ coming down to us to rule in our name – in other words to live the life we were supposed to on our behalf because we can’t do it? Did he taste death for us, in our place? Is he now reigning for us?
Thank you Father that you sent your Son to help us, to represent us in doing that which we were unable to do, rather than abandoning us.
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