Hebrews 2:11-13 (NIVUK)
…So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. 12 He says,
‘I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the assembly I will sing your praises.’
13 And again,
‘I will put my trust in him.’
And again he says,
‘Here am I, and the children God has given me.’
Here’s the quote I should have read on Sunday from Tom Wright! ‘It [Hebrews 2:11] encourages us to see Jesus not as the kind of older brother whom we resent because he’s always getting things right and being successful while we’re always getting things wrong and failing, but as the kind of older brother who, without a trace of patronizing or looking down his nose at us, comes to find us where we are, out of sheer love and goodness of heart, and to help us out of the mess.’
The writer of Hebrews uses three quick quotes here in quick succession, from Psalm 22:22, then Isaiah 8:17, and finally Isaiah 8:18. In Psalm 22, despite feeling God-forsaken and enduring terrible suffering, the psalmist finds the resources to look to a time when he will declare his faith in God before his brothers and sisters. Hebrews identifies this with Jesus, enduring suffering in his life and the agony of the Cross. Isaiah 8 contains the challenge to trust in God in times of struggle even in his apparent absence, again just as Jesus did. Put together, these underline Jesus’ persistent faithfulness despite his circumstances, driven by his love of us, seeing us as his family.
Jesus, thank you for being our brother and for your consistent love towards us.
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