Heb 2:5-13 – What’s in a name? – sermon notes
[Here are the notes of a short talk given at an informal breakfast ‘event’ hosted by Holy Trinity Church, Norwich.]
Consider the following sets of names:-
Ram – Nahshon – Akim Abraham – Isaac – David Tamar – Rahab – Ruth Rehoboam – Manasseh – AmonThey are all found in the list of 46 names, spanning 2,000 years, that we find in Matthew chapter 1. They include non-descripts, heroes, women (each with an interesting story to tell!) and nasty characters. But they are all found in the list of 46 names, spanning 2,000 years, in the genealogy of Jesus found in Matthew chapter 1. They are links in a chain – the royal ancestry of Jesus Christ.
If these are the sorts of people who make up the human ancestry of Jesus, does he have any relatives today? You don’t have to read Dan Brown to find out the answer. It’s in the Bible.
Hebrews 2:5-13 (CEV) says:-
Somewhere in the Scriptures someone says to God,
“What makes you care about us humans? Why are you concerned for weaklings such as we? You made us lower than the angels for a while. Yet you have crowned us with glory and honor. And you have put everything under our power!”
God has put everything under our power and has not left anything out of our power. But we still don’t see it all under our power. What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels. Because of God’s wonderful kindness,Jesus died for everyone. And now that Jesus has suffered and died, he is crowned with glory and honor!
Everything belongs to God, and all things were created by his power. So God did the right thing when he made Jesus perfect by suffering, as Jesus led many of God’s children to be saved and to share in his glory. Jesus and the people he makes holy all belong to the same family. That is why he isn’t ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters. He even said to God,
“Here I am with the children God has given me.”
And if Jesus is not ashamed to call people like us his brothers and sisters, let us not be ashamed to call him our brother, friend, saviour, lord and king.