Hebrews 2:9-18 (New International Version)

9But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

10In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. 12He says, "I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises."[ a ] 13And again, "I will put my trust in him."[ b ] And again he says, "Here am I, and the children God has given me."[ c ]

14Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. 17For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for[ d ]the sins of the people. 18Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

If you had to describe the celebration of Christmas using one word what word would you choose? Presents? Decorations? Food? Singing? Tree? There certainly are a number of words we could choose to summarize our Christmas celebration. But the one word I was thinking of is “family.” When all is said and done, what do we count on most often as we think about our Christmas celebration? Isn’t getting together with family? That’s why the highways, railways, and airways are busy with travelers. People are trying to get home for the holidays.

That’s the thought we want to consider on this Sunday after Christmas. As we meditate on this portion of the letter to the Hebrews, let’s be reminded of this truth:

CHRISTMAS IS ALL ABOUT FAMILY.”

I. By virtue of his birth he belongs to our human family.

II. By virtue of his death we belong to God’s holy family.

There are obvious ways in which you can tell that people belong to the same family. Sometimes you can tell it simply by their looks. How often don’t we hear it said about a child, “He’s a spit and image of his father or she of her mother.” Without trying to sound too simplistic, the same can be said about Jesus. Looking at Jesus we not only see God, but also one of us. We can say this about Jesus because by virtue of his birth he belongs to our human family. That’s what our text says: “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death.”

At first, these words may sound strange to our ears. How can Jesus, who is God, be “lower than the angels?” In regard to his divine nature, Jesus is not lower than anyone. He’s on top of the totem pole. But Jesus isn’t only God he’s also man. When he came to this earth he took on our human nature so that he could subject himself to the demands and punishment of God’s Law in our behalf. In that humble state or humiliation, Jesus, the God man, was lower than the angels. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers. By virtue of his birth to Mary, Jesus belongs to our human family.

This truth offered rich comfort to the Hebrew Christians to whom this letter was initially written. Like us, those first century Christians based their faith on the truth that Christ was their conquering Savior and in him they would be conquerors too. That’s what they believed in their hearts, but that’s not what they were seeing with their eyes. What they saw was Christians being subjected to torture, suffering and sorrow, persecution and pain, and facing death itself. From outward appearances it looked as though they were losers in Christ; that he had not only disowned them but also had distanced himself from them. And the temptation was there to disown him. And so they needed encouragement not to be ashamed of Christ. And why? He was their brother who not only understood what they were suffering but had even suffered those very things himself.

And there’s our comfort too. In contrast to Jesus, by virtue of our birth we belong to the human family that makes us sinners. And when we look at ourselves and what we think and say and how we act, even at Christmas time, we have reason to be ashamed. But when we look at Jesus, we see him for what he truly and really is. He is our brother in the flesh who never has to be ashamed because he never fell into sin. And it is said of him in this same letter that he is able to sympathize with us in our weakness because he was tempted in every way that we are yet without sin. By that perfect life he not only set an example for us to follow in the hour temptation, even more importantly he was living a sinless life to win our salvation. And so dear friends, when we endure difficult times in this world, whether those times are brought on by some stupid sinful thing we have done or because we live in an evil world, let us not fall prey to the temptation with which those first-century Hebrew Christians struggled. Let us not disown Jesus or ever think that he has disowned us. Why? By virtue of his birth he belongs to our human family. He’s the perfect Savior to whom we can go in all our needs and our brother who is able to help us in all our needs.

II. Speaking of family, another cliché often used is “Blood is thicker than water.” Not only are people ready to stand by family through thick and thin, but also to overlook the shortcomings of family.

Did you ever stop to think that that is why God does not hold our sins against us? It’s because of our blood connection! No he didn’t overlook our sin like we often have to do with our family. He punished them all in Jesus. That’s the very reason the Son of God was willing to come into this world and become our brother. He did it so that he might taste death for everyone. That is how we became members of God’s holy family--through Jesus’ death. “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.”

Again this saving truth is what those first century Hebrew Christians needed to hear. At that time they were being pressured to abandon their Christian faith and to go back to a religion in which they based their hope for heaven on animal sacrifices, on good works, or simply because they were related to the Old Testament patriarch Abraham. But that was all wrong. It’s only through Jesus’ blood that sinners are made holy and brought into union with God.

My dear friends, although times change, people don’t. Like those first century Christians we need to hear this truth about the Savior’s death. The reason for that is because there is still the temptation to think that we will be saved by our good works or be-cause we had Lutheran parents. But that’s not true. All our good works can not wash away one single sin, but Jesus’ perfect blood can and has. Claiming German Lutheran blood as our heritage doesn’t make us members of God’s family, but clinging to Jesus as our Savior does. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call us family, because that is what we are. By virtue of Jesus’ death and by our personal faith in him we belong to God’s holy family. And what that means then is that on Judgment Day, we won’t have to be ashamed of our sin as we stand before the Judge, because those sins have been removed from God’s sight by the blood of the Lamb.

Speaking of families, do you recall the last time your entire extended family got together? Was it for Christmas this year? Maybe it was at a family reunion, or at a wedding. There’s another event that brings families together. It’s a funeral. Hasn’t it been said in your family “It’s seems the only time this family gets together is when someone dies?” Someone in our family has died. Jesus our brother died. By his death you and I have been brought together into God’s family. And what that means we will be together again even after we die. How can we be sure of that? Because our brother who died came to life again and now we will too. That’s why Jesus is not ashamed to call us family! By virtue of his birth he belongs to our human family and by virtue of his death we now belong to God’s holy family.