Hebrews 4: 14-16- “14Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. 16Let us, therefore, approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
How can the God of the heavens be in touch with you and me-------the ordinary lives of people?
How can God empathize with our fierce hopes and our nagging anxieties?
Isn’t God too big, too far away, too almighty (if you like) too uninvolved to know and appreciate what it is that burdens us and fills our hearts with fear and uncertainty?
Many feel that way. They feel it, even though they may never say it aloud. Some of the great people of the Bible and faith, people like Job, the writers of the Psalms, and the prophets, have expressed how God seemed to be so distant and uninvolved in their world of problems and difficulties.
I believe, at some time, all of us experience a chasm between God and us, and we shouldn’t just pass it off as a moment of doubt or a moment of weakness. Especially those moments in our lives when we experience difficulties and problems that we don’t understand. There are certain events and circumstances that happen in our lives that don’t make any sense to us at all. They seem unfair, unreasonable, irrational, unkind and cruel. Sometimes it is difficult to see any good in the circumstances we are called to bear. In those times, we call out to God to come and help us. Yet, often we experience God as distant and removed from our day to day difficulties? To the point where we wonder if God really cares for us.
We call to God. We want answers. We want to understand. We want things to change. We want peace of mind and hope and assurance that somehow God hears us in our complaint. But we don’t hear what we want to hear; we hear only a still small voice whispering to us as it did to Elijah, assuring us that in spite of everything, God has not abandoned us. That small voice of God might be a friend trying to reassure and comfort us, but in the confusion of the moment, that’s not the answer we are seeking. Sometimes the comfort of our friends, as in the case of Job, seems insufficient.
Is it true that God doesn’t understand what we really want and need?----------Is God really out of touch?
How can God, who’s not had a day’s worry in all of eternity, know what it’s like to worry? What does God know about being anxious and fear-full?
How can God truly be on the same wavelength as us and know what it’s like to be a mere mortal with all that goes along with our mortality, ---- our struggles, our hurt, or even our loneliness? It would seem most unlikely. Job complained about God’s lack of appreciation of his troubles, saying, “I cannot find God anywhere in front or back of me, to my left or to my right.”
In the Jewish faith, it was only the High Priest who could approach God on behalf of the people. There was this ongoing wall of separation between God and the people. God was considered unapproachable to the ordinary person.
But, with the sending of Jesus to our world, something amazing happened.
God came from heaven to earth in Jesus. In the very flesh of the people. He was born. As you and I were. He came to the ordinary everyday people of his day. He taught them about a loving God who was near and at hand; a God who treasured the name of each vineyard labourer or woman toiling in the home or child playing in the street; a caring God who came to be with us in our ordinary daily lives and the burdens that go with them. In Jesus, we see a loving God who was like a shepherd to his people, knowing each one personally, watching over them, protecting them, guiding them and always by their side.
Jesus brought a whole new perspective on how God is intimately involved and concerned for us.
In Jesus, God reveals himself as one who is not distant from us but beside us, and for us, in our struggles.
Jesus understands our every weakness because he was tempted in every way that we are. So, whenever we are in need, we can come bravely and boldly before the throne of God’s grace and mercy for us. We will find there----- God’s gracious and loving-kindness, and will find help in our time of need”.
These are words that express confidence and faith in who Jesus truly is for each one of us. They tell us that through Christ Jesus, God is graciously and readily available to each one of us. These words tell us that God is not out of touch with what is happening in our lives, but knows what it’s like to walk in our shoes. In Jesus, God is made flesh. In Jesus, God was wounded for us so that in any wound we bear------ God is with us.
There are a lot of uncertainties in this world but there is one thing that is an absolute certainty---- God’s love for us, in Jesus. We can trust, wholeheartedly in God’s love for us in Jesus.
We are encouraged to trust God even in those times when we don’t understand what is happening in our lives.
When we are hurting;
when we are bewildered;
when we are physically, emotionally and spiritually drained
When we are lonely
And when we have no reserves left,
we can be certain our heavenly Father knows exactly who we are and the sorrow we suffer.
In fact, Jesus suffers with us. We say that in baptism, we are joined with Christ in his death and resurrection. I would contend that we are joined in such a way that when we weep, he weeps with us; when we cry out in pain, he cries out with us. When we rejoice, he rejoices with us. Jesus understands us completely, and so we are invited today to come confidently to the throne of God’s grace. It is there that we will find help in our time of need.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
- Rev. Glenn Shore, Pastor: Zion Lutheran Church, Jansen & Grace/Aarnes Lutheran Church, Wynyard
Disclaimer: opinions expressed are those of the writer.
