Hebrews 4:14-16

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

This evening’s Bible passage is Hebrews 4:14-16:

¹⁴ Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.¹⁶ Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

As a young boy in England, I heard the bells of Chichester Cathedral ring throughout the day and into the evening every Ascension Day. The cathedral is unique among English cathedrals in having a free-standing medieval bell tower, and the bells, still rung by a team of bell ringers, sound splendid. (For an example, albeit not on Ascension Day, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B_JhKC0EME.) I grew up knowing that Ascension Day, even if it did fall on a Thursday, was an important day in the church calendar, but back then I didn’t know quite why.

I have since learned that one of the reasons for the day’s importance—and the reason I’ll focus on this evening—is the good news that Jesus entered the divine glory without having to shed his humanity. Peter proclaimed this good news in his Pentecost sermon. He first identified Jesus as “a man” (Acts 2:22), and then insisted that the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension/exaltation had all happened to “this Jesus” (2:23, 32) not to another hypothetical Jesus, who might still be divine but was no longer human. It was “he” (33), this same embodied, human Jesus, who now sat at God’s right hand (2:34-36). The Son of God’s choice to become fully human was not a limited-term commitment for some thirty years; it remains a forever commitment.

The Epistle to the Hebrews makes the same point: “Since … the children share in flesh and blood, [Jesus] himself partook of the same things …. He had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:14-17). It was this same “flesh and blood” Son of God who died on our behalf on the cross, who was physically raised from the dead, and who “passed through the heavens” to his place at God’s right hand on “the throne of grace” (4:14, 16).

At least two things follow from this. First, as this passage points out, the exalted Christ still sympathizes with our human weaknesses. While he was on earth, he was “in every respect … tempted as we are, yet without sin.” This loving sympathy hasn’t vanished with the ascension to glory. He’s still human. He still remembers what it’s like to be tempted. He still aches for us in our struggles. When we approach the throne of grace in prayer, we’re not talking to someone who got promoted to a top job and now has no time for us. We’re talking to a brother who has chosen to be one of us forever, always ready to sympathize with and help his sisters and brothers. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

A second piece of good news flows from Jesus ascending to glory as a human being. It shows that there’s nothing wrong with being human. Human is good. God can become human in Christ. The human Jesus can be welcomed into God’s immediate presence in glory. A human being sits on the right hand of God, ruling over all things. Being human isn’t the problem that separates us from God. Sin’s the problem. But Jesus died for our sin, taking the full judgement against sin on himself so that we don’t have to bear it. There’s nothing in the way of our own reception into heaven when the time comes. Heaven isn’t reserved for angels. It’s open to human beings, to the human Jesus, to you, and to me.

Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension have proclaimed this good news, but perhaps Christ’s ascension into the glory cloud has proclaimed it most dazzlingly. I’ll have more to say on this over the next few days, but for now I hope you’re beginning to understand why, as human beings like Christ, we are blessed to be able to celebrate the good news of Ascension Day no less than that of Christmas and Easter.

Your brother in Christ,

Max