“For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of one (origin). That is why he (Christ) is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, ‘I will proclaim your name to my brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.’ And again, ‘I will put my trust in him.’ And again, ‘Here I am, and the children God has given me.’ Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.” (Hebr 2: 11-15)
Our Lord Jesus Christ “partook” of our human life and our human death, having become One of us in His incarnation, so that we might also “share” in His flesh-and-blood, in His being and way of being, as members of His family. As the author of Hebrews notes, in our “midst” (or “in the midst of the congregation”) Christ has prayed with us, saying, “Our Father, who art in heaven…”. Thus Jesus invited all of us to share in His own “status,” as we call God “our” Father, together with Him, God’s only-begotten Son.
Let me embrace my new “status” today, once again, as one of God’s “own,” as I say with and in our Lord Jesus Christ, “Our Father!” In Christ, I am not somehow removed from human life and human death, no. I am rather given to share in His way of living, and also in His life-bringing way of dying, – of dying to merely-human fears, and to the crippling, “lifelong bondage” that they bring. Lord, “deliver all those” of us “who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage,” that today we may, once again, replace self-isolated fear with faith and oneness in You.
