I. He took on our flesh

II. He brought us back into his family

(Hebrews 2:10-18)

There is a program that is found in a lot of big cities called Big Brother / Big Sister. The idea of this program is that kids who are growing up on the streets, who are living a rough life and are close to getting into trouble, would have someone to watch over them, someone who has been through the temptations of the streets and survived. These Big Brothers or Big Sisters can show these troubled kids that there is a lot more to life than getting into drugs and crimes. They play basketball, go shopping and most importantly just talk with them. They are a good role model for these kids who otherwise may not have anyone strong in their life to look up to. This is a widely successful and I think very beneficial program in the inner cities to save these kids from a bad life or even sudden death. We too needed a big brother to save us. We were on the streets, so to speak, not knowing where to go, not knowing where to turn and staring death in the face. Thankfully we had a big brother who saved us. Only he was no ordinary brother but he was Christ the very Son of God. Jesus calls us his brothers. He took on our flesh to bring us back into his family.

Isn’t it a marvelous thing that we can call Jesus our brother? Think about that for a second. The very Son of God, Creator of the world, is our brother. This is the reason that we celebrate so much at Christmas time, the reason why there is so much joy in our hearts during this time of the year. The Son of God became like you and like me in every way, taking on human flesh, becoming our brother, so that we could be saved.

This wasn’t something he had to do. He didn’t have to take on human flesh. After all he was the all powerful creator of the world and the author of life. He designed the very bodies which we have. We say in Psalm 139, "You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Yet even though he was the Creator of us, he humbled himself and became like his creation.

On that first Christmas morning, he left that glorious throne in heaven and became an infant lying in a manger. He took on flesh and blood and became our brother. For he was exactly like you and me in every way. He had flesh and blood. He had bones and organs. He walked and he talked. He ate and he drank. He did everything that anybody else would do. He looked no different than any other Jew living in Palestine at that time. No one would have known just by looking at him that he was the Son of God. For there was only one thing different from him than the rest of the world, he was without sin.

While you and I are sinful from the time we were conceived, Christ is completely perfect. He was not conceived in the same way that we were. Rather he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. Therefore he was not only true man but he was also true God. It was necessary for him to be both God and man so that he could save us from our many sins.

One needs only to look at the way we act during the Christmas season to see how much sin is in us. All too often during Christmas many other secular things get in the way of celebrating our Savior’s birth. We can concentrate on shopping and buying gifts for our loved ones rather than giving our gifts of praise and thanks to God. We can worry more about what we are going to feed the family rather than getting fed with the Word of God. Or we can worry about how we are going to celebrate the New Year rather than celebrating our new life we have in Christ. While these things are not necessarily wrong in and of themselves, all too often they get placed ahead of Christ, ahead of the real celebration of Christmas.

The devil is good at what he does. He knows the Christmas story. He knows that Christ’s birth meant the end of his reign on earth. Therefore he is going to try to do whatever he can to divert our attention away from a celebration of Christ’s birth to something else, something that will not hinder his work on earth, something that will instead allow him to continue to control us and force us to live in fear of him. We must confess that all too often we follow his lead and stray away from the family of God.

This is the reason why Christ came into the world, to bring us back into his family and destroy the power of the devil. The writer to the Hebrews says, "Since 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, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death."

Indeed Christ had to take on human flesh so that he could save man, the crown of his creation and bring him back into his family. There was no other way. He had to be placed under the law, as a true man, in order that he might fulfill the law perfectly, which he did. Even though he faced temptations just as we do, he was able to defend himself and never fall into sin because he wasn’t just a man. He was also the very Son of God.

Yet fulfilling the law was not the only thing he did because this does not complete our Salvation nor release us from the power of the devil. He did not come to earth to be an example for us so that we may know how to live a good life and save ourselves. Rather he took on human flesh and came to life for one purpose and one purpose only—to complete our Salvation and bring us back into his family so that we may go home to heaven.

In order to do this, he had to die. He had to make atonement for our sins. God required a perfect sacrifice as payment for our sins. The writer to the Hebrews says, "For 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 the sins of the people."

God had made it abundantly clear that the only way to make atonement for sin is by death. In Old Testament times, the High Priest would offer sacrifices on behalf of the people. Time after time, the High Priest would offer a lamb or a bull or a dove or some other sort of animal as a sacrifice to God. These animals had to be completely perfect and without any blemish or defect. Could you imagine the smell of blood, which the Old Testament people would have had whenever they walked into the temple since day after day there would be sacrifices? This would obviously make quite the impression on them. God wanted it this way so that he could impress on them that through the shedding of blood, and only by the blood of a perfect sacrifice could atonement for sin be made. For by sacrificing these animals, God showed the Old Testament people that their Salvation would come through a bloody death.

These sacrifices in and of themselves could not save the people. Rather these sacrifices pointed towards the ultimate sacrifice which the Great High Priest would offer. The sacrifice of these unblemished animals all pointed to the bloody death of Christ on the cross, who was not blemished with sin. This ultimate sacrifice makes atonement for our sins and releases us from the power of the devil.

By his death, Christ swallowed up death. He paid the punishment that we deserved and released us from any power that the devil had over us. Through his innocent death, we became righteous and through faith are now a part of his family. Therefore we can say with the writer to the Hebrews that, "Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family." Since he has made us holy through his sacrifice, we can call Jesus our brother and know that someday he will take us home to heaven.

What happens when we face temptations while we are still on the earth? Not only does our brother, Jesus, bring us into the family but he also makes sure that we remain a part of his family. He knows what we are going through here on earth. Just as the Big Brothers in the inner city know what the kids on the streets are going through because they experienced it earlier in their lives, Christ knows the trials and temptations we have because he has already experienced them while he was living on the earth. "Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."

What a comfort it is to us to know that we don’t have to face these temptations alone! By ourselves we would never be able to withstand these temptations and would constantly fall away from the family of God. Yet with Christ, we cannot fail. He has already defeated the devil through his death. Therefore when we cling to Christ through faith, nothing will be able to pull us away from his family.

So we are gathered here in church today to strengthen our faith so that we can remain in the family of believers. We are assured that whenever we hear the Word of God or receive his Holy Sacraments our faith will be strengthened in Christ Jesus, our brother. Then we can live in peace, knowing that someday the whole family of believers will be able to go home to their eternal home in heaven, where there will be no temptations or sufferings but only joy.

We are thankful that we have a big brother, who watches out for us. Without Christ taking on human flesh, we would not be a part of his family but instead would have fallen away to certain death. Thanks be to Jesus Christ, our brother, who took on human flesh and died so that we may be a part of his family and have eternal life in heaven.