[This is Week 2 of a 5-week preaching series on Hebrews.]

Week 2 (July 21, 2019)

Preaching text: Hebrews 2:10-18; accompanying text Matthew 12:46-50

Here the author continues reshaping the readers’ perspectives through his images. One is of Jesus as pioneer. When contemporary readers hear that word they might envision a figure in a coonskin cap, making a way through the American forests toward an unseen world beyond. Or perhaps they think of a pioneer in space travel or a pioneer in medicine or technology. The idea is that a pioneer goes where others have not yet traveled, for the purpose of opening a way that others might follow. This is the way Hebrews portrays Jesus’ way through death to resurrection. Jesus enters fully into the reality of human suffering, in order to open a way to life.

Next the writer turns to images of family life, portraying Jesus as the readers’ brother. He touches on a theme that is all too real in family life: being ashamed. When growing up, one might experience momentary embarrassment when we are ...