Wednesday in the First Week of Ordinary Time, January 13, 2021

Hebrews 2:14-18

Since the children share in blood and flesh, Jesus likewise shared in them, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the Devil, and free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life. Surely he did not help angels but rather the descendants of Abraham; therefore, he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God to expiate the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

The authorship of the Letter to the Hebrews was disputed even in the early Church, with some of the Fathers advocating St. Paul as its writer, while others countered that it was not written in Paul’s style.  Some Fathers alternatively suggested that Barnabas or Apollos composed it.  It is very much better organized that nearly all of Paul’s letters, and it reads more like an essay than a letter, especially since no greeting opens it.  St. Thomas Aquinas and others who held that Paul wrote it argued that knowing the low opinion his fellow Jews had of him but yearning to convert them, he disguised his authorship by not giving a greeting or making any personal remarks.  Certainly, Paul had the learning necessary to write this very learned work.  And it must have been written during his lifetime because the references to worship in the Temple make no sense after 70 A.D.  The intended readership would have been Pharisees leaning towards Christianity or Jewish Christians who retained a strong sense of their heritage, clung to the Law, and still worshipped in the Temple.  The Letter is an essay on Jesus Christ, the true High Priest, as well as on the nature and necessity of faith.

Paul begins his letter by establishing that Jesus is the Son of God, and that he did not come into the world to save the angels, but humans.  He says,“Since the children share in blood and flesh, Jesus likewise shared in them.”  Notice that Paul says “blood and flesh”, and not “flesh” alone.  The “children” do share in their human nature, and the Son of God assumed a human nature, but the “children” also consume the Son’s Flesh and Blood in order to share in his divine nature: “He who eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life” (John 6, 54).  “That through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the Devil.”  First, Paul asserts that the Son of God came in the flesh, now he explains why he did so.  This, incidentally proves the divinity of Jesus, for if he were only a man, his death would have accomplished nothing.  His divinity, joined to his human nature, saves us through the infinite merit of his Sacrifice.  In presenting the Lord’s purpose as destroying the Devil’s power, the author makes it clear to us that both he and his intended audience are either Pharisees — as Paul was — or were influenced by them.  The Devil is said to have “the power of death”, that is, the power to tempt and the rule of hell and over the demons in it.  This phrase recalls how the Lord stated that the Devil “was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth” (John 8, 44).  “And free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life.”  Fear makes men and women slaves by constraining their thoughts, movements, and actions.  For those who dwell in the shadow of death, that is, non-believers, death is their absolute and irrevocable end.  Dread of it results in an obsession with health, on the one hand, and in reckless hedonism, on the other.  It also results in a despair that results in criminal behavior.  These three effects dominate western society today.  The grace offered to us by our Lord, won by his Death and Resurrection, alone can free the non-believer from this slavery since it provides hope for the future life and the means to attain it.

“Surely he did not help angels but rather the descendants of Abraham.”  This refers back to a point made early in the first chapter of this Letter.  In the order of existence, the angels would seem more worthy of divine help than we, who are just above the level of the beasts, but the good angels do not need assistance, and the wicked ones are beyond it.  We stand in awe of the Lord’s descent to help us: “What is man, that you think of him? or the son of man, that you care for him?” (Psalm 8, 4).  Paul says that the Lord did this to help “the descendants of Abraham”.  As he made clear in his Letter to the Romans, Abraham was born before the Law was instituted: his justification came through his faith.  His descendants, then, are all those who are reborn in faith — through baptism.  “Therefore, he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every way.”  As Paul will write a little later in his Letter, “one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin”: the Son of God became one like us in every way but sin, even enduring temptation.  He did this, taking on our human nature, in order to sacrifice himself for us.  The following words from the Fifth Preface of Easter (from the Roman Missal) tell us that: “As he offered his Body on the cross, his perfect sacrifice fulfilled all others.  As he gave himself into your hands for our salvation, he showed himself to be the Priest, the Altar, and the Lamb of sacrifice.”  “That he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God to expiate the sins of the people.”  Only by uniting himself to our human nature could he become a priest, “for every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins” (Hebrews 5, 1).  Likewise, only by his Incarnation could he become an Altar, for his flesh was that Altar upon which he offered his obedience in his Sacrifice.  And since a divine Person is eternal and cannot die, that is, become “the Lamb of sacrifice”, he must needs “be made man”, as the Creed says.  

“Because he himself was tested through what he suffered.”  His will to obey the Father was tested in his suffering, beginning notably in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he prayed, “My Father, if this chalice may not pass away, but I must drink it, your will be done” (Matthew 26, 42), and where we see “his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground” (Luke 22, 44).  He offered a very real sacrifice.  He made an offering that cost him everything.  “He is able to help those who are being tested.”  His “testing” helps those who are also being “tested” through persecution or other suffering through its example and through the grace his suffering and his victory over his suffering merited.  

“Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace: that we may obtain mercy and find grace in seasonable aid” (Hebrews 4, 16).