The humanness of Jesus

Theme: Addicted? Not me! The humanness of Jesus Hebrews 2:10-18 In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. [11] Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. [12] He says, "I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises." [13] And again, "I will put my trust in him." And again he says, "Here am I, and the children God has given me." [14] 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-- [15] and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. [16] For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. [17] 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. [18] Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Christmas is a great time in this country. Although the run-up to Christmas might produce some angst and hassle when Christmas actually arrives most of us know how to enjoy ourselves. We spend plenty of time on preparations for the great day, writing the cards, putting up the decorations, buying and wrapping the presents, and making sure there is plenty of food and drink in the house. And when all goes well we have a great two or three days, with time off from work and a mixture of celebration and relaxation. We all need a good break like that, and a bit of self-indulgence now and again must be a good thing. But then comes the New Year, and with it comes the reckoning. The results of those hours of self-indulgence usually need some sort of countermeasure, and it does seem that the older you get the more countermeasure is needed! Perhaps that's why New Year Resolutions were invented - not so much to do with new beginnings, more to do with countering the after-effects of Christmas. So in a day or two lots of people will be beginning to search out the diet sheets, perhaps to forgo all alcohol for a while, and maybe once again to attempt to give up smoking and to increase the amount of exercise they take. All this in the hope that the body will return to normal quite soon and that that uncomfortable bloated feeling will give way to slender trimness. For some people that won't take any effort at all. They'll be able to give up chocolate or drink or cigarettes without batting an eyelid. But for other people, it will prove more difficult. Some will have to struggle to regain their former fitness, and some will never succeed. Some people are doomed to remain unfit or to become even less fit because they're unable to give up that which is causing their problem.

These are the people who are addicted to a greater or lesser degree. However, desperately they want to give up their addiction they can't, for something keeps them hooked. It's like a kind of slavery where you're enslaved to some habit which you'd much rather give up, but you can't.

Sadly, we're all in this position to some extent, although we may not have an obvious addiction like alcohol or cigarettes or sugar or drugs. Some addictions are much more subtle than that and may be so subtle that the addicted person has no idea that they're addicted.

There is, for instance, an addiction to gossip. This is the enjoyment of listening to juicy chunks of hearsay about other people and then passing it on without bothering to verify whether or not it's true. Often no harm is meant by gossiping, but harm often results. Either directly, by causing distress to those talked about if the gossip reaches their ears, or indirectly, by causing undercurrents of malice or discontent or untruth within the community. Gossip is an undermining hobby and one best left well alone by Christians. Even the Ten Commandments warn against gossip - "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor". Unfortunately, although it's easy to condemn gossip it's much less easy to give it up, even as the result of a New Year resolution. There's a lot of pressure to indulge in gossip, especially in small and closely-knit communities.

Another common but less noticed addiction is hypocrisy. Most of us wear masks to some degree, and perhaps we need masks of some sort to protect ourselves and to retain our sanity. But hypocrisy wears two-faced masks which are charming and delightful to a person's face but spiteful and nasty behind his or her back. Again, this kind of hypocrisy spreads discontent and disruption and undermines a community's values. In the gospels, Jesus seemed to condemn hypocrisy more than any other sin and noticed it especially amongst the religious elite of the day. But hypocrisy isn't limited to either religious people or to elite people. Anyone at any time can be hypocritical, and if we're honest, many of us are hypocritical from time to time.

Because we live in 21st century Britain, many of us are addicted to wealth and material possessions, whether or not we recognize our addiction. We're mostly happy to accept wage increases and a higher standard of living without allowing uncomfortable thoughts of the poverty of the rest of the world to spoil our pleasure. And we tend to make sure our children are educated to the highest possible standard. This isn't a bad thing in itself and we may have the highest motives, but as a country, at least part of our motive is so that the wealth production of our country will be increased. Again, not a bad thing unless all that increased wealth is kept within our own shores, and not shared out amongst our poorer neighbors. It's difficult for any of us to escape some degree of this particular addiction, simply by virtue of the background into which we were born.

Power is another addiction, even for apparently humble people. Part of the delight of gossip is that it bestows a certain degree of power upon the gossiper, and when gossip is passed around from mouth to mouth all those who participate enjoy a small degree of power. Power addiction is also seen in bullies whether in the office or in school or on the factory floor. In an odd way addiction to power, or perhaps to the abuse of power, may also be seen in perpetual victims, in those people who always seem to be put upon or made to suffer in some way. Power is a dangerous addiction because it's so often accompanied by some sort of abuse, and the more powerful individual people become, the more difficult it is for them to withstand the abuse of their power.

There are many other subtle addictions which are rarely recognized as addictions. But the result of these addictions is not only seen in ourselves and in the way we manage to spoil our own true potential, but is also seen in a world which is ravaged and suffering through violence, through hunger, through pollution, and through the stripping of natural resources.

The problem of addiction for human beings is that we're slaves to it. Whatever we might wish to the contrary, the addiction takes over and we're completely powerless within its clutches. We can't help ourselves. In St Paul's words, " For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing." (Romans 7:19).

Fortunately, there is a way out of this mess, and we can be helped, all of us. No matter what our addiction, whether to alcohol or cigarettes or gossip or power, we can be released from it so that it has no further power over us. We're released through Jesus who is the only one able to lift the slave's chains from us. As the writer to the Hebrews said in today's reading, "Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."

Jesus knows what it is to be human, and was tempted just as we are tempted. But he managed to avoid the temptation of becoming an addiction, even though that caused him great suffering and eventually his life. Because he was able to win through without any addictions right until the end, through all the darkness and the pain and the agony that he experienced, he was able to go before us and to rescue us from our addictions. He saves us from all those things which enslave us. And of course, he's still alive today, interceding for us with God, constantly praying for us and supporting us. 

Through his Spirit, he can heal our addictions, whatever they are. Through Jesus we can give up the booze and the fags and the gossip and the hypocrisy, and give it up forever, never to return.

We have only to ask, and then to work with him by keeping in contact with him through prayer and by opening ourselves to allow him to work within us. And that way, we'll have a very happy New Year indeed and find we can keep every New Year resolution we ever made because we have Jesus with us on our side.