Sunday, April 2, 2017

The Empathetic Saviour

UV 2242/10000 The Empathetic Saviour
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin
Hebrews 4 v 15


Jesus suffered all the privations of life of the average human being of the time. He suffered hunger, poverty, pain, shame, loneliness, discomfort, rigours of journeying, homelessness, mental agony but He never complained or grumbled about His lot. He endured all these sufferings so that He would know the pain of every human born into a world of sin and afflictions. As the High Priest of the Most High God, He is holy and righteous but as a human being, He knew the extent and the types of weaknesses and temptations that humans face. He empathised with the pain and misery of the human condition. He endured the greatest pain and misery of the most cruel and prolonged form of punishment- the crucifixion. To this day, He feels the pain of people everywhere as if it is His own. He remembers the intense pains He suffered on earth. Only if a person is empathetic will He use His competencies and resources to help the needy. Jesus said, “ I came for the needy.” Not for the self righteous, the self satisfied, the complacent, those who think they are not in any need of a Saviour.

One with God for all eternity, He became one of us for a time, He won over sin and death so that He could own all of us. One of our kind had brought sin into the world. One of our kind had to break the power of sin and death. He was not exempted from the temptations of human flesh but His spirit proved stronger than flesh and blood. He could therefore make the full payment for our peace with God, peace with others and peace within ourselves. A High Priest offered some animal for blood sacrifice to redeem himself and others in the sight of God but Jesus as High Priest offered Himself as the blood sacrifice.

Jesus understands our weaknesses, our pain, our suffering and hence, He is most competent to offer us wise counsel as well as solutions or remedies for our afflictions. Since He commanded His own body to come alive again as a resurrected body, He is competent to be the living Saviour. During His earthly sojourn, He healed all types of afflictions –physical, moral, spiritual and is therefore, a proven Healer for our afflictions. His overcoming of the ultimate and absolute challenge to life- death proves that He is the greatest and mightiest of rulers and conquerors, greater and mightier than all the earthly kings and military leaders who ruled by their ability to put people to death. He rules by giving people the right to live forever in the presence of the Lord or eternal life. Jesus as High Priest did not remain distant and aloof from people. Jesus sought the company of sinners and gave them His love, demonstrating that He is a friend to every weak and sinful human.

Prateep V Philip

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