Brothers and sisters of Jesus

Today's reading Hebrews 2:10-18

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Today's Blog

“Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” (Hebrews 2:11)

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Almost incredibly, Jesus, the Son of God, considers us to be his brothers and sisters .By becoming truly human, a son of Adam just like us, we “are of the same family”. In doing this, he “made himself nothing” (Phil.2:7) and yet in that humiliation he was not ashamed, for it was the way for him – and us with him – to be restored to glory (2:10; Phil.2:9-11; Rom.8:16-17; Rev.5:9-10).

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As brothers and sisters in the family of God we share not only in his glory but also in his commitment to holiness. To be holy is to be set apart from God, free from sin and impurity. This is a primary characteristic of Jesus, the obedient Son who came to do God’s will (10:7-9). And because of that obedience, “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all” (10:10).

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So holiness is a gift to us (13:12) but it is also an ongoing process in our lives – “we are being made holy” (10:14). This brings with it two particular motivations. We want to be like Christ our elder brother, changed into his likeness through the Holy Spirit, making every effort to be holy (12:14). And holiness also means that we now also share the same purpose – like Jesus we have been set apart, ready to be obedient and to do God’s will in the service of the living God (9:14).

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(To dig a bit deeper into Hebrews 2:10-18 click here for some commentary notes.)