Rochester, MN UCC - "God Who Sympathizes with Our Weakness" - Hebrews 4:12-16

There are moments in every new relationship where we must decide how much about ourselves we will reveal to the other person. All of us have things about ourselves that we keep private, things of which we are not proud, things for which we worry we may be judged. When you are getting to know a new person, you have to decide how vulnerable and honest you want to be with them, how much you trust them to understand and to empathize with your struggles. 

 Many of us have a similar hesitation in our relationship with God. We worry that there are things in our past which are beyond the pale, things that it's better to keep hidden from a God who might not understand, who might judge us harshly. In his letter to the Hebrew’s Paul seeks to dissuade us from this way of thinking. First, he tells us that nothing about us or anyone is hidden from the God who created us and knows us better than we know ourselves. But he also insists that God can and does understand our weaknesses and our struggles because in Jesus Christ God experienced all of the challenges and temptations that come with being human. In Jesus Christ God has chosen to understand and empathize with us. Hear it in Paul’s own words, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)

 When we sit in worship on Sunday mornings, we should do so with the confidence that we are fully known, fully forgiven, and fully loved by God. When old feelings of shame rise within us, we may pray for the faith to trust God’s grace and love are enough for us. Our faith tells us that God would stop at nothing to be reconciled with us, so we may take Paul’s advice and “approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” May we each find the boldness to do so this Sunday!

Rev. Andrew Greenhaw