In It Together — A LifeWords Devotion

Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help. (THE MESSAGE)

We can dig deeper into texts like this by analysing the nature of Jesus and exploring the tension between his humanity and divinity. Instead, hear this story doing the rounds:

This guy’s walking down the street when he falls down a hole. The walls are so steep he can’t get out. A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up, “Hey, you! Can you help me out?” The doctor writes a prescription and throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a priest comes along, and the guy shouts, “Father, I’m down in this hole. Can you help me out?” The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole, and moves on.

Then a friend walks by. “Hey, Joe, it’s me! Can you help me out?” And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, “Are you stupid? Now we’re both down here.” The friend says, “Yeah, but I’ve been down here before, and I know the way out.”

When any of us is in a hole, Jesus does not offer advice from high above. He enters into our depths, he understands our shadows and our darkness. How tiresome it is to be offered misguided counsel by those who fail to understand and who interpret our own needs simply in light of their own. Because of who he is, Jesus doesn’t do that. He is the only one who can truly say to us, “I know exactly how you feel.”

Blessings

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David