Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
January 11, 2023
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Hebrews 2:14-18
In this passage the author of Hebrews continues his treatment of the superiority of Christ’s saving action over any action of angels.
Salvation does not come to us through angels but through Christ’s human flesh and blood. Taking on our human nature enabled Christ to combat the evil that was inherent in humanity, and through his sharing in human suffering, free mankind from the dominion of the devil.
God worked through descendants of Abraham–not through angels–to bring about forgiveness for the sins of the people. Jesus was able to help humanity by becoming human himself so that mankind would be released from sin through its own humanity–through the intercession of a priest like themselves. Thanks be to God for our salvation.
As I reread in my Bible the Hebrews passage mentioned above, and came upon the line 2:15, “and free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life.” It made me think about those who had been enslaved either in the ancient Roman Empire or antebellum America and refused to fight against their masters for fear of being killed/murdered. I guess, those who have the gift of the Christian faith and are not afraid of death as a result, can’t be told what to do as easily. But yet, survival is our primary instinct, Christian faith or not, since anyone who says he is not afraid to die is a liar. Reproduction is our secondary instinct hence sex being overrated. So, Jesus came into this world to tell us to not be afraid, providing we live properly, so that we can be free and live life fuller as a result. The devil uses fear to control us. Remember, there are four basic emotions: fear, anger, joy, and love. The first three mentioned deal with the animal part of the brain, whereas love involves the cerebral cortex. All of our emotions are variants or combinations of those four emotions. So, ask yourself, “What kind of a person am I? Free or not. Loving or not.”