Subjected to Suffering

Hebrews 2:5-9

Willow Creek Baptist Church – Evening January 17, 2010

Subjected to Suffering

ESV

5 Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere,

          “What is man, that you are mindful of him,

or the son of man, that you care for him?

     7     You made him for a little while lower than the angels;

you have crowned him with glory and honor,

     8     putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.[1]

Rough Translation

5 Οὐ γὰρ ἀγγέλοις ὑπέταξεν (aorist) τὴν οἰκουμένην τὴν μέλλουσαν (pres. part.) , περὶ ἧς (rp) λαλοῦμεν (Present) .

6 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.

διεμαρτύρατο (Aorist) δέ πού τις λέγων (present part)·

but It has been testified somewhere saying:

(τί ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος

(What is man

ὅτι μιμνῄσκῃ (present pass) αὐτοῦ,

that you are mindful on him

[τί ἐστιν] ἢ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου

What is the son of man

ὅτι ἐπισκέπτῃ (present) αὐτόν;

that you acknowledge him

7 ἠλάττωσας (aorist) αὐτὸν βραχύ τι παρʼ ἀγγέλους,

You made him a little less that the angels

δόξῃ καὶ τιμῇ ἐστεφάνωσας (aorist) αὐτόν,

glory and value you crowned him

8 πάντα ὑπέταξας(aorist) ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ.)

All things you subjected below his feet)

ἐν τῷ γὰρ ὑποτάξαι (aorist inf.) [αὐτῷ] τὰ πάντα οὐδὲν ἀφῆκεν (aorist) αὐτῷ ἀνυπότακτον.

For in putting all things in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control

Νῦν δὲ οὔπω ὁρῶμεν (present) αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα ὑποτεταγμένα· (perfect passive part.)

But now we do not see all things in subjection (intensive perfect) to him

9τὸν δὲ βραχύ τι παρʼ ἀγγέλους ἠλαττωμένον (perfect pass. Part.) βλέπομεν (present) Ἰησοῦν

but we see him, who for a little while was made lower than the angels namely Jesus,

διὰ τὸ πάθημα τοῦ θανάτου δόξῃ καὶ τιμῇ ἐστεφανωμένον (perfect pass. part.),

crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death

ὅπως χάριτι θεοῦ ὑπὲρ παντὸς γεύσηται (aorist) θανάτου.[2]

 So that by the grace of God he might taste death

Exegetical Outline

5 Οὐ γὰρ ἀγγέλοις ὑπέταξεν (aorist) τὴν οἰκουμένην τὴν μέλλουσαν (pres. part.) , περὶ ἧς (rp) λαλοῦμεν (Present) .

For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.

6 διεμαρτύρατο (Aorist) δέ πού τις λέγων (present part)·

but It has been testified somewhere saying:

(τί ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος

(What is man

ὅτι μιμνῄσκῃ (present pass) αὐτοῦ,

that you are mindful of him

[τί ἐστιν] ἢ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου

What is the son of man

         ὅτι ἐπισκέπτῃ (present) αὐτόν;

         that you acknowledge him

7 ἠλάττωσας (aorist) αὐτὸν βραχύ τι παρʼ ἀγγέλους,

You made him a little less that the angels

δόξῃ καὶ τιμῇ ἐστεφάνωσας (aorist) αὐτόν,

glory and honor you crowned him

8 πάντα ὑπέταξας(aorist) ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ.)

All things you subjected below his feet)

ἐν τῷ γὰρ ὑποτάξαι (aorist inf.) [αὐτῷ] τὰ πάντα οὐδὲν ἀφῆκεν (aorist) αὐτῷ ἀνυπότακτον.

For in putting all things in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control

Νῦν δὲ οὔπω ὁρῶμεν (present) αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα ὑποτεταγμένα· (perfect passive part.)

But now we do not see all things in subjection (intensive perfect) to him

9τὸν δὲ βραχύ τι παρʼ ἀγγέλους ἠλαττωμένον (perfect pass. Part.) βλέπομεν (present) Ἰησοῦν

but we see him, who for a little while was made lower than the angels namely Jesus,

διὰ τὸ πάθημα τοῦ θανάτου δόξῃ καὶ τιμῇ ἐστεφανωμένον (perfect pass. part.),

crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death

ὅπως χάριτι θεοῦ ὑπὲρ παντὸς γεύσηται (aorist) θανάτου.

            so that by the grace of God he might taste death.

Running Commentary:

The irony of Jesus is that while all things had been subject to him and now are subject to him, though it does not appear so at present, nonetheless his subjection to death is ultimately his crown and glory.

v5.  The reason for their speech was not to proclaim that God subjected the world (or maybe the Roman Empire) to the angels.

v6.  The content of the message is said elsewhere in Scripture.

v6b. 

Special words: βλέπομεν (9) as the sense of seeing with the eyes

ὁρῶμεν (8b) as the sight for perceptive things

Sermon Outline:

CPT: The reason Jesus suffered death for everyone is so that he might make all things subject to himself.

I.                   Those who come to Jesus are subject to Him who is greater than the angels. (vs. 5-6)

a.       Such has been testified. (Ps. 8:4-6)

b.      Key word is subjected “ὑποτάσσω” which means to place under one’s control by force or action or intention. (2:5a)

                                                              i.      BDAG - to cause to be in a submissive relationship, to subject, to subordinate[3]

                                                            ii.      ALGNT - (1) active subject, bring under firm control, subordinate[4]

c.       Greater than angels

II.                Though all things are in subjection to him not everything now seems in subjection to him. (vs8).

a.       Key word again is subjection with 2 occurrences.

b.      Nothing is outside his control as a result of his subjecting everything.

c.       Another key word - – that means to see with the eyes but in contrast to verse 9 is significant.

d.      He is in control of everything – greater than the world.

III.             Jesus’ humanity (vs. 7&9 “made a little lower than the angels…”) was the crown of glory and honor that allowed his substitution for everyone.

a.       Key word – βλέπομεν – means to perceive especially in relation to - ὁρῶμεν – which only conveys the physical sense of sight.

b.      We see him crowned with glory and honor

c.       His humility begot his substitution for all.

d.      God’s grace is the power of the substitutionary act.

Homiletically Outline:

CPS: The victory of the victim is through the suffering of the Savior.

I.                   What makes a victim

a.       Series of Illustrations

b.      Scripture Reading Hebrews 2:5-9

c.       Its easy to be a victim, but what does it take to be a victor?

d.      The Victory of the victim is through the suffering of the Savior.

II.                The Savior became a sufferer (v5-6).

a.       In this way he identifies with man

b.      The purpose of God was to atone for sin and defeat death through the human/divine Savior.

c.       Application

                                                              i.      We act like victims when we see Jesus wrongly.

1.      When he is less than fully human

2.      When he is less than fully divine

d.      Illustration

III.             The victory of the savior seems hidden (v8).

a.       Even in his humiliation all things were in his control.

b.      The enemy seems to be winning.

c.       We often say “I’m too old, too poor, too tired, too stressed, too busy, too dumb, too complicated, too good, too bad.” – we are victims we think.

d.      In this life we will share in the sufferings of the Savior

e.       Application

                                                              i.      We do not expect to suffer with him

                                                            ii.      We think we are victims of this world

f.       Illustration

IV.             The victim only sees the victory of Christ through Spiritual eyes (v9).

a.       We see Jesus crowned with our spiritual eyes

b.      Though we suffer with him for a while we will forever know him as the victor

c.       He tasted death that you might have life.

d.      Believers see victory in and through their savior

e.       Application

                                                              i.      We See him as an insufficient means of God’s grace

1.      His salvation is limited

2.      His testimony is untrue

3.      His work is irrelevant

f.       Illustration

V.                Conclusion

a.       The Suffering Savior makes you the victor

b.      Suffering is for you as well – victory is for you.

McDonald’s Illustration

-       "I watched the destruction of the cathedral from this window," he said, pointing to a window in what remains of the archdiocese office. "I am not dead because God has a plan for me."

"What happens is a sign from God, saying that we must recognize his power - we need to reinvent ourselves,"

Others, however, were angry.

"It's a catastrophe and it is God who has put this upon us," said Jean-Andre Noel, 39-year-old computer technician "Those who live in Haiti need everything. We need food, we need drink, we need medicine. We need help."

-       One of the most common images in children’s art is the house: a square, topped by a pointy roof, outfitted with doors and windows.

The works by children at a FEMA trailer park in Baker, La., shows that the trauma of the hurricane has influenced thoughts of home and safety. So Karla Leopold, an art therapist from California, was intrigued when she noticed that for many of the young victims of Hurricane Katrina, the house had morphed into a triangle. “At first we thought it was a fluke, but we saw it repeatedly in children of all ages,” said Ms. Leopold, who with a team of therapists has made nine visits to Renaissance Village here, the largest trailer park for Katrina evacuees, to work with children. “Then we realized the internal schema of these children had changed. They weren’t drawing the house as a place of safety, they were drawing the roof.”

Even now the children’s drawings are populated by alligators, dead birds, helicopters and rescue boats. At a session in May one 8-year-old, Brittney Barbarin, drew a swimming pool full of squiggly black lines. Asked who was in the pool, she replied, “Snakes.”

-       Behind Mr. Abdulmutallab’s journey from gifted student to terrorism suspect, accused of trying to bring down a plane headed to Detroit on Dec. 25 with explosives sewn into his underwear, is the struggle between father and son, between piety and radicalism, between an investment in this life and a disconnected young man’s apparent longing for the next.

-       “He is alone and isolated,” said Hani Nesira, a director at Al Mesbar Studies and Research Center who specializes in Islamic movements. “These kind of individuals are usually different from their social surrounding and are unable to find themselves.”

Moreover, they often come from families that may monitor educational performance but are removed from “their moods and their psychological and intellectual inclinations,” Mr. Nesira added, enabling the lonely or depressed to seek belonging in “a religious utopia,” sometimes a very radical one.

-       They weren't goths or loners.

The two teenagers who killed 13 people and themselves at suburban Denver's Columbine High School 10 years ago next week weren't in the "Trenchcoat Mafia," disaffected videogamers who wore cowboy dusters. The killings ignited a national debate over bullying, but the record now shows Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold hadn't been bullied — in fact, they had bragged in diaries about picking on freshmen and "fags."

It's a portrait of Harris and Klebold as a sort of In Cold Blood criminal duo — a deeply disturbed, suicidal pair who over more than a year psyched each other up for an Oklahoma City-style terrorist bombing, an apolitical, over-the-top revenge fantasy against years of snubs, slights and cruelties, real and imagined.

Along the way, they saved money from after-school jobs, took Advanced Placement classes, assembled a small arsenal and fooled everyone — friends, parents, teachers, psychologists, cops and judges.

"These are not ordinary kids who were bullied into retaliation," psychologist Peter Langman writes in his new book, Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters. "These are not ordinary kids who played too many video games. These are not ordinary kids who just wanted to be famous. These are simply not ordinary kids. These are kids with serious psychological problems."

-       The original suit was filed last August by the parents of two girls who claimed McDonald's and two of its restaurants in the Bronx failed to clearly and conspicuously disclose the ingredients and effects of its food, including high levels of fat, salt, sugar and cholesterol.

The plaintiffs argued that McDonald's should be held accountable for the girls' obesity, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol.

The girls, also listed as plaintiffs in the revised complaint, are Jazlyn Bradley and Ashley Pelman. Bradley, 19, is 5-feet-6 and weighs 270 pounds; Pelman, 14, is 4-feet-10 and 170 pounds.

Bradley said her regular diet included an Egg McMuffin for breakfast and a Big Mac meal for dinner. Pelman preferred Happy Meals and said she ate at McDonald's three or four times a week.

Bradley's father, Israel, said he never saw anything in the Bronx restaurants that informed him of the food's ingredients. "I always believed McDonald's was healthy for my children," he said in an affidavit.

----

[1] The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001, S. Heb 2:5-9

[2]Aland, Barbara ; Aland, Kurt ; Black, Matthew ; Martini, Carlo M. ; Metzger, Bruce M. ; Wikgren, Allen: The Greek New Testament. 4th ed. Federal Republic of Germany : United Bible Societies, 1993, c1979, S. 564

[3]Arndt, William ; Danker, Frederick W. ; Bauer, Walter: A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2000, S. 1042

[4]Friberg, Timothy ; Friberg, Barbara ; Miller, Neva F.: Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich. : Baker Books, 2000 (Baker's Greek New Testament Library 4), S. 393