Those with speech synthesizers, in case Perfect Paul didn't read the
subject perfectly, you might have thought it said "sympathy" as in  s, y, .
m, as in Mike, p, a, t, h, y. But it actually reads "sinpathy" as in s, y,
n, as in Nick, p, a, t, h, y. New word! Although it is new as of this
writing, at least to me, the definition is 2000 years old.

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the
heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do
not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One
who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." -- Hebrews
4:14-15

It is easy to gloss over this verse, and Paul's use of a double negative
"we do not have a high priest who cannot" doesn't help. The fact of the
matter is we sometimes look at our sins, our offenses, our times of trial,
and the things which seem to separate us from God as a strange and
unfamiliar thing to God. even Paul in this verse recognizes and calls to
our need as humans to be accepted within our own society, to take comfort
in not being a loner in the world, but rather reaching to find some sense
of commonality even in our sin, that we can find some grace, some sort of
comfort that we are not alone, at least as  far as being tempted is
concerned, acting on those temptations is where a separation begins between
Jesus and us. Reading this verse, I caught a vision of me just walking
along the street, talking with a brother about the days trials, the
temptations of anger, ungodly thoughts, selfishness, greed, and the gammet
of things which God tells us to stay away from, as I expound on these
things and tell in confidence this friend as we walk how I failed and I'm
not feeling to good about it, I see this brother saying "I know man, I've
felt that same thing. I hear what you are saying man, it's tough". And
looking over I see that brother to be Jesus. We often times, and rightly
so, expound on the burdens Christ took of all of us on the cross, but have
we considered the burdens, the temptations he went through while walking
the Earth  just as we do, so we could take comfort in knowing that he too
was tempted as we are, and while our flesh has succumbed to those
temptations at times in our live to give us that immediate satisfaction, he
suffered through it not acting on it. Imagine the temptations of greed,
anger, lust, having other gods before the Father, violence,  anything we
could fathom, Jesus has experienced these temptations but stood strong
enough against the flesh and the enemy and did not act on them. We, on the
other hand, have in times past and probably in the future, hopefully to a
lesser degree as we go through life, succumb to these temptations, and for
what? For a release of immediate satisfaction, to get that nagging flesh to
get off our back. If we succumb to it, it can't be tempting us no more, it
can't steal our thoughts, or cause anguish inside us any longer. But having
succumbed to it, we  now have guilt within our flesh for having given in.
Imagine that is one emotion Jesus hadn't felt. And with our ever seeking
flesh to work against our spirit, never satisfied if we follow God's ways,
or it's own, bobbling between temptation and guilt, we have conviction
within our hearts as a guide to let us know when we did wrong, flavored
with the grace of God, and his word to help us get back on track, and
hopefully not go down that road again. Imagine if going from Louisiana to
California was a sin. So one day we are tempted to hop on Route 66 from
Louisiana and head west finding our selves fully engulfed within the
boarders of California a few days later. OK, we realize it is sin and
scratch that route off, never to take it again. But, unknown to us at that
particular time is that there are many other ways to get from Louisiana to
California, and in the future we will again find ourselves well within the
boarders of California  only to scratch  off yet another route off our
"Spiritual To Do" list.

While we are beating ourselves up over our fallings, we can take comfort in
the fact Jesus knows what we are going through, he sympathizes with us in
our sin, God is just, but he also sympathizes with us. If he didn't
sympathize with us, just think how much less meaning would be in Jesus
hanging on a tree for us? It would be a cold dutiful task and not an act of
love.
  according to word only and not a act of the heart. So next time you find
yourself a little lower than God's word calls for in your life, realize
Jesus is sympathetic to your temptations, and stood strong for you 2000
years ago so you'd find hope and strength in him, and a sense of knowing a
savior who stood in the gap for you, and who knows what you are going
through everyday of your life.


Brad

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