Christ, My Empathetic Buddy, Not Victorious Redeemer

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

We love Hebrews 4:15 because it tells us that Christ understands because He has walked a mile in our shoes, tempted as we are. I wonder if the meaning gets flipped too often by looking at it as a friend who understands what we're going through and feels sorry for us.

He's patting our shoulders while giving us a Kleenex, letting us know it's okay. There can be a me-centeredness to the text as a psychologized culture inverts that text, making it about our pain and suffering, and finally, someone understands what I'm going through.

What if we did not make the text about us but about Him? What if we thought about the suffering that happened to Him and the high privilege of walking in His shoes and following His steps (1 Peter 2:21)? We don't need a sympathetic, understanding buddy. Still, a reminder of what happened to Him, and our role is to follow Him with less thought about ourselves.

If we turn the text onto ourselves, we'll also start feeling sorry for ourselves—just like Jesus does. You'll have a complaining, "woe is me spirit," that looks more like a victim than a victor. And you'll spiritualize it because Jesus feels as sorry for you as you do.

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