Burn Your White Flags (Hebrews)Sample

Like most high schools, mine was full of cliques. In each year there was the ‘pretty girls’ group, the ‘hot surfie boys’ group, and the ‘nerds/misfits’ group. 

I was two years ahead of my sister in school. I was in the ‘nice, stable, and studious’ group. My sister was in the ‘misfits’ group of her class (who were actually just a bunch of creative, intelligent teens who weren’t afraid to be themselves and rose above the school social garbage). 

And while I thrived at school, my sister never liked it. I would see her and her friends around the playground, but I tended to keep my distance. I thought they were a bit odd, and to be honest, I was ashamed to be known as her big sister. When I could have been keeping my eye out for her and including her in my own friendship group, I snubbed her. I also left her vulnerable to the schoolyard bullies. Thankfully, she shared with me later how this hurt her and what it would have meant to her if I had kept an eye out for her and included her.

Unlike how I treated my sister, Jesus, who shares the same Father as we do, is not ashamed to call us His brothers (v. 11-13)! He chose to be identified with us in the closest way by becoming like us in flesh and blood (v. 14a). In fact, He was ‘made like us in every respect’ (v. 17a). 

Why did He do this? It was so that ‘through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery’ (v. 14b-15).

Jesus is the older sibling I failed to be. 

He is our big brother, standing up for us, defending and protecting us from the schoolyard bully. And this isn’t any old bully—it’s our greatest bully; the devil. And he doesn’t just threaten us with mean words or by throwing a few punches, but with death itself. 

Jesus, our big brother, has defeated death for us. He did this by making propitiation for our sins; by being made like us in every way and dying in our place on the cross (v. 17). 

We don’t need to fear death. Our big brother Jesus has defeated death and He's got our back.