Exaltation through Abasement

5 Now God^* did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels.⁶But someone has testified somewhere,
‘What are human beings that you are mindful of them,^*    or mortals, that you care for them?^*
7 You have made them for a little while lower^* than the angels;    you have crowned them with glory and honour,^*
8   subjecting all things under their feet.’
Now in subjecting all things to them, God^* left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them,⁹but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower^* than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God^* he might taste death for everyone.

10 It was fitting that God,^* for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

What is Man?

Writing for people who may have been sliding into some kind of angel-worship, the author cites the Jewish belief that the Torah had been given to Moses by angels. Well, he says, if neglect of something given by angels is blameworthy, what greater punishment may await those who neglect a salvation offered by the son of God! He goes on to quote a psalm which expresses wonder at the status God has given to human beings. They have been lower than angels, but only for a little while. In the world to come they will be crowned with glory and victorious over all their enemies.

“Oh yeah?” we can imagine a sceptical reader responding. “How do you know that – God’s been talking to you?”

The author points to Jesus as the source of his belief. He, the pioneer human, was also made lower than angels, much lower since he tasted death. But now God has perfected his life and issued the call to all human beings to follow his path-making journey. Like him they will suffer, like him they will taste death, but like him they will be made made perfect. That world to come, which the author later calls” the city whose maker and architect is God,” is the community in which human beings share the life of Jesus, the pioneer.

George Mallory-himalayan pioneer

There are many images of Jesus in the bible-shepherd, saviour, king, lamb; I find that of Jesus the pioneer, the one who goes ahead of people, breaking a trail for them to follow, tasting the dangers, never giving up and until he finds the city of goodness, very helpful from day-to-day and when I reflect on the course of my own journey. I’m in my eighth decade of life. Given my capacity to wander from the true way, I find it astonishing that I’ve not lost it altogether. Without knowledge of Jesus, I would have been lost. Most of my suffering has come my way as a result of wandering, a little as a result of holding to the true way; and the taste of death is not as distant a prospect now as when I was fifty. Still I trust the pioneer and I believe there is a city.

In these confessions of faith in the God of Jesus, I am not suggesting that He/She is not also the God of Moses, Buddha, Mohammed, the God of the Bhagavad-Gita, the Tao te Ching, the Book of the Dead, indeed of all seekers of truth. For me however, through the experiences of my life, Jesus Messiah has been the pioneer whose way I’ve tried to follow. It would be untrue to say that I know this way is better than all others, as I know only this one well.  My experience is that our great pioneers choose us as much as we choose them. If adherents of other faiths are doing me the honour of reading this blog, I’d be pleased to receive their comments.