LINKING HEAVEN AND EARTH

It opened June 1, 1997.
An amazing thing.
Those of you with internet access may have been following progress on the construction of the Confederation Bridge - the link between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Saw the latest picture this week. Quite the sight.
Impressive statistics, too -Length: 12.9 kilometres
Width: 11 metres
Typical Elevation Off The Water: 40 metres
The bridge stands with one side firmly anchored in the ground of the province of New Brunswick. The other side burrows into the ground of the island. People move across the great divide of water on that bridge.
And only across that bridge.

So what do you call that bridge? Is it part of New Brunswick? Or is it part of Prince Edward Island?
Both, really. Right?

I looked at that amazing bridge and see a wonderful illustration of the single most important truth that draws people to the Christian faith; the one key thing that binds believers together.
I looked at this bridge and saw an illustration of the truth that gives us hope when we face some of the uncertainties and terrors which crash into the lives of everyone somewhere along the way;
the truth that can build our confidence and help us plug away in the mundane moments.
the truth that can enhance our joy in the times of happiness and success.

The truth is firmly embedded in the passage that we'll read together.

In and among all the other wonderful things which Hebrews teaches, the truth that I'm talking about, which I see illustrated in the Confederation Bridge is that we worship a Saviour, Jesus Christ, who is the link between heaven and earth. He stands with one foot firmly planted in the human predicament. And the other foot is grounded in the reality and eternity of heaven.
We are bonded together as believers by the truth that we have a Saviour, Jesus Christ, who is -
- at the same time -
fully divine
and
fully human

Fully.
And as that fully divine and fully human being, firmly planted in both, He is able to function as a bridge, a link, a mediator.Humanity can move through Him across a chasm that otherwise is impassable. We can have access to what otherwise is eternally out of reach -- adoption as children into the family of God; and with that the promise of God's care throughout this life, as well as the hope of glory and everlasting life in the presence of God.
In Jesus we have one who can fully identify with our human concerns, while providing divine strength and power to conquer the traumas of life, changing them into eternal triumphs.

It is a bible-based truth that is embedded in the official teachings of our church tradition. You can see that, for example, in the Heidelberg Catechism, a series of questions and answers about key points of faith. Join me in looking at the relevant part -

Q/A18:
Q: And who is this mediator - true God and at the same time truly human and truly righteous?
A: Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was given us to set us completely free and to make us right with God.

Jesus is truly God.
Jesus is truly human.
Both at the same time.

He has a divine nature, and a human nature..... both..... at the same time.

Which is a difficult thing to accept. It's been a problem all through the history of the Christian faith. People have always been tempted to move to one side of the equation or the other --
to say that either he is fully divine and just took on the shell, the outer appearance of a human being; being like a man - that's all
OR
He is as human as you and I, and just seemed to be divine, had a divine-like spirit overwhelm him, giving him some super-human-like qualities.

JESUS AS DIVINE
Consider each side of the bridge for a moment, beginning with His divinity. Jesus Christ is divine.
It's something radically different than other religious traditions with founders who claim to have an inside track to God, or to know lots about God, or to be something like God.Jesus stared straight at those with whom he lived, and through the pages of the bible He stares straight at us and announces that He IS God.
That's the whole point of our reading in Hebrews 1.
Jesus is God.
Not an angel or some other spiritual being or some really good fellow.
God.
Period.

It is precisely because of Jesus' claims to be God that the Jews tried to have him done away with. Perhaps some scholars today get muddled about these claims. But the average Joe in Jesus' day knew exactly what He was claiming about himself. That's why many of them picked up rocks and tried to kill him, shouting "blasphemy." People who claimed to be God were to be killed.

So, please folks - don't any of us leave here today content with thinking that Jesus was a great moral example and a fine teacher of ethics, but only that. He himself taught that He was God. Which means that if we choose to reject this truth we have to stare straight back at Jesus and label him for what he would be - a liar of the worst sort who knew better and shouldn't have made those claims..... or else, as C.S.Lewis puts it, a lunatic, on the order of someone who claims to be a turnip.
Jesus is a liar, a lunatic..... or Lord.
History records his claims. Claims repeated by writings like Hebrews 1.
And we can either accept them or reject them.
There's no other choice.

See - I can't really understand folks who say, "Ken, if you feel you must worship Christ as God, if that's important to you, then do it. But if I disagree with you, then that's what I should do. Both are OK."
You've heard that, right?
A - or - B. Both are acceptable. Whatever works for you.
Sorry, but I can't figure that out.
Because, if He IS God, and is real - then is it not more than a take it or leave it thing?
I can't walk out into the middle of Merivale Rd, look at the oncoming traffic and think - "Well, I think I see a Mack Truck coming for me. If I believe it's real; if that's important to me - fine. If not, that's fine too."
I have to react. If the truck is real it will impact my life! If there is no truck then I shouldn't waste my energy in panicking. Just keep on doing what I'm doing. Would be silly to run, panicking, off an empty road.

The Bible teaches Jesus as God - saviour for all who believe in Him, giver of eternal life; sovereign judge of all who reject Him.
Nothing wishy washy there - no room for complacency.
That's the one side of the teaching.

THE HUMANITY OF JESUS:
Then the other side - that Jesus, who is fully God, is - at the same time - fully human. That's the stuff of our reading in Hebrews 2. Remember v.17?"...he had to be made like his brothers in every way..."
Jesus, God, has fully entered into the human experience. He is fully anchored into it. It's a tough teaching, and one that has caused many thoughtful, sensitive people to ask a whole host of questions. Questions like:If he is really God, how could he possibly have been tempted? Was evil attractive to him? If so, how could he be truly sinless? If not, how could it tempt him? Think of the temptations we face - pride, lust, tyranny, folly, laziness, despair. Did he face those, too? `Even youths shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted' said Isaiah (40.30). Can this also be true of the Son of God? Did Jesus get sick? When he was apprenticing in Joseph's carpenter shop, did he ever ruin a good piece of kiln-dried oak by cutting it crooked or too short? Did he ever spill soup on his shirt?
"Like his brothers in every way" means precisely that - in every way. Remember - we are human not merely because of our shell - that is remarkably like that of the ape. Rather, it is our eternal soul that sets us apart from the animal world, that makes us human. So Jesus, like his brothers in every way, shared in humanity by having a soul as well as a body.

Because of that, Jesus had to, as the gospel of Luke tells us, grow and learn and mature, just like everybody else. He was not born knowing the medicinal secrets of all plants and herbs, or knowing how to deal with a colicky baby, or able to recite the laws of thermodynamics.

Philippians 2 tells us that when Jesus came to earth he "made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness."
That's important. It means that the full glory of his divinity was hidden, layered beneath the humanity, subjected to it.
As I mentioned a number of weeks ago when we saw some of the risks that Jesus took in becoming human, he put aside some of the powers, rights, and glories that were his by right.
He did that deliberately because he wanted to and had to experience the full weight and struggle of being human.

He had to be fully grounded in the human experience, to walk the full path and never stumble, never sin, in order to be able to enter the Cosmic Hall of Justice and offer Himself as a stand-in for us -- as the one who would assume our guilt and sin, and carry the punishment that would set us free to eternal life.

That first, and foremost.
But then also this - as one who has is fully human we are able to bring all our concerns and joys, our hopes and shattered dreams, the good and the bad - we can bring all those things to Jesus, because he understands fully what we are going through. After all, he too lived a life on earth.
That is true, and it can be a tremendous comfort to know that in times of difficulty there is one who understands us and whom we can safely dump on.

Believe that, my friend.
Because, you see, then when we are ill from the flu after 3 weeks of fighting it, we can realize that Jesus knows what feeling sick and weak is like.
When we sit on the beach and wrestle with lust as yet another well-sculpted individual walked past, we can pray for strength remembering that Jesus understands the deep drive of human sexuality.
When tensions build and we are tempted to reach for a bottle, we can approach a Saviour and Higher Power who truly appreciates the human desire to escape out from under difficult situations.

Jesus is fully, completely human.

I said at the beginning that the Confederation Bridge is an illustration of the greatest of spiritual truths facing the human race.
Fully divine.
Fully human.The strength and purity of God to withstand temptation. The experience of humanity to be able to give us aid.
So He could, and DID, stand in our place, man dying for humanity, earning our salvation.
So He could and DOES understand what we go through in the various chapters and moments of life. He understands and provides - His grace sufficient for the moment; moment by moment.
And so -
- hanging firmly on that truth
- united in that truth
we can go from here.

With this truth that gives us hope when we face the uncertainties and terrors that come crashing into the lives of everyone somewhere along the way;
this truth that can build our confidence and help us plug away in the mundane moments;
this truth that can enhance our joy in the times of happiness and success.

With this truth we can leave here.
For it we give thanks.