“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
Frederick Booth Tucker was a Salvation Army Officer in the late 19th century. One of his sermons in Chicago was on Hebrews 4:15 and the sympathy of Jesus. After the sermon, a man approached the pulpit. He asked Tucker how he could preach about a loving, understanding, sympathetic God. He told the pastor, “If your wife just died, like mine, and your children were crying for their mother, you would sing a different song.”
A few days later, Rev. Tucker’s own wife was tragically killed in a train accident. He preached the sermon at the Salvation Army. As he stood in the pulpit, the open casket in front of him, the grieving pastor spoke. “The other day a man told me that if my wife had just died and my children were crying for their mother, I would not be able to say that Christ was understanding or sympathetic, or that He was sympathetic for my every need. If that man is here, I want to tell him that Christ is sufficient. My heart is broken. It is crushed, but it has a song, and Christ put it there. I want to tell that man that Jesus speaks comfort to me today.”
The man was there. He came forward and knelt with Rev. Tucker beside the casket and gave his life to Jesus.
Our high priest is seated at the right hand of God…He understands what it means to be human. With this in mind, when trials and temptations come, why do we go anywhere but God’s throne? Jesus is there – ready to strengthen you – ready to comfort you – ready to restore you. He’s ready to clean that dirty heart…again and again. He’s ready to dry your tears.
Let’s talk about it Sunday! I’ll see you there.
