Happenings

Sermons by Pastor Walter Snyder plus announcements, articles, videos, and anything else that doesn’t fit Ask the Pastor or the Luther Library.





10 April 2020

Good Friday Sermon: Sympathy with Our Weakness

Preached on Hebrews 4:14–16; 5:7–9
Good Friday
Scriptures, Prayers, and Sermon
10 April AD 2020

Video: Click to view the YouTube video of Sympathy with Our Weakness.

Sermon starts at the 12:55 mark, following appointed Scriptures and collects for the day. Service concludes with the Bidding Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer.

Apology: I’m sorry for video quality. A camera setting was changed and I didn’t notice until the filming was complete.

Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:5-7 Summary: How many times have you heard or said, “I know how you feel”? Usually intended as words of comfort and support, they usually ring hollow because no one truly and completely knows how another feels. We may guess well, come close, or share identical or near-identical trials but each of us still experiences our pains personally and individually.

So how can the writer of Hebrews tell us that our High Priest Jesus sympathizes totally with every one of us? Your pains and struggles are so very different from mine — yet Jesus not only sympathizes with each of us but also feels each of our individual pains so deeply that it defies our comprehension.

Jesus faced the pains and pleasures that confront us and so often lead us astray. However, none of these could bully, scare, persuade, or entice Him from the path that He walked toward His death and our redemption. He knows what we fear and what we crave. His resistance to the temptations that accompany threats of pain or promises of pleasure paid for our failure to overcome.

When the Holy Spirit creates faith and ignites Christ’s love in us, He leads us to believe in and embrace our cross-won forgiveness. He also increases our ability and our desire to love others and helps us to power through temptations that would otherwise trip us up. The deeper we know Jesus’ sympathy for us, the better equipped we are to truly sympathize with others.

Jesus learned our pain as He passed through life and death before He reentered bliss as He ascended through the heavens to His Father, in whose presence He intercedes on our behalf. He leads us to follow Him, that we might live here in faith toward God and fervent love toward others. He promises that we then will also enter eternal joy in the presence of His Father.

Text: Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. Hebrews 4:14–16; 5:7–9

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Video: Click to view the YouTube video of Sympathy with Our Weakness. Sermon begins at the 11:20 mark.

Other Readings: Psalm 22; Isaiah 52:13–53:12; John 19:17-30

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