In today’s First Reading the Letter to the Hebrews explains that in order to redeem humanity Our Lord had to have some solidarity with it. Through his Incarnation he took humanity upon himself: he became man without leaving aside his divinity. A high priest is the mediator between God and man, and Our Lord, through his Incarnation, became this mediator and mediation: in his Person he enabled humanity to be restored after the Fall. He is able to empathize with us in our struggles and sufferings because he too chose trials and sufferings for our salvation.
Death was not something desired by God. The Book of Wisdom teaches that death came into the world due to the envy of the Devil (see Wisdom 1:13 and 2:24). The first horrific experience of death occurred soon after sin, through the Devil’s temptation and the sin of our first parents, when Cain slew his brother Abel. Sin and death have always gone hand in hand, and the Devil influences us and the world through them. Through sin the Devil has a power to inflict spiritual death: the loss of God not only here, but in eternity.
Our Lord came to free us from sin and death, and he did so through the Cross. Instead of a tempter we have a mediator. Let’s turn to Our Lord and away from temptation so that he can liberate us from sin and death.
Readings: Hebrews 2:14–18; Psalm 105:1–9; Mark 1:29–39. See also 22nd Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday.
