Our tendency is to feel that the more difficult life gets, the more alone we are. As we sink further into pain, we sink further into isolation. The Bible corrects us. He is in us, and he bears our pain with us. We are never alone. The sorrow that feels so unique to us was endured by him in the past and is now shouldered by him in the present.

Jesus Is Still Approachable

The Puritans were a group of English pastors in the 1600s. Their writing and preaching had special force because they blended soaring theological insight with childlike hearts of love for God. And their minds and hearts were soaked with Scripture. A typical book written by a Puritan would take a single verse of the Bible, wring it dry for all the comfort and hope to be found in it, and then, several hundred pages later, be sent off to a publisher.

One such Puritan was a man named Thomas Goodwin. In 1651 he wrote a book called The Heart of Christ in Heaven towards Sinners on Earth. The single verse he was reflecting on and wringing dry was Hebrews 4:15:

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.

The purpose of Goodwin’s book is to help Christians of all ages who are discouraged understand something very important about Jesus. This truth is hard to believe because it is so wonderful. Goodwin’s goal is to convince us that even though Jesus is now in heaven and we can’t see him anymore, Jesus is just as open and tender in his embrace of sinners and sufferers as when he was on earth. In other words, Jesus is just as approachable and compassionate now, from heaven, as he ever was when he walked the earth.

Solidarity with Jesus

Imagine a friend taking your hand and placing it on your father’s chest to feel his beating heart. Goodwin says that Hebrews 4:15 is like that friend. This verse takes our hand and places it on Jesus Christ’s own heart. He says this verse “lets us feel how his heart beats and his affections yearn toward us.”¹

But what exactly is Hebrews 4:15 saying? It’s a deeply surprising verse. Notice the word “weaknesses”: “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.” We tend to think that Jesus is with us and helping us when life is going well. That is surely true. But this text adds another truth. In a special way, it is in “our weaknesses” that Jesus sympathizes with us. In all our weakness—our fear, our anxiety, our loneliness, everything that makes us feel weak—Jesus “sympathizes” with us.

Now what does that mean? The Greek word for sympathize here means to “suffer with” or to “co-suffer.”

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