There are some Scripture texts which are… easy and comforting to hear, or to read.
There are others which are difficult to… accept because they are quite demanding to put into practice.
There are others still which are difficult to BELIEVE because it seems that… they are just too wonderful!
The 2nd reading of this Sunday (29th Sunday of Year B – He.4:14-16) belongs to this last category.
The author of the letter to the Hebrews tells us:
“It is not as if we had a high priest who was incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us; 
But we have one who has been tempted in every way that we are, though he is without sin.”
Is it not e x t r a ordinary to have, yes to have, such a God “feeling our weaknesses with us.”
A God who is so… human!
He has been tired and thirsty.
He has known the pain of betrayal by a friend.
He has tasted the bitterness of rejection by his own people.
He has experienced the failure of having his followers move away from him.
He has anticipated with anxiety what was to happen to him.
He has felt the terrible suffering of being savagely beaten and crucified.
When we feel rejected and abandoned…
When we experience loneliness and are misunderstood…
When suffering seems unbearable and anxiety overwhelming…
Then… the moment has come to repeat, or simply hear in the depth of ourselves:
‘He has known what it is’, and to surrender to him
the pain, the evil, the wickedness even, that we are struggling with…
Surrender to him… our selves.
Nothing is as powerful to calm our anxiety and restore serenity.
Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/29e-dimanche-de-lannee-b/