Continue to explore Hebrews 2-3 and the humanity of Jesus as found in Hebrews 2: 5-18. How is Jesus characterized by the author? Consider Christ’s humiliation and exaltation. Reflect on Jesus’ teaching about His narrative. In Mark 8:31 we read, “And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Mark 8:34 tells us, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.” Also in Mark 9:31 we read, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.” We read in Mark 10:32-34, “They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were fearful. And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him, saying, ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again.’” This is an early paradigm for understanding Jesus. Christ’s salvific work is based on death and resurrection and Hebrews 1 and 2 describe this. Hebrews 1 begins with exaltation and alludes to humiliation. Hebrews 2: 9-10 and 2:14-18 describes the humiliation further. These statements shaped the theology of the patristic fathers. Note that he saves humans. This means that he must become human “in every respect”. That which is not assumed in Christ is not healed – he had to become “fully” human. He must perfect a perfect intellectual life along with a perfect bodily life.