Becoming one of us

Years ago, when I was still a fresh new Christian, one of my brothers challenged me with this question: "You mean to tell me that God, who is supposed to be all powerful and mighty, had to hang on a cross to save us? That is absolute absurdity and you buy into that?!?"

It had never occurred to me that a powerful being dying for humanity was absurd. As a teenager, I thought dying was the grandest love gesture that anyone could make: think Romeo and Juliet--what was wrong with that?!

But God didn't just die for romantics, He died for practical people too.

Much later, I found this answer to my brother's question, written clear as daylight in Hebrews 2:14-18: "¹⁴Because God's children are human beings--made of flesh and blood--the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. ¹⁵Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. ¹⁶We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham. ¹⁷Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. ¹⁸Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested."