What Did Jesus Have To Learn?

What Did Jesus Have to Learn?

Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.

Hebrews 5:8

He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Philippians 2:8

I used to wander off until you disciplined me; but now I closely follow your word.

Psalm 119:67

Usually when we talk about learning, we mean gaining knowledge or information about something we didn’t know before. When we learn how to tie our shoes or water-ski, we’re able to do something we couldn’t do before.

So when the Bible tells us that Jesus “learned obedience,” our first instinct is to think that Jesus was perhaps disobedient, and then he learned to obey. But is that really the case? Was he in some way disobedient before?

No. The Bible doesn’t say that Jesus learned to obey; it says that he learned obedience. This means that Jesus learned obedience when he experienced it. And it was while enduring the agony of the Cross that Jesus experienced his most costly obedience. Jesus went from obeying without any physical suffering to obeying through unspeakable suffering.

We might think that it was somehow easier for Jesus to obey God in hard things because he was God. But he was also fully human. He felt the temptation to disobey, the urge to give in to what would have been easier. Jesus learned through his own experience what it feels like for obedience to God to cost something—something that hurts.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

When do you find it especially hard to obey your parents, your teacher, your boss, or God? What do you think makes that especially difficult?

How does it help you to know that Jesus understands what it is like to obey in doing something very difficult?

In what ways can you learn obedience from the suffering or difficult situations in your life?