Jesus Knows

Since [Jesus] himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.

Hebrews 2:18

HERE’S SOMETHING THAT may surprise you: Jesus knows what it’s like to face the problems you’ve been facing in your life. He may not have faced the exact same problems as you, of course, but the underlying principles and conflicts are more than similar.

Jesus never went to high school, for example, but he was a boy who played and lived and learned among other children. Jesus never had to worry about corporate advancement, but he was part of a successful carpentry business alongside his earthly father, Joseph. Jesus never struggled with the consequences of sin—lust, greed, selfishness, laziness, and so on—but he was tempted with opportunities to commit those sins.

And Jesus suffered. Though his life on earth was relatively short compared to what we hope for today, he suffered more than we can imagine. He was rejected by his people and ostracized by many who should have loved him—including members of his own family. He was betrayed by his friends. He was abandoned and tortured and ultimately murdered on a Roman cross.

All those experiences form the basis of the promise given in Hebrews 2:18: that Jesus is able to help us when we come against difficult situations and hard-to-resist temptations. Not just because he’s God but because he overcame the power not only of sin but also of temptation. Whether we’re being tempted or actually suffering, he overcame both in his flesh and can now, by his power, do the same in us.