He Learned Obedience From The Things He Suffered

While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. Hebrews 5:7-9

DO YOU KNOW WHAT it is to offer up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears? So does Jesus. Do you know what it is to ask God for the strength to submit to his plan when it brings you pain? So does Jesus. This is why he is able to deal compassionately with us when we are in the heat of the battle over obedience. Jesus is gentle with us because he has cried out to God like we have.

But what does this passage mean when it says that Jesus “learned obedience” from what he suffered? Was he in some way disobedient before? No. This means that his obedience was tested and proven. His was not automatic obedience. It was authentic obedience. His obedience was prayed for, begged for, cried out for, and wept over with tears. Jesus learned through his own experience what it feels like when following God comes with a cost.

So also God the Father experienced the pain of watching his Son suffer. No father has loved his son as perfectly as our heavenly Father loved Jesus, yet his love made room for his Son’s agony. If the Father had not allowed the Son to suffer, the glorious good of becoming “the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him” would not have been accomplished.

Heavenly Father, your own Son, Jesus, learned obedience from what he suffered, so I ask that ________ would learn and live out obedience in the midst of the suffering in this life. Keep me from always sweeping in to save ________ from suffering so that you might accomplish the good that you intend in and through it.