Jesus Learned Obedience from Suffering!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
The more I contemplate the passage I shared with you yesterday from Luke’s gospel, the one where an angel from Heaven was sent to strengthen Jesus in the moment of His own intense struggle with His Father’s plan for His life, the more it encourages me. Read these words again: “’Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Thine be done.’ Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. And being in agony He was praying fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground” (Luke 22:41-45 NASB; emphasis added). I really do believe that most of us find it difficult to accept the fact that Jesus really struggled when He encountered adversity. For some reason, we have a difficult time accepting His humanity, when the truth is, doing so would give us so much hope and encouragement. The author of Hebrews has this to say about Jesus’ humanity: “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8 NASB; emphasis added).
Jesus learned obedience? What a novel idea. Not only that, He learned obedience from the things He suffered! This just blows my mind (No, this is not the first time I have read this passage, but it still blows my mind.)! We all know that He suffered, but His learning obedience from the things He suffered, is a bit much, especially for those of us who believe that obedience was not a problem for Him. In other words, contrary to popular opinion, Jesus came to live among us in perfect obedience to His Father, without an “ace in the hole!” He actually struggled, just as we struggle, so much so that God dispatched an angel to strengthen Him, to gently nudge Him across the line—“ . . . yet, not My will but Thine be done!” Hallelujah!
Listen up! God has a predetermined plan for your life (and mine!) and quite a bit of that plan involves our learning obedience from the things we suffer (if this was necessary for Jesus, it is, certainly, necessary for us!), but keep these words of Paul in mind: His strength is made perfect in our weakness, just as His strength was made perfect in Jesus’ weakness! “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). When I am suffering, I do not think “well content” is the correct descriptor for me, but remember, I am old and I am doing the best I can! (=: