Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. Hebrews 5: 8-9.
Imagine yourself as Jesus, you know you are the Son of God, you know all things were made by you, in fact you made all things (Col 1:16, John 1:3) and then the following are happening – just to name a few:
- Your parents are sending you on errands all around even though you gave them life.
- Your siblings talk to you anyhow and make fun of you in public; do they know you can take that breath?
- Your father’s customers are rude to you.
- People treat you with contempt.
- They say evil things about you – behind your back and right in your presence.
- Humiliate you and beat you up in the presence of family and friends.
- They plot to kill you and not just plot it, they carry out their plot.
How will you have reacted? Remember you are the Son of God; you have power and authority? I can guess for some of us, angels would have been slapping people all around on our behalf at the minimum (lol). We would have said things like ‘How dare you?’ ‘Do you know who I am?’, ‘If you say one more word, I will ….’ etc.
So, when the bible talks about the sufferings of Jesus, it’s not only talking about the cross – that was the “grand suffering”. He experienced suffering every day of His life on earth in one form or the other but stayed humble. And because He endured, He was able to fulfil His purpose and give us all direct access to the Father. Imagine if He has called down angels when the devil was testing him in John 4? He would have disobeyed God and obeyed the devil. Little wonder He is the only one worthy to be our great High priest. He understands how we feel since He’s experienced it too hence can empathize and help in times of need. Heb. 2:17-18.
As Jesus learned obedience by the things He suffered and so was able to fulfil His purpose, may we learn obedience by the things we are called to suffer and having held on to our confidence and rejoicing of hope to the end, we will also fulfil our purpose.
Remain connected,
Bolaji Ajayi
And the word became flesh 