Hebrews 5
Hebrews 5:1-14
1 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.
2 He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness.
3 Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins.
4 And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.
5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: “YOU ARE MY SON, TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.”
6 As He also says in another place: “YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK”;
7 who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear,
8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,
10 called by God as High Priest “ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK,”
11 of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
In Christ, there is this wonderful caring for our sins that wasn’t about Jesus glorifying Himself, but simply responding in obedience to the Father’s will as a man. Until, as a man, He endured suffering as a man, even crying out to be kept from death, He was not capable of becoming the One who would take care of our sins once and for all. Beyond the necessity of His status, learning obedience through suffering was the essential understanding that would perfect Him for fulfilled purpose. It’s interesting that Paul, right after making this point of Jesus’ learned obedience, references their apparent lack of capacity for the meat of the Word, or underdeveloped learning. The maturity acquired in the Word will not be evidenced in the ability to regurgitate it, but rather in the ability to remain obedient to it when the flesh is made to suffer as a result. Until this choice is made, His will over ours in the face of impending trials or suffering, there can be no fulfillment of a significant kingdom purpose that impacts souls for His glory. Like Jesus in the garden, though, once obedience is chosen, joy from confidence in His presence turns every trial into a perfecting opportunity. Letting patience have her perfect work only happens in this learning of obedience.