Today’s reading: Numbers 9; Hebrews 1-2
Jesus had to become perfect.
That feels wrong to say, but it’s what the author of Hebrews says in chapter 2, and will say again multiple times throughout this letter. But isn’t He already perfect? Doesn’t saying He had to be made perfect undermine His deity or make Him look more like the gods of the nations that are fallible despite their deity?
The short answer to my obviously leading questions is no, it doesn’t mean those things. The longer answer though is when we stop and consider what it means for Him to be made perfect as the author of Hebrews points out, it should drive us to a deep gratitude for all that Jesus has done for us.
Starting off, when we say that God or Jesus is perfect, we don’t tend to bound that statement in our thinking. Yes, God is morally perfect, and perfect in many ways, but does that perfect mean God is perfect in every way and for every role? Is God a perfect dog bed? Obviously not! He could certainly create the perfect dog bed, but Him being perfect does not mean He is perfect for any and every role or purpose. Similarly, does Jesus being perfect mean, when Joseph was teaching Him to be a craftsman, that He never cut a piece of wood to the wrong length or misplaced a hammer? Nope, Jesus had to learn and grow just like the rest of us.
So it should not surprise us when the New Testament authors describe Jesus as needing to be made perfect. Instead, it should make us look closer and ask what He so valued that He was willing to step into a position or role for which He was not already perfect. Here, in Hebrews 2, it is as the founder of our salvation that He had to be made perfect.
What we see at the end of Hebrews 2 is that, in order to bring salvation to humanity, Jesus had to first become like humanity in sharing flesh and blood. That means that Jesus, God from eternity past, a non-embodied member of the Trinity, was willing to step out of the spiritual realm in which He existed in perfect connection and relationship with the Father and the Spirit, and put on a body of flesh and blood in order to be like those He wanted to save. More than that, we are told that it was through suffering that He was made perfect as the founder of our salvation, that it was through temptation that He is able to help us who are being tempted, and that it was by death that He destroyed the power of death.
In order to become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God and to make propitiation for the sins of the people, Jesus had to be made perfect; He had to take on a new role for which He was not suited from eternity past. For us - out of His great love for us - He stepped out of heaven, put on flesh and blood, subjected Himself to suffering and temptation, and then went to the cross, not only experiencing death, but becoming sin on our behalf, taking upon Himself the wrath of God due for human rebellion, in order that He might destroy the one who has the power of death, and in order that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
The more we realize the lengths that Jesus went to to be made perfect as the author of our salvation, the more grateful we should be for the unfathomable sacrifice He made in order to do so, and the more we should recognize just how heinous our sin is that it required this response from our Lord.
Father, open each of our eyes more today to the greatness of your love for us in Christ, that Jesus was willing to subject Himself to this for us. As we read through Hebrews over the next few days, draw us to a deeper understanding of just how far He came to rescue us, and let that sink into our hearts as a deeply transformative gratitude that begins to characterize our hearts and lives more than ever before. We know your Word has power; change us by that power.
No comments:
Post a Comment