Today’s reading: 2 Kings 25; Hebrews 5-6
Jesus counted it worth being made perfect through suffering for us.
That’s one thing that always stands out and hits me when I read Hebrews 5. I’m not sure why, but it helps bring home just how far Jesus was willing to go for us. I think it’s the mental jarring of the fact that Jesus, God the Son, was not sufficient for a task that makes it stand out, but that’s what always hits me here.
Yes, Jesus was, and always has been, morally perfect, but that does not make Him perfect in every role and for every purpose. As a kind of absurd example, Jesus is not a perfect book, coffee mug, or cheetah. It is not an indictment against His nature or character to say that He is not a perfect coffee mug because He is God, not a coffee mug. Could He make Himself into the perfect coffee mug? Maybe, I guess? I’m not entirely sure, but it would certainly take an intentional act on His part because He is not currently a perfect coffee mug.
In the same way, before taking on flesh and living and suffering the life He did, Jesus was not a perfect high priest for us because He could not relate to our weaknesses and temptations. If Jesus had just appeared on earth as a thirty-something year old man and immediately died, His death would not have been sufficient to pay for our sins. It took Jesus going through the human experience, facing temptation, and coming out victoriously sinless to be able to have His death pay for our sins, and He willingly subjected Himself to that for us!
Thank you Jesus for all you were willing to suffer so that you might reconcile us to yourself for eternity. We don’t deserve it, and I don’t think we will ever truly know how far you came to redeem us, but thank you nonetheless!
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