Hebrews 5:7-10

Sisters and brothers in Christ,

This evening’s Bible passage is Hebrews 5:7-10:

⁷ In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence [or: godly fear]. ⁸ Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. ⁹ And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, ¹⁰ being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

In the midst of a pandemic, it’s good to be reminded that “Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears.” Fully human, Jesus knows what it’s like to face suffering, to weep, and to cry aloud for divine help and comfort. It’s an expression of faith, not a lack of faith, when we do likewise.

Jesus feared death. It was, if the older translation is correct, a “godly fear. He pleaded for help from “him who was able to save him from death,” but he made no demands on his heavenly Father. His prayers were heard. He wasn’t spared death, but after three days he was raised from the dead.

Jesus’s fear wasn’t so much of death itself, but of the death that he alone would suffer. Others had suffered the excruciating pain of crucifixion. Jesus would suffer the eternal judgment due to all human sin, and he would do so in a finite amount of time. The agony would be almost unbearable. He faced this death with godly fear, with loud cries and tears, and, yes, with faith.

Although we’ll never face the extremes of agony that Jesus bore in our place, there are still times when we experience the very real pain of suffering and loss. It’s not a sign of weakness to turn to God “with loud cries and tears.” To do so is to follow the example of Jesus himself. Like Jesus, we may not receive exactly the answer we want, but our prayers will be heard, and the final outcome may be unexpectedly wonderful: not an immediate resurrection, perhaps, but a gracious blessing nonetheless. 

Jesus learned from his suffering. Although he was the Son of God, “he learned obedience through what he suffered.” Obedience is easy enough when we’re told to do what we want, or when following instructions brings us the benefit we desire. It’s harder when we’re asked to endure suffering as the price of obedience. Jesus prayed “with loud cries and tears” for an exemption, and he obeyed anyway when he didn’t get it. We who have been saved eternally by Jesus’s death on the cross are also sometimes called to learn obedience through suffering. God isn’t picking on us; he’s transforming us.

None of this excuses the sin of those who inflict pain and suffering on others. That Jesus learned obedience on the way to the cross in no way whitewashes the sin of those who crucified him. He asked that his persecutors be forgiven (Luke 23:34), but they could only be forgiven because he was paying the penalty for their sins, too. For the powerful to tell the powerless that suffering does them good is an offense to God, who identifies with the poor, the powerless, and the oppressed. Suffering is a dark reality of a broken and sinful world. The good news is that the God of love can bring good even out of suffering that deeply grieves him, just as he did with the death of his beloved Son. Life in a broken world can be painful, but it’s the world Christ himself entered so that he could be “the source of [our] eternal salvation.” And it’s the world he will finally transform forever. In the new heaven and the new earth, there shall be neither “mourning, nor crying,” nor pandemics, “nor pain anymore, for the former things [will] have passed away” (Rev. 21:4).

Your brother in Christ,

Max