Big Wheels and Weighty Thoughts

My mom likes to tell this story:

When I was a kid, we went camping.  We stayed at this camp ground and I always wanted to get my big wheel out for a joy ride.  Well, finally, my parents granted my request.  I got my big wheel, but I had to stay in sight.  That lasted all of five minutes.  Before you knew it, I was flying down a big hill and blasting away from my parents, all the while my mother is running after me.

I don't remember that story, but I've heard my mom tell it plenty of times.  I relate it to you to remind you of disobedience.  We are all, at our heart, disobedient.  We don't like to follow the rules or do what we're told.  We test boundaries.  We push limits.  We see what we can get away with.

It's part of our human nature to disobey.  We're hard-wired to do it.  It started with Adam and Eve and continues into the present day.

Yet, here's the thing.  In Hebrews 5:7-9, the writer of Hebrews writes that Jesus had to learn obedience through suffering.  Jesus, God's son, the perfect being who never sinned, LEARNED obedience.  That blows me away.  Why did Jesus have to learn obedience?

It's a good question to consider.  Go ahead.  Take a few minutes.  Think about the question.

As I ponder it, I come to two conclusions:  

1.  Jesus suffered the consequences of disobedience by being obedient.  He suffered rejection, humiliation, separation, anguish and torture because he was obedient to the father.  Normally, we experience those things as a result of being disobedient.  Jesus experienced them for being obedient.

2.  Jesus learned obedience through suffering and ultimately identified himself with us. We have a God who experienced rejection, humiliation, separation, anguish and torture.  He knows how we feel because he felt it himself.  We have a God who understands and serves as an understanding high priest and mediator for us. 

As I think upon this scripture, it causes me to see Christ in a whole new light. He willing experienced the fate of disobedient men by being obedient to God in order that he may identify with me and my problems.  My Jesus understands everything about me because he faced it himself.

What an amazing God we have.

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