The Perfect Son

“Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered;  And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him;”  Hebrews 5:8-9

When Jesus was on earth, and the time was drawing near for His mission of dying on the cross, He prayed earnestly to His Father for relief from His agony.  What did Jesus dread the most about His impending crucifixion?  Most likely He dreaded the separation from His Father even if only temporary.  God cannot look upon sin.  Habakkuk 1:13 tells us that God is “of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity…”  While Jesus was sinless, He took on the sin of all mankind as He hung on the cross.  At that point, God, momentarily could not identify with His Son, thus God had to turn His back on Jesus.  Imagine the fear and confusion that Jesus experienced as He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).  Have you ever considered what would have happened if God changed His mind about allowing His only Son to die for our sins?  Everyone who has ever been born or will be born would end up in hell, eternally separated from God and without hope.  As Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, He knew that His Father’s plan must be completed, and He knew that He was the only One qualified to make the way whereby sinful men and women could be forgiven.

The writer of Hebrews points out that even though Jesus was God’s own Son and thus was a perfect and sinless Son, He still learned obedience by those things which He suffered.  The first thing Jesus suffered, even though He had the message of joy and hope for man’s future in eternity, was the rejection of Him and His message.  He did miracles before thousands of people and spoke words of comfort, joy, and of promises for peace and contentment, but many refused to believe Him.  The divine side of Jesus was not surprised at the rejection that He experienced, but I wonder if His human side became frustrated and disappointed that the great majority of people ignored Him.  He did sometimes express frustration in His disciples’ lack of understanding His purpose.  He showed His disapproval of the hypocrisy and arrogance of the religious leaders (Matthew 23) and disappointment in the ingratitude of some folks that He had healed (Luke 17:11-19).  As Jesus traveled across the land of Israel, the sins, lethargy, and indifference of God’s chosen people only affirmed to Him that His Father’s plan for redemption was a necessity that only He could fulfill.

Jesus was always obedient to His Father.  Before the earth was ever created, Jesus was with His Father in the vast expanse of space.  He helped His Father in creation (Genesis 1:26), particularly in the creation of man.  He didn’t need a reason or an incentive to obey during creation nor during His time on earth, however, in heaven, He had not experienced suffering.  When He became part human, though, He learned what it meant to obey in suffering.  For us humans, there is nothing like suffering to teach us to obey God, our parents, law enforcement, doctor’s orders, or teacher’s demands.  I read a “Family Circus” comic strip years ago in which one of the children stated, “I know how to get along with my parents:  they tell me what to do, and I do it!”  This is a light-hearted way to express a profound truth: if we desire God’s help, comfort, and blessings, then we obey Him.  Suffering sometimes means enduring pain, both physical and mental, and sometimes the loss of things that are near and dear to us.  Jesus certainly endured pain, separation from His Father, and the loss of all the friends that He had made during His time of ministry.  As He hung on the cross, He watched the agonizing mental pain which surged through His own mother as she watch her Son suffer and die.  Jesus must have also felt deep emotional pain for all those of whom He knew would never repent and believe on Him, causing them to miss heaven, even though He provided the way of pardon for them.  It is certain that Jesus’ obedience to His Father meant suffering, yet He did not hesitate to obey.

Jesus was already perfect before His crucifixion, but His obedience to the cross sealed His perfection, not to God, because God already knew of Jesus’ submissive will to Him, but to mankind.  What greater proof of God’s love and mercy upon sinful man that for His own Son to lay down His life for all mankind.  Jesus became the author of eternal salvation through His obedience to the cross of suffering and death, and then by raising Christ from the dead, God displayed His approval of His Son’s sacrifice, the first One to experience resurrection.  Jesus was and is the perfect Son.