⁸Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. ⁹In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. (Hebrews 5:8-9 NLT)

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Have you ever thought about Jesus appearing, just like Adam, as a grown man? What if this Jesus were to walk up to John the Baptist to be baptized, and as He comes up out of the water, the Holy Spirit immediately descends on Jesus like a dove from Heaven. This would be a dramatic appearance that could cause those present to question if Jesus were a man. However, because Jesus comes as a baby and grows to be a man, just like us, we can relate in even more ways to His humanity.

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Through our shared experiences, we can relate to Jesus growing up and learning through all the challenges and victories. He learned to walk and talk, obey His parents, be part of a family, help His family with chores, memorize the Torah, work as a carpenter, pray, and so much more. He experienced the emotions we do, like hunger, sadness, humility, love, anger, frustration, joy, fun, hurt, and abandonment, along with so many more. He experienced all the stages in human life from infancy to childhood, through the teen years, into young adulthood, and to a maturing adult. We can relate to these experiences.

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Today’s Scripture tells us that Jesus, as God, did not need to learn anything, but Jesus, as man, learned obedience by suffering. The rest of us often learn obedience by suffering, too! If a teenager with a driver’s license loses privileges to drive a car to meet friends, he will suffer the loss of peer time and want to follow the driving rules in the future. Anyone who cheats at a job should lose the job, and family members will suffer from the lost income. People can suffer the loss of their freedom to learn obedience to the laws they disobey. We can relate to learning obedience.

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Jesus did not have a plan written by God for Him to follow on Earth, so He freely chose His life, just like we do. He experienced the totality of human life, never sinned, and continually chose to obey His Father’s will. Jesus even had a choice in His death and cried out to God to find a different way: “Abba, Father,”^[a] he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine” (Mark 14:36 NLT). We can relate to free choice, but we do sin and do not always choose to obey God’s will.

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Old Testament Law required priests to continually offer the blood of sacrificial animals as repentance for their sins. God’s penalty for sin is death, and only life – symbolized by blood – could pay this penalty! The blood of Jesus was poured out as a sacrifice for the sins of humanity. This once-for- all sacrifice qualified Him to be our eternal High Priest! He obeyed God and paid the penalty for all sin! We, as sinners, cannot pay this penalty, but we can choose to obey and accept what Jesus did for us. How do we obey? Our obedience is shown when we profess faith in Jesus as our Savior.  

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The purpose for Jesus coming as a baby can be summed up in this one verse, “In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him” (Heb. 5:9 NLT). This is the gospel, or good news, of Jesus! By growing from a baby to a man, He added humanity to His holiness. He, with no sin, knew the penalty of sin was death and suffered in death to pay the penalty for our sins. Jesus experiencing humanity is why I can relate to God. I struggle and cannot relate to His suffering from all of humanity’s sin, but I am eternally grateful for my salvation because of Jesus!

“Jesus learned how to walk, stumbled and fell, cried for his milk, sweated blood in the night, was lashed with a whip and showered with spit, was fixed to a cross, and died whispering forgiveness for all.” - Brennan Manning  

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Jesus paid the penalty for the forgiveness of our sins! Can you hear Him whisper, “It is finished” (John 19:30 NLT), as He died for us? May you obey and accept His payment of forgiveness today!