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“Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered”, Hebrews 5:8

THE CHESS EXAMPLE

It’s like you’re good at a skill, like playing chess. And your father comes along to say, you’ve never played against a super-computer before. And you challenge a super-computer at chess, while at the same time, getting the audience murmur at you, ridicule you, throw stones at you and you manage to beat the computer! Now your chess skill is not just good, but now your skill has been tested and you’re really good!

PIANO EXAMPLE

Or you’re really good at piano. And your father comes along with a difficult piece that you’ve never practiced before, but you play it perfectly, without a single mistake, in front of an audience of thousands and uploaded on Youtube! Now, your piano skill is not just good anymore, now it’s good, tested and everyone can testify to it.

SWIMMING EXAMPLE

Or you’re a very good swimmer. And one day, you become a lifeguard at Sunway Lagoon, or “Bethlehem” Lagoon. And in your job everyday you save people from drowning. And you do your job really well, not one person has drowned since you joined, despite your 12 colleagues doubting you, despite other department heads trying to find ways to get you fired, despite the everyday crowd ridiculing and insulting you for the way you swim. And you ask your father, how do I do this job of saving people? Without allowing all this to affect me? And without making a mistake? And one day you give your life up, whilst  saving everyone in the waterpark. Your life-saving skill is now, not just good, but it has been tested, tried and you came out victorious.

That is exactly what Hebrews 5:8 means when it says, “Jesus learned obedience”.

Jesus, though already perfect and sinless, learned something whilst being in a human body. Every moment of His lifelong learning as a human, especially at the last 3 years of His life on earth, was: Can I endure this temptation to give up? Can I endure suffering in the form of physical and mental torture? from the very creation I love, and still be obedient and do my Father’s will? Without complaint or murmuring. Something never done before by anyone in the universe. And the answer of Hebrews is yes! He could and He did. He learned obedience in what He suffered, He gave His life for it, and He never failed in the process of perfect learning, proven, tested obedience!