Daily Devotion – March 16, 2021 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison

Hebrews 5:5-10
5:5 So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”;
5:6 as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”
5:7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
5:8 Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered;
5:9 and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,
5:10 having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

In this letter to the Hebrews, we see a beautiful, vulnerable portrait of Jesus. Look at verses 7 and 8: When Jesus walked this earth and became fully human, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications – he cried to God to be with him and to help him (with loud cries and tears!) as he was suffering. And God heard him. Why? Because he did not use his position as God’s Son to get out of suffering, but bore what every human being bears.

This passage tells us that Jesus truly lived a human life and suffered what humans suffer. So whatever we go through, the pitfalls of life, rejection or humiliation, Jesus has known those things, too. Jesus lived a human life and can relate to our suffering and can walk with us through it. Jesus was God with us. Immanuel means “God with us.”   Nothing that we go through is foreign to Jesus.

That makes Jesus the perfect high priest for us, says the rest of the passage.  Jesus understands our suffering and our needs. Let us never forget that Jesus, though he was part of the Triune God, came close to us, lived on earth with us, and understood then and understands now what we understand, what we go through every day. And Jesus brings us peace, the peace of God that passes our human understanding.

Peace to your house.

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you  for living a human life on earth so that you can understand us. We appreciate this sacrifice and are comforted to know that you know, from the inside out, what our lives are truly like. Thank you for caring for us. Amen.