David Bahn – Reflections

Hebrews 5 [ESV]

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. ⁸ Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. ⁹ And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,¹⁰ being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

If I am to pray, I want to know that God hears when I call, and that he can help in the face of my need. But I want, also to pray with the confidence that God’s help will come wrapped in wisdom and grace. For there may be times when my prayers are shaped more by my personal and limited understanding than by the wisdom of God.

Jesus prayed “to the one who was able to save him from death.” Yet he died. He was heard when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Yet he died. Somehow, though, the Father had a greater plan in mind for Jesus than simply rescuing him from death. God’s ultimate answer to Jesus’ prayer was better by far than delivering him from death.

This is a truth embraced only by mature and humble faith. You cannot believe that God’s answer to Jesus’ prayer was good for Jesus unless you see by faith that his exaltation as Savior and high priest is better than being delivered from death.

So often we think that answered prayers are those which align with our assessment of our own needs. We do not see into eternity, however. And our assessments of our own needs are deeply colored by our selfish biases. This is not what we often hear when we are encouraged to pray. But it may be that our greater need is to be saved from dispair, and from a view of life and death that abandons God’s promises of resurrection and eternal life. This is no call to a pie in the sky in the sweet by and by kind of hope. It is a call to mature and humble faith – a high calling indeed.

Hebrews 5 [ESV]

For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. ²  He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.³ Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. ⁴ And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.

⁵ So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him,

⁶ as he says also in another place,

⁷ In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. ⁸ Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. ⁹ And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,¹⁰ being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

¹¹ About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. ¹² For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, ¹³ for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.