In verse 8 of the Hebrews letter (or homily) the author reminds us that the Son of God, the One born and living as a human being, "learned obedience." The Son of God needs to learn something? What is this reality saying to us? Surely we ask what does it mean that the all-perfect God needs to learn obedience?
For me these two words, "learned obedience" is a reminder of the extraordinary gift the God has given to us in giving his only Son to the world as a human being with its human challenges. The full verse reminds us that it was "from what he suffered" that he learned obedience. His sufferings that he would undergo were what the Father asked of him so that the people of God throughout all generations would be set free from the guilt of their sins and thereby given access to the kingdom of God in death.
We have learned that Jesus did not succumb to temptations. This was the unique gift he had as a human being. It was the gift of the Father to him that even though a human being in almost all ways he did not all temptations to sin overcome his will power as a man. Recall the three temptations of Satan shortly after Jesus had spent days alone in prayer with the Father.
The author of Hebrews also reminds us that "when he was made perfect,"he "became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him" (verse 10).
There are times when we try to pray and cannot. A serious thought follows: how can I pray, how can God fill my life with peace and graces when I live a life of sin? A diabetic suffers when there is too much sugar in his/her body. Even a daily minimal dose of the craved sweetness seems to be build up reactions in the body. Might we not look at sin in the same light? Even the "little sins," as some call them, build up a resistance to God's graces. Are we not called upon to "learn obedience" as well? Are we not called upon to become perfect as Jesus was?
If we do push sin from our lives, prayer becomes an ever-rewarding experience of God's goodness.
