This is the first in what I hope to be a series of personal meditations on my daily scripture readings. The purpose of this series is for my benefit far more than it is for the wider audience. My goal is that readers will get on my case if I don't publish here regularly. ;)
This chapter is probably best thought of as being in two parts: Verses 1-10 and then the theme from verses 11 on continue into chapter 6. Today I will look briefly at the first part (and hopefully be disciplined enough to do the second part when I do chapter 6).
Chapter 5 provides some comparisons between earthly priests and Christ's priestly ministry. Since my goal is not to provide an exhaustive examination of the passage, I'll just emphasize some things the jumped out at me.
First, the earthly priest is able to be compassionate toward sinners because he is a sinner. He is reminded of this at every sacrifice as he must atone for his own sins before he can offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people. Christ, obviously, cannot have compassion grounded in this, as he was without sin. So, what is the grounds for Christ's compassion? Suffering.
Verse 8 really jumped out at me in this regard: "Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered." One might think that a passage on Christ's role as a priest would focus on his sacrifice as a replacement for the traditional animal sacrifices. Instead we get this somewhat strange thought thrown in that obedience in performing the sacrifice was learned through suffering.
Perhaps I am making too big a deal of this, but it is an important lesson for me. I have felt a lot of suffering recently. To put it bluntly, I feel like I am being punished by God, without being quite sure what I did wrong. I wonder if the suffering is to teach me obedience. And if so, obedience in what area? I suppose this is something I need to contemplate moving forward in Hebrews as I know this theme will come up again.
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