Catholic Life Ministries

By Robert Fontana

No, no, no! Jesus was the perfect child. He was naturally obedient to his parents, at least except for his little escape to the temple without telling Joseph and Mary, when they were in a tizzy not knowing where he was. Then how would he have needed to learn obedience to God through what he suffered?

Our faith teaches us that Jesus suffered for our sins through his death on the cross. As St. Paul writes:

We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 1 Cor 1:23-24

Indeed, the entire sacramental life of the Catholic church is based on this conviction that we participate in the meaning of Christ’s death whenever we celebrate any of the Sacraments, but especially the sacraments of Eucharist and Baptism:

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. 1 Cor 11:26

…are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.  Rom 6:3-5

The New Testament writers understood that Jesus is the Suffering Servant written about by Isaiah (Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12):

But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all.

The letter to the Hebrews teaches us that suffering for Jesus had a purpose, to teach him to obey God’s will for his life. This didn’t happen just in the garden of Gethsemane when he prayed that the suffering that lay before him be taken away. No, Jesus was being trained from childhood to bear a variety of different forms of painful events that enabled him to literally take up his cross at Calvary. The ancient Christian hymn cited by St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians underscores this very point:

…though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:6-8

How did Jesus during his lifetime learn obedience through suffering? This is what I think.

(1) Jesus learned to say “yes” to God by saying “no” to temptation.  Jesus was not just tempted when he encountered the Devil during his 40-day fast in the wilderness.  He was tempted throughout his entire life with real temptations, as we all face. We have a glimpse of how Jesus was tempted when we read how he struggled in the garden to face the suffering and death that were coming: “Abba, Father, take this cup from me.”  Mark 14:36

Did Jesus struggle in a similar way with other temptations? Why not? He was fully human in all ways but sin. He must have had to wrestle with the seven deadly sins – pride, anger, greed, envy, gluttony, lust, and laziness – as we all do. 

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15

(2) Jesus learned obedience to God by saying “no” to family expectations. His family and relatives from Nazareth were good Jews. They were just as offended by Jesus’ behavior as were the religious leaders, so much so that family members tried to remove Jesus from circulation, and the synagogue leaders of Nazareth had him expelled:

When his relatives heard of this, they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”  Mark 3:21

He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. Luke 4:16-29

I don’t think we can overstate how difficult this was for him in a kinship culture in which family relationships dominated Jewish life. Loyalty is expected, even demanded. Yet Jesus must break through family expectations to truly listen to his Father’s will for his life.

(3) Jesus learned obedience to God’s will by suffering through opposition from Jewish religious leaders. These leaders watched what Jesus was doing and were outraged by it: breaking Sabbath regulations; eating and drinking with tax collectors and prostitutes (sinners); including women as his disciples; healing servants of the hated Romans; and insisting that God’s love was breaking into the world through him. Their only explanation for such scandalous behavior was that Jesus must be possessed:

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”  Mark 3:22

(4) Jesus learned obedience to God by suffering through the departure of many of his disciples who lost confidence in him. This loss of confidence began before the great betrayal of Jesus by his disciples on the night he was betrayed. John records that after Jesus finished a series of teachings, many of his disciples found what he said was so hard to take; and they left him. It got so bad that Jesus turned to the Twelve and said, “Do you also want to leave?”  John 6:67-71  The Twelve, led by Peter, decided to stay.

(5) Jesus learned obedience to God as he confronted the reality that the “Good News” he was preaching will get him killed. As Jesus set his eyes on Jerusalem (Luke 9:51), it became clear to him that his Gospel message of the Kingdom of God would not find a home among his Jewish listeners. This clarified things for him. He knew that if he continued doing what he was doing, his future path was one of suffering and death. He was ready for it. He had been training for this moment his entire life. This is echoed in the letter to the Hebrews:

In the days when he was in the flesh, he offered 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 reverence. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. Hebrews 5:7-9

Jesus’ suffering as the “Suffering Servant” did not begin with Good Friday. He was being trained for his passion and death, for his Good Friday, throughout his entire life, as he learned to obey God’s will for him despite temptations, the opposition of religious leaders, the rejection by family and relatives from Nazareth, and the abandonment by some of his disciples and friends.

Perhaps the same is true for us. We too learn to do what is right, to do God’s will for our life, through our struggles with temptations, bad religion, and inadequate expectations from family and friends. The “Serenity Prayer” has a line that reads, “Suffering is the pathway to peace.” Jesus shows us the truth of that wisdom. He learned obedience through suffering; so do we.