Jesus learned obedience by way of suffering beatings and death on a cross. Even though He was without sin and lived a life of complete obedience to the Father (Hebrews 4:15), He learned what it meant to obey. It is clear from Jesus’ prayers through tears and agony in the Garden of Gethsemane that He was asking the Father to remove the suffering ahead of Him (Luke 22:42-44, Hebrews 5:7). The Father heard the Son, and yet, the Son endured suffering and death anyway (Hebrews 5:7-8). Jesus didn’t get what He asked for, but He submitted to the Father’s will over His own. After all, the definition of obedience is submitting our own desires to those in authority over us. So Jesus, who was perfect, learned obedience through His suffering.

In this global life, we ultimately experience suffering, and it looks different in different places. For almost all of us, we lose familiar support systems and comforts as we leave our passport country. Some of us move to places where government order is absent and where freedoms are not valued, causing fear and frustration. Inwardly, a good few of us struggle with a sense of purpose or loss of identity just navigating cultural differences and daily mundane tasks. And for too many of us, we suffer while watching our children reject the Saviour because their TCK life is not what they asked for.

But as we step forward one day at a time in response to the call God placed on us to “go,” we learn obedience through the suffering. And it is okay to come to the Father with tears and pleas for Him to remove it. What matters is what we do when He hears our prayers, and yet, the suffering comes anyway. Will we choose to endure, to remain steadfast (James 1:2-4, 12)? Will we learn what obedience really is? Jesus did.

And, no, I am not saying we are Jesus. We won’t endure suffering perfectly as He did. But we can be encouraged that our Saviour knows how we feel and through the Spirit helps us learn obedience as well.