This is a particularly weird and complicated part of a particularly complicated book. The Letter to the Hebrews is dense with imagery, and its author is freewheeling with Scripture, as they weave the story of God with God’s people into and through the person and work of Jesus “in the days of his flesh.” There are times when it feels totally impenetrable in our time and place.
There’s a lot to chew on in this passage, but what strikes me this time around is the wild fact that Jesus Christ, Son of God, knows what it’s like to pray and plead, with loud cries and tears, to the One who he trusted to hear those groaning prayers. What’s more, though the author says that Jesus was heard and saved from death, they are perfectly aware that Jesus was not saved from death in every sense. He was undoubtedly killed for his obedience to the will and way of the One he called Father. The rescue was in resurrection.
It’s oddly reassuring to know that Jesus knows what it means to feel the desperation of human weakness and need, our frailty and fear. And that even his prayers were “answered” in a way I expect was quite different what what he’d hoped as he prayed that God would take away the “cup” he was about to drink, in the Garden of Gethsemane (cf Luke 22:42). And even more that the wonder God was working would be utterly greater than his flesh could have hoped.
God of resurrection, help us to know and to trust that You hear all our prayers. Thank You that we can bring our most desperate selves to You, and You receive us when all we have to offer is loud cries and tears. And thank You that You have shown Yourself time and again to be the One who works wonders beyond our asking or imagining. Through Jesus, who was dead and is alive. Amen.