NOTES for Heb 5:1-10
In today's reading the apostle Paul says that Christ offered prayers and supplications to the Father, who was able to save Him from death, and that He was heard. This does not fit very well with our customary ideas about what an answered prayer is. It would seem that if the Father heard Him, the very miracle demanded by the Jews should have taken place: Jesus should have come down from the cross and appeared in glory. But Paul sees the situation through entirely different eyes. Jesus, true God, became true man—and therefore mortal. He followed to its end the path taken by each of us. And the Father heard the Son: death itself was destroyed by His death, the gates of hell collapsed, and the very moment that seemed to be defeat proved to be His victory.