Reading the title you may think I have lost my marbles. What in the world is Dennis thinking may be your response.

I remember reading about the word "know" a few years ago. The writer made the point that we can know something intellectually, but not personally. You may know how to bake a cake, but have never actually done so. I may read about how to fly a plane and know what all the books say, but until I have actually flown a plane I will not know what it is like to fly a plane.

I can relate to the differences in the word "know" from the recent death of my father. For over twenty hears I have been preaching funerals. Like many of you I have visited families that lost loves ones. In one sense I could say, "I know how you feel" having lost loved ones before. In another sense, I may not have really known how they felt. I must admit having lost a father, I can now say to another person that has lost a father, "I know how you feel." Why? Because I have personal experience in the matter. On the other hand, I may sympathize with a parent that has lost a child or a person that has lost their spouse, but I can only imagine what they are personally going through.

The Hebrew writer makes a point about the suffering of Jesus. "Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him" (Hebrews 5.8-9). Did Jesus know about obedience before He came to earth? Obviously yes, He understood and knew obedience before His birth here upon earth. Had Jesus known about pain and suffering before His crucifixion? Being the Son of God, being deity, He knew all things. Had Jesus personally experienced pain and suffering before His life and death? No, He had not. That is what He had learned.

Having lived as a man and dying on the cross Jesus can say, "I know how you feel." "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4.15). We can not cop out and tell Jesus that He would have sinned if He had to live like us. Jesus did live just like us and He did not sin. We can also take solace in knowing that Jesus understands our broken heart, hurt feelings, temptations, disappointments, and fears. He faced them in His life, too.