Bearing Our Diseases

Many cultures have practices to maintain the glory of kings and queens, including wearing sumptuous attire, bearing symbols of authority such as crowns or scepters, residing in inaccessible palaces, and developing traditions about how they are to be addressed and by whom. Such practices isolate royals not only from commoners but also from the more unsavory parts of common life, including crude manners, dirtiness, and disease.

The widespread character of such practices makes Jesus’ behavior all the more striking. This King neither wears fancy clothes nor carries symbols of authority nor stands on ceremony. Rather than isolating Himself, He enters into some of the most unsavory parts of life. He did so, for instance, by ministering to those suffering from afflictions: touching a leper (v. 2), taking the hand of a woman suffering from fever (v. 15), and caring for those possessed by demons (v. 16). Matthew underscores the significance of such acts with a quote from Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases” (v. 17).

And Jesus did not dwell in some distant, inaccessible palace but among the people. Despite the fact that His home is a heavenly throne, Jesus renounced such glory, and He possessed even less than most animals: “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (v. 20). In Philippians 2, Paul reflected upon this aspect of Jesus’ life, writing that although He was “in very nature God . . .  he made himself nothing” (Phil. 2:6–7).

He did all this for a reason. He was willing to dwell in the muck of human existence so that our infirmities and diseases, and most of all our separation from God, could be healed.

Pray with Us

Today and tomorrow, the faculty of the Educational Ministries department are in our prayers. Today, we thank the Lord for the ministry to students and faithfulness to God’s calling of Michael Milco, Elizabeth Smith, Mary Martin, and Robert MacRae.