February 11 – Bearer of Our Infirmities

“That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” Matthew 8:17 (KJV)

Only Christ has the power to bear the afflictions of many. “In all their affliction he was afflicted” (Isaiah 63:9, KJV). He never suffered illness in His own flesh, yet He took upon Himself the infirmities of others. With the tenderest compassion, He looked upon the suffering who crowded around Him. His spirit groaned as He witnessed the work of Satan displayed in its full misery. Every case of need and pain became His own. No multitude could overwhelm Him. No distress could daunt Him. With an authority that never wavered, He cast out evil spirits that tormented both mind and body, while the sorrow of the afflicted resonated in His very being. The power of love was present in every healing. He made the burdens of suffering humanity His own.

Christ was Himself the embodiment of health and strength, and wherever the sick came into His presence, disease was rebuked. This was why He did not immediately go to Lazarus. He could not look upon his suffering without bringing relief. He could not witness sickness and death without resisting Satan’s power. The death of Lazarus was permitted so that, through his resurrection, the Jews would receive the ultimate and undeniable proof that Jesus was the Son of God.

In all this struggle against the power of evil, the shadow of His own suffering was ever before Him. He knew the price He must pay to redeem these lives. When He called Lazarus from the grave, He understood that this act would hasten His own path to Calvary. Every deliverance He granted deepened His own humiliation. He was to taste death for every man.

Of the suffering multitude brought to Jesus, it is written: “He healed them all” (Matthew 12:15, KJV). This was His expression of love for the children of men. His miracles were an essential part of His mission. Even now, He speaks the same words of healing and restoration: “Be thou clean” or “Be made whole.” And to those who receive His touch, He tenderly commands, “Go, and sin no more” (John 8:11, KJV).