I've been sick lately. A nasty sinus infection has settled in for the long haul and despite my many valiant efforts to dislodge the thing, it remains. It's easy to get discouraged at times and give in to self-pity because this is not the first time this has happened. The first sinus infection etched into my memory occurred when I was about to give birth to my son Zach, over 14 years ago. The pain was so incredible, like my face was on fire. Despite not being able to take much of anything at the time for the infection, I remember God graciously took away the symptoms so I could deliver Zach but afterwards, I had a cough that lingered for weeks. Imagine breastfeeding your newborn and all the while trying to keep from hacking into his beautiful little face.
So, needless to say, it's actually been at least 14 years of not-so-stellar health. One doctor told me I have borderline chronice fatigue syndrome--a diagnosis I fought against for several years because it just sounds so nebulous and weird. I didn't even research it at all for the longest time because I didn't really want that to be me.
Well, I accept it. The diagnosis does fit me to a "T". And, I am doing everything I know to get myself better but I also know that every day when I wake up feeling pitiful again after a night of tossing and turning that "This is the DAY the Lord has made: I WILL REJOICE and be GLAD in it!"
Okay, enough background information. It brings me to say that I am studying Hebrews at Community Bible Study (an incredible in-depth Bible study) and I keep wondering if Jesus ever got sick. Think about it: Hebrews explains, more clearly than anywhere else, that Jesus was fully God and fully man. The author of Hebrews goes on to say that "He was made like us in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted." (Heb. 2:17, 18)
Since He was fully human, He experienced what humans (after the Fall) experience. All the suffering in this world of sin was part of His life. I just never thought about it before. The Bible never mentions that Jesus had a painful toothache or sinus infection, but it does tell us He experienced rejection by his own family, betrayal by a close friend, extreme hunger & extreme fatigue (in the wilderness when tempted by Satan). (When I experience extreme fatigue, I get really sick and it takes me a long time to feel better.) Somehow I gain comfort knowing Jesus knows what chronic fatigue feels like. . . I don't know if He ever had a bad cold or any of the physical afflictions that plague mankind every day. But, I do know He definitely experienced terrible physical suffering leading up to His death on the cross. Was there also a daily suffering of seeing peoples' hearts and knowing their hidden inmost pride and unbelief?
My friend Aileen (teaching director at Community Bible Study, Collegeville, PA) reminded me, too, that Jesus suffered every day from the temptation to sin--that there was suffering in rejecting the temptation. Just because He was perfect, doesn't mean living as a human was easy for Him. Think about how every day we are sinned against and our default response is not to resist temptation. It is to sin back -- and quickly, so that we can "protect" our rights. Imagine being sinned against every day, all day long and never striking back but entrusting the offenses to God who judges aright.
Encouragement comes from Hebrews 4:14-16. (NIV) "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with CONFIDENCE so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
Encourage yourselves today that our perfect, sinless Savior atoned for our sins and was the pure and spotless sacrifice before God. He did for us what ever could never do for ourselves. So, we can be confident to come to His throne daily to receive grace (what we don't deserve) and find mercy (a withholding of the punishment we do deserve).
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