Jesus Took Up Our Pain And Bore Our Suffering On The Cross.

The Bible records that Jesus went to Peter’s house and healed his mother-in-law. Then as evening came when it was dark, out of the shadows came many needy people. “Many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all who were ill.” Matthew then tells us that this fulfilled the prophecy that Jesus “took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.” To be clear, Jesus healed people and by doing so he fulfilled the prophecy that we are dealing with in this verse.

In Isa 53:3, we saw that Jesus was, “a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.” That is, he suffered the pain, but in this verse, it is now our suffering and our pain he is bearing. With the pain and suffering of everyone, no one is left out of God’s grace and mercy. To highlight this, during the time of Elijah, there was a drought and famine. Elijah fled from Ahab and lived at the Kerith Ravine, east of the River Jordan. However, as the drought and famine got even more severe, God told Elijah to go to Zarephath, a town in Phoenicia. The people there worshipped Molech, which included sacrificing their children. In this region, Elijah brought back to life a young boy. Jesus took their pain and their suffering.

How did Jesus take up our pain and bear our suffering? Well, the answer to that is we don’t know but we have a clue to this in the story of the woman who suffered a bleed for 12 years. Here the woman came up to Jesus from behind and simply touched one of Jesus’ garments. Jesus, not seeing the woman, realised some power had left his body and said, “Who touched my clothes?” The disciples were amazed that Jesus would ask such a question because everyone was crowding around Jesus and touching him. But someone did touch Jesus, and did so deliberately, and power did leave his body. The woman came up to Jesus and told him the whole story. Jesus said to the woman, “Go in peace, your faith has made you well.” And so, we can see the same thing here: Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law and all those who came to him in the evening. At the same time, Jesus will have suffered in some way. He will have lost some power. What we also know is that sickness came into the world with sin. However, as Jesus was the sinless Man of God so we know that Jesus healed and the sickness will have come upon him but didn’t make him sick. Jesus suffered some loss of power from a single person touching his clothes can you imagine the loss of power if the whole of humanity’s sin was laid upon Jesus’ shoulders at his crucifixion? He may have been whipped and beaten to an inch of his life, but how much closer to death did he come simply by having our sins laid upon him?

Lastly, we know that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever,” so we have the confidence, and the faith to believe that Jesus will take upon himself our pain and bear our suffering, and the pain and suffering of our friends, family, and neighbours. We know that we can pray to Jesus Christ and have our prayers answered in the affirmative if we pray for their healing.

The man at the Pool of Bethesda was sick for 38 years before he was healed by Jesus. Jesus also passed/ stepped over other sick people to heal the man at the pool. On another occasion, Jesus spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on a man’s eyes. Jesus said to the man “Go, and wash in the Pool of Siloam.” So, the man went and washed, and came back able to see. Jesus healed when the man obeyed and dipped into the pool.

Jesus healed instantly but also allowed sickness to be around. He used other things to heal. We need to be confident that healing will take place but also be ready for time to pass and for healing to take place in unorthodox ways.

Not once, not even once, did Jesus refuse to heal. Everyone who asked was healed. That is good news for us today. We can pray in confidence that God will heal yourself or someone else. A long time ago, while I lived in Glasgow, Scotland, I started my undergraduate training in Birmingham, England. Each day I would phone Lesley, (who has been my wife for 41 years today!!!) One day, she told me about a 16 year old girl who had tumours in her chest. Later on that day, instead of having lunch at the factory canteen, I went and sat at the factory bowling green and read the bible and prayed. I felt the Lord tell me that I could stop praying as she had been healed. A few days passed and on one of my calls to Lesley, I asked about this girl. She said that the girl went to a hospital, had a scan, and the hospital and the staff could not find any tumours in her body. Praise God! Jesus took her pain and suffering