The leprosy and palsy were symbols of sin wholly possessing its
victims: the one suggestive of the state of those who are positively
defiled by sin, the other of the condition of those who, though sound
to all outward appearance, are simply wanting in inward life,
paralysed in that part of their being which constitutes life. These
two cases, then, were most suitable for setting forth the saving power
of the Christ of God as regards the unconverted, be they Jew or
Gentile. This third cure is within the circle of the disciples. It is
a case of fever in the home of Peter. It therefore fitly suggests the
diseases to which those are still liable who have come to Christ and
been healed of their leprosy or palsy, the chronic disease which
defiled or paralysed them in time past; but who are still liable to
contagion, still exposed to attacks of fever, acute diseases which,
though temporary, are most dangerous, and, just as certainly as the
others, need the touch of the Great Physician for their healing. These
fevers separate us from Christ and unfit us for His service; but they
need not continue to do this, for if only we allow Him to enter the
house and touch us, the fever will cease; and, like this patient in
the home of Peter, we may at once arise and minister unto Him.
* * * * *
The three specific cases which have been so appropriately selected and
given in detail are followed by a general enumeration of a number of
similar ones dealt with in like manner, "when the even was come"--the
whole experience of that eventful day leading to the joyful
recognition of the fulfilment of a grand prophetic word spoken long
ago of the Messiah that was to come: "Himself took our infirmities,
and bare our sicknesses."
The quotation is most suggestive. It raises the question of our Lord's
personal relation to disease. We have seen reason to believe that
disease could not contaminate His holy flesh; and certainly we never
read of His suffering from any sickness of His own. Did He then know
nothing personally of disease and fleshly infirmity? If not, how could
He be tempted in all points like as we are? The solution seems to lie
in this most interesting quotation. It is not a literal citation from
the Septuagint, but it is a thoroughly fair and true reproduction of
the idea of the prophet; and it clearly suggests to the mind that the
Christ's relation to human sickness was of the same kind as His
relation to human sin. Though personally He had no sin, yet "He was
made sin for us," so that He felt the intolerable weight pressing Him
down as in the garden, and the awful darkness wrapping Him round as on
the cross. In the same way, even though His flesh may never actually
have been subjected to physical disease, He nevertheless could not
remove diseases from others without bearing them Himself. Ah! it cost
Him far more than we are apt to think, to say, "I will, be thou
clean." It was only by the sacrifice of His life that He could take
away the sin of the world; and we believe that it was only by the
sacrifice of a part of His life that He could take away the disease of
a sufferer. When He said, "Somebody hath touched Me, for virtue has
gone out of Me," we may be sure it was no mere jostling of the crowd;
it was an outflow of His life, a partial shedding, so to speak, of His
precious blood. Just as later, in the words of St. Peter, "He bare our
sins in His own body on the tree," so already "Himself took our
infirmities and bare our sicknesses."