infirmities

During Advent, I tend to read with an eye toward Jesus’ second coming. After all, his first is historical fact, amazingly, blessedly so. The thing that keeps Advent and Christmas from becoming ritualistic or, worse, spiritually anemic, is to walk that path of anticipation with my own forward-looking bias. In that way, the promises of Isaiah and Jeremiah and all the rest become representative of heaven.

Today, though, I’m reminded that Jesus fulfilled all those prophecies literally while he walked this earth. 

Matthew 8:14-17: “When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

‘He took up our infirmities

and bore our diseases.’”

I don’t know why, but to me this is really striking. When Peter’s mother-in-law was sick, Peter wasn’t thinking about being saved from his sins. He was afraid for his mom. He was worried for his wife. The thought of an afterlife was comforting, I’m sure, but his immediate need was for healing. The same was true for all those demon-possessed people and their families. They had huge problems they needed to be saved from right away. 

And Jesus, with his huge heart, the son of the God who is love, saw it all and healed everyone. 

It makes me think two things. First, the Israelites were anticipating a prophesied Messiah who would make their earthly lives better. Why do I forget that Jesus will do exactly that for me? Why do I think of him as my after-death savior and try to hack through life on my own?

The second thing is a reminder that Jesus’ ministry was all about helping people. He filled his days with all the ordinary problems of average people; he sought them out and poured himself into their lives. Why, then, do I so often see discipleship in terms of my own sanctification, and not as a call to service?

I wonder at Jesus’ ability to challenge me from across the centuries; even after five decades of hearing this story it still challenges me. And I wonder in what ways Jesus will challenge me when he comes back.

Watch and wait.