Day 8: Matthew 8

Isaiah 53 is a favorite Old Testament Scripture for New Testament writers. It is quoted 7 times in the New Testament, and some believe that to those 7 references you can add another 78 allusions or paraphrases. The first of the quotes is found in Matthew 8:17: "...so that He fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: 'He Himself took our infirmities [upon Himself] and carried away our diseases.'" (Amplified Bible). A literal reading of those words 'took our infirmities upon himself' and 'carried away our diseases' took my mind to Luke 8:46: "But Jesus said, 'Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.'" (NIV). Here Jesus is speaking of the woman with the issue of blood being healed through her touch of faith.
Did Jesus really feel the pain and suffering He was removing from people in their healing? Did power go 'out from Him' on all those occasions and with the multitudes to whom He ministered? Somehow, I think He must have, for in the middle of a storm in a boat on the sea, Jesus is sleeping so deeply that His disciples have to wake Him (Matthew 8:24-25), and this right after a season of healing multitudes. All of this is a foreshadowing of the weight of our sin which He bore in His body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24). It is no wonder that Peter quotes Isaiah 53:5 right after making this statement: "...by His wounds we are healed." Yes, our healing in Jesus makes us whole, in every way...first spiritually through salvation, then physically, emotionally and in our whole being. He is a Savior to Whom I can gladly, willingly, entirely surrender myself, for I can wholly trust the One Who has so identified with me (Hebrews 4:15).