“…I was sick and you looked after me…”

Ecclesiastes is one of those “grabber” books — really grabs your attention.  It hits you right up the side of the head.  In our family the book is known as one of my son’s favorites, perhaps the favorite.  But the opening of the book is captivating:  “‘Meaningless!  Meaningless!’ says the Teacher.  ‘Utterly meaningless!’” (v. 2).  How’s that for starters?  If I were to describe our society using the same style, I think I would start this way:  “Absurd!  Absurd!  Utterly absurd!”  That’s what I think of when it comes to the definition our nation’s “health”.  Some time ago, the American Psychology Association took homosexuality off their list of sicknesses, tacitly indicating that with a flip of the switch (or eraser or delete key), what was previously and universally viewed as illicit across the cultural and historical grids is now perfectly fine and dandy.  At the same time, the government recently declared obesity a “sickness”.  It is at times like these that I wonder (a) who’s really sick? (b) what exactly does sick mean today? and (c) where are the dictionary police?  The cultural revisionists are stealing the meaning of our words!  Must be careful here or the “tolerant” crowd will come after me.

No doubt sickness is a real problem, whether or not it is induced by poor choices, natural disasters, food shortages, etc.  Global health continues to be a prime focus of the United Nations.  Even the healthiest of people aren’t completely immune to illness.  So in Matthew 25 when Jesus wanted to identify with his people — the Jewish people specifically (v. 40) — he included those who were “sick” (v. 36) among numerous other privations mentioned.

I put the word sick in quotations for another reason besides the obvious, that it’s a quote.  The other reason is that sick can mean more than being physically ill or diseased.  The Greek word has a similar construction as the word atheist.  For that we have a + theist.  The a in front means “not”, thus, “not a theist”.  For the construction of sick we have a + strength, meaning “without strength, not strong, weak”.  While Scripture uses this word to describe people as physically ill or diseased, the word opens up to more uses than just the physical.  Mental, spiritual, and emotional weaknesses come to mind.

Jesus healed many people who were physically sick (Luke 4:40), including Lazarus’s illness (John 11) that took his life before Jesus raised him.  Aeneas’ paralysis was a similar sickness, as was Dorcas’s that ended her life before Peter restored health and life to both (Acts 9:32-43).  So physical sickness is clearly in view in some cases.

But we also find broader uses for sick.  It can also mean “weak”.  This is how the Mosaic Law is described in Romans 8:3 (“powerless”) and Hebrews 7:18.  The “sick” person, James tells us, is to call for the elders to pray for him (5:15).  But the next verse describes this same person with a different word for sick that means, “weary in mind, exhausted, spent”.

With that in view, let’s raise the question, “Besides being ‘sick’ as with his Jewish brothers’ sickness, was Jesus ever sick/weak personally?  Is it possible that the Son of Man, God in human form, could be sick/weak?  Obviously, if he ever were, it would have to be in his humanity, not his deity.  We do find one particular time when this description is fitting — in his last night in the Garden of Gethsemane.  In Luke 22:42 we find the Savior praying, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”  What happens next only Luke records.  “An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him” (v. 43).  Let that hit you: the only time we find our Savior weak/sick is facing the prospect of paying for the sins of the world.  The stress of that hideous responsibility took its toll: “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (v. 44).  Sick…weak…lacking strength.  So much so that it called for reinforcement.  How bad are our sins?  Bad enough that it brought the Savior to his knees, made him sick and put him in mental and physical anguish.  Once through that tunnel, he faced the trial, the rejection, the scourging, and the cross!

Do you make light of your sins, or do they sicken you too?