16When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
| "He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses." |
I wonder if I don't ponder enough on the burdens that Jesus bore for us. I had always thought of all our sins being laid on Jesus' shoulders at the time of His crucifixion. This makes it a little less troublesome for me, because I only have to think of Jesus living with our sins for a short while. But this passage in Matthew makes it sound like as He heals the sicknesses, those sicknesses that are removed from us are laid on Him. If I sin, then ask Jesus to forgive me, does my forgiveness mean Jesus now has to carry the burdens of my sins?
I remember working with some confirmation students once and we were talking about how all we have to do is ask for forgiveness and we will be forgiven, no matter how bad our sins were. They felt it wasn't fair that people who commit horrendous crimes would as easily get their sins forgiven as people who felt they may have committed smaller sins. What's to stop you from going ahead and sinning if you can just ask for forgiveness afterward?
True, this doesn't indicate a truly repentant heart. But if you think of the forgiveness of your sins as not simply being an erasing of your sins, but as a transfer of your sins to Jesus, the thought of sinning any kind of sin gets to be horrendous. Yes, I want Jesus to wipe my sins away, but I don't want Jesus to have to live with my sins. Jesus does not deserve this! He didn't sin, we did! I don't want to add to Jesus' burdens! It isn't fair! But Jesus does it anyway.
He healed as many as He could: all those brought to Him, those who came on their own, those who were pleaded for by others, and even those who were so weighed down by their sins that they were unable to ask for forgiveness. He seeks us out and takes on our sins. He does this because He loves us. He does this so we can have eternal life.
Be careful of the decisions you make in your life. Your sins not only affect you, but affect Jesus as well. Sinning then getting forgiveness shouldn't be good enough for us. Not sinning at all should be our ideal. Regardless, Jesus is there for us, willing to take on all our burdens.