ACC ~ Matthew 8 v17

HE TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES

CHRYSOSTOM: Do you see how the multitude by this time was growing in faith? For even when the evening was descending, they continued to bring their sick to him. Though the time was limited, they did not even think of going home. Note that the Evangelist did not specify how great a multitude of persons were healed. He did not mention them one by one but in one word spanned an unspeakable sea of miracles, lest the spectacle’s greatness drive us again to curiosity or doubt that even so many with such varied diseases should be delivered and healed by him in one brief moment of time. Rather, he calls upon the prophet to attest what was happening. Once again this indicates the abundance of scriptural demonstrations we have that point to his identity. Isaiah had prophesied of just these things when he said, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” [1] Note that Isaiah did not say that he merely did away with our infirmities but that he himself bore them. Here Isaiah seems to be speaking of our sins being carried by him, in harmony with John, who said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” [2] How does the Evangelist correlate infirmities and sins? He is either recollecting the Isaiah passage in its plain, historical sense, or he is pointing to the fact that most of our diseases arise from sins of our souls. For if the sum of all diseases, even death itself, has its root and foundation from sin, how much more is this true of most of our bodily diseases? THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 27.1. [3]

[1] Is 53:4.

[2] Jn 1:29.

[3] PG 57:345; NPNF 1 10:185**. That he actively bore our sins is more than that he merely took them away from us.

HUMANITY HEALED THROUGH JESUS’ SUFFERING

APOLLINARIS: In this saying Isaiah pointed toward the cross. But why was this saying employed by the Evangelist at this point when he was speaking of his healings? [1] This was to show that it was not in his activity alone but in his passion, his willingness to suffer, that Christ became the source of healing to humanity. By the indignities he endured and by his own death he prepared life for all humanity. He subdued those who were evilly disposed against themselves. FRAGMENT 37. [2]

[1] The question derives from the natural application of Isaiah’s prophecy to Jesus’ passion, though here the Evangelist applies it to Jesus’ healings.

[2] MKGK 11.