Could Jesus have caught an infectious disease?

[mindlight]

i am doing a sermon on Jesus healing a leper. It struck me that being in proximity to a person with Hansens disease ( in an age where there was no cure) carried the risk of catching it. Apparently 95% of people are immune from the disease but Jesus sent out disciples to cure leprosy also. Were they chosen for being immune or supernaturally protected?

So comes the question:

Could Jesus have caught a disease he was able to heal a person of? Was it his divine nature that innoculated him in which case did he fully experience being human. Or was it his superior discernment about how to engage with sick people?

Could Jesus have gotten sick at all? Do you think Jesus ever had a cold?

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

Leprosy is caused by Microbacterium Leprae, a close relative of Tuberculosis.
Similar to TB, it is spread by droplets but require close proximity and is worsened by staying out of the sun as UV light does damage mycobacteria (hence TB sufferers used to be told to sit in the sun all day and frequently went off to tropical or Mediterranean areas on account of this).

The ancient world greatly overestimated its virility, mostly because its symptoms are so devastating and debilitating. It was fear of it, I think.

Regardless, the chance of Jesus or his disciples contracting leprosy are slim. They didn't stay in cramped quarters for prolonged periods with lepers and moved around in the Judaean sunshine.

I do think Jesus could get sick, I feel it docetism to think otherwise. Afterall He bled, suffered and died on the cross, so His physiology was fully human. Obviously though, Jesus was here to die for our sins, not to be another nameless victim of first century diseases. God would not have incarnated at a time and place where He would then succumb to disease.

While I think Jesus could cure himself if ill, it is not in Jesus's nature to lessen His own suffering. I think he would let nature run its course.

 

[SeventyOne]

i am doing a sermon on Jesus healing a leper. It struck me that being in proximity to a person with Hansens disease ( in an age where there was no cure) carried the risk of catching it. Apparently 95% of people are immune from the disease but Jesus sent out disciples to cure leprosy also. Were they chosen for being immune or supernaturally protected?

So comes the question:

Could Jesus have caught a disease he was able to heal a person of? Was it his divine nature that innoculated him in which case did he fully experience being human. Or was it his superior discernment about how to engage with sick people?

Could Jesus have gotten sick at all? Do you think Jesus ever had a cold?

The wages of sin is death. Jesus knew no sin. It's likely that not only could He not get sick but if He hadn't allowed Himself to be killed He'd likely be around in His earthly body today.

 

[Radrook]

Two things prevented it:
His bodily perfection and the protection of his heavenly Father.

Yes, he was fully human because he was the physical equivalent of Adam as Adam was originally created, flawless. Adam began became susceptible to disease AFTER the fall. Jesus never suffered that fall from grace and so retained his perfection.

1 Corinthians 15:45 ►
New International Version
So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

The wages of sin is death. Jesus knew no sin. It's likely that not only could He not get sick but if He hadn't allowed Himself to be killed He'd likely be around in His earthly body today.

Two things prevented it:
His bodily perfection and the protection of his heavenly Father.

Yes, he was fully human because he was the physical equivalent of a second Adam as Adam was originally created, flawless.

Tell me, do you consider illness to be due to sin?
Obviously it is on account of the fallen world, but Jesus came into the Fallen world to redeem it. The very fact that He died shows us that He was fully human.

To suggest Jesus fully immune to disease says to me either a denial of Jesus's full humanity or to blame sickness on the sins people committed or original sin. Either option I vehemently disagree with.

 

[pdudgeon]

i am doing a sermon on Jesus healing a leper. It struck me that being in proximity to a person with Hansens disease ( in an age where there was no cure) carried the risk of catching it. Apparently 95% of people are immune from the disease but Jesus sent out disciples to cure leprosy also. Were they chosen for being immune or supernaturally protected?

So comes the question:

Could Jesus have caught a disease he was able to heal a person of? Was it his divine nature that innoculated him in which case did he fully experience being human. Or was it his superior discernment about how to engage with sick people?

Could Jesus have gotten sick at all? Do you think Jesus ever had a cold?

to deal with this question we first have to ask what is it about human beings that leads us to the weakness of our bodies that causes sickness in the first place?
the answer is original sin, which subjects us to death. That is the root cause right there from which all illness and death in all human beings springs.

Therefore, since Jesus was perfect--spotless Lamb as required for the sacrifice--He did not in Himself become sick while in life.
but He took upon Himself all our sins and diseases and all the suffering with them that sin caused while He was on the cross (thus having been sacrificed while perfect) that He might then be able to heal them for all time.
Before that time of His sacrifice He was able to heal out of His perfection as God, thus forgiving the sin which caused the illness in those He saw.
(ie. thus the quote "Which is easier to say; 'be healed' or 'your sins are forgiven', etc.)
While He lived every healing that Jesus did was at the direction of God and was done for a distinct purpose: to show that He was God and had the power of God. Thus again the quote: "I do what I see my Father doing". Note the present tense in that quote, which proves the following:
1. God hears us
2. God is still active on our behalf
3. what God wills for us is for our good

as for the disciples being sent out, that was Jesus doing what He saw His Father doing again.
God healed through the work and willingness of the disciples who themselves went out to heal. The disciples were God's willing instruments through which He brought the healing, so that they would understand first hand how God worked thru Jesus.
And also so that later when they were without Jesus they would remember what God did through them, and use that same gift to show others the power of God was still possible.

God was still at work
God still heard them
God still willed what was good for them in their lives.

God is still the same, yesterday, today, and forever.
What He did then He can do now.

 

[Paul Yohannan]

I do think Jesus could get sick, I feel it docetism to think otherwise

Indeed

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

The flaw I see in some reasoning presented here is that Jesus was fully susceptible to his Humanity. We see Him hungry, ageing, sleeping, we see Him being hurt and ultimately dying.

If Jesus was bodily Unfallen and therefore perfectly immune as people seem to suggest, this makes no sense to me. Jesus was the perfect example, the only person that could live an unfallen way in a fallen world. I think it rank Docetism or at best Monophysitism to say Jesus was not susceptible to something so normal as getting sick.

 

[Deadworm]

Jesus coughed sneezed, got diarrhea and a runny nose, and cancelled his teaching schedule due to poor health on certain days. At times, He was constipated and excused Himself to go to "the Hand," the Aramaic expression for outhouses that were ubiquitous in Jesus' day. [I was once told of a female archaeologist who specialized in the remains of "the Hand" in Israel so as to study Jewish diet in Jesus day. I can think of a more appetizing archaeological specialty!] How can I safely make such claims? "He was tested in every way the same as we are (Hebrews 4:15)."

 

[SeventyOne]

Tell me, do you consider illness to be due to sin?
Obviously it is on account of the fallen world, but Jesus came into the Fallen world to redeem it. The very fact that He died shows us that He was fully human.

To suggest Jesus fully immune to disease says to me either a denial of Jesus's full humanity or to blame sickness on the sins people committed or original sin. Either option I vehemently disagree with.

Ok, we'll have to disagree on that point.

 

[SeventyOne]

The flaw I see in some reasoning presented here is that Jesus was fully susceptible to his Humanity. We see Him hungry, ageing, sleeping, we see Him being hurt and ultimately dying.

If Jesus was bodily Unfallen and therefore perfectly immune as people seem to suggest, this makes no sense to me. Jesus was the perfect example, the only person that could live an unfallen way in a fallen world. I think it rank Docetism or at best Monophysitism to say Jesus was not susceptible to something so normal as getting sick.

Fully God and fully man. Yup, agree with that completely. What made Him unique is that His 'man' state knew no sin. No sin nature, no acts of sin itself.

You and I have absolutely no way of knowing what that is like or how it affects the body. We have no frame of reference whatsoever. All we can do is speculate, agree to disagree, and part ways. Hunger, growing, and sleeping are not effects of sin. If you disagree, please cite the passage.

It's irresponsible and false to accuse Docetism or Monophysitism on those who disagree with you on that point, just because they don't agree with you on the effects of sin, because that's what the point is, not on the natures of Jesus himself. You're mixing things that shouldn't be mixed.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

Fully God and fully man. Yup, agree with that completely. What made Him unique is that His 'man' state knew no sin. No sin nature, no acts of sin itself.

You and I have absolutely no way of knowing what that is like or how it affects the body. We have no frame of reference whatsoever. All we can do is speculate, agree to disagree, and part ways. Hunger, growing, and sleeping are not effects of sin. If you disagree, please cite the passage.

It's irresponsible and false to accuse Docetism or Monophysitism on those who disagree with you on that point, just because they don't agree with you on the effects of sin, because that's what the point is, not on the natures of Jesus himself. You're mixing things that shouldn't be mixed.

So you blame illness on Sin then? Not in the sense of the world having fallen on account of sin, but in the direct sense? I take it you don't consider being ill due to a moral failing?

I apologise if you took offence, that was not my intention. However, I do not see being ill as being a form of sin or due to our sins as such (barring of course sexually transmitted illnesses and their ilk which are the direct consequence of someone's sin).

 

[Greg J.]

Divine protection and healing is not the consequence of meeting certain conditions. It is the consequence of one's relationship with God having certain attributes. God is a thinking being and is in control of everything. While Jesus' relationship with the Father was perfect, Jesus lived in enemy territory with viruses and bacteria. Jesus got sick according to the will of the Father. It was the Father's will that Jesus experience being a human. If Jesus can be born a human, bleed, and die like a human, it stands to reason that everything in between was human, too. (The miracles Jesus did were because of what the Father was doing through him.)

 

[SeventyOne]

So you blame illness on Sin then? Not in the sense of the world having fallen on account of sin, but in the direct sense? I take it you don't consider being ill due to a moral failing?

I apologise if you took offence, that was not my intention. However, I do not see being ill as being a form of sin or due to our sins as such (barring of course sexually transmitted illnesses and their ilk which are the direct consequence of someone's sin).

I believe we became susceptible to illness as a result of the fall of man. Humans get sick, because humans are fallen creatures. Sick as a direct result of sin? In some cases, sure, but not necessarily as babies are also ill and they know no right or wrong.

Jesus was a man, but not a fallen man. He had no sin and no sin nature. So there is no reason to assume He suffered any ravages of the result of sin in the body.

 

[RDKirk]

Sheesh. The answer is easier than that.

A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.

The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Microbes also obeyed Him.

Only human beings did not recognize the Lord of Creation.

 

[RDKirk]

Jesus got sick according to the will of the Father. It was the Father's will that Jesus experience being a human. If Jesus can be born a human, bleed, and die like a human, it stands to reason that everything in between was human, too.

Jesus was fully tested in human physical frailty in the wilderness. After forty days of fasting and standing firm against the temptation to use His lordship over creation to turn stones to bread (see Colossians 1), He passed the test and was not tested again.

 

[JackRT]

Sin is in no way connected with illness or death. If it were then why do sinners prosper and grow to old age. If Jesus was human then he was subject all human infirmities --- exhaustion, hunger, illness, etc.

 

[Kenny'sID]

The same faith that allowed Christ to walk on water/calm a storm/heal the sick...etc, would surely prevent him from getting sick....makes perfect sense to me anyway. I don't believe Jesus is God, but I do believe he has some, if not all of Gods power, but for those who do, you are aware God created "sick" so he can certainly manipulate it anyway he pleases.

He had general power over the natural.

 

[Kenny'sID]

Sin is in no way connected with illness or death. If it were then why do sinners prosper and grow to old age. If Jesus was human then he was subject all human infirmities --- exhaustion, hunger, illness, etc.

He would only be subject if he allowed it as he often did. He had the same power we evidently do if we had enough faith, but it seems most of us can't get any further than the proverbial few steps walking on water, then we sink, at least as far as I know.

I don't recall Christ ever failing at any miracle, so I assume his faith was 100%, and anyone in that position doesn't get sick if he doesn't want to...period.

When I think about it, I'm surprised this would be a mystery to us at all, or that the question was even posed...no offense to the OP.

 

[SeventyOne]

Sin is in no way connected with illness or death.

Looks to me like there is a robust connection between sin and death.

Rom_5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned

Rom 6:23a For the wages of sin is death,

Rom_7:13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good,

1Co_15:56 The sting of death is sin,

Jas_1:15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.​

Jesus died and rose only because He had the authority and power to cause Himself to do so. You and I do not possess this authority and power.

John 10:17,18 - "For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”​

Jesus died when He chose to die, after commending His spirit to the Father. Recall that Pilate was surprised to hear Jesus had died so soon as it was unusual for the crucified to die so quickly. The two thieves had their legs broken to hasten their deaths.

If it were then why do sinners prosper and grow to old age.

And then they die, just as all sinners die (1 Cor 15:22).