When the Son of God deigned to become a little baby, He clothed Himself in mortal flesh. From that moment, He began to carry in Himself the consequences of our sin. He knew hunger and thirst; aching fatigue; exhausting labor. Misunderstanding, lack of respect for who He was, neglect, and hostile rejection were His constant companions. Though we have no indication that He was ever beset with illness, by submitting to baptism and accepting the Father’s commission to “save His people from their sins” by becoming the “Lamb of God, who takes away [carries] the sin of the world,” Jesus assumed in His body the pain of our physical infirmities. By choice, He became “a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” With omniscient eyes and compassionate heart, He perceived, and somehow felt, the bitter sadness of this broken world. Frustration, blocked communication, broken relationships, the grief of parting and the desolation of death – He bore them daily on His broad carpenter’s shoulders, until that dark day when He carried them up to the Cross of Calvary and was pierced for our iniquities, dying that we might have life. For all of our sickness and sorrow issues from sin, for which He endured the just penalty which we deserve when He cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” That is why we can sing, “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!” We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who was like us in every respect, except for sin. “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).