Was it possible for the Healer of our sicknesses to suffer sickness Himself?

The Lord Christ died not because of a sin He committed, but to raise us from our death that came upon us because of our sins. However, it was not appropriate for Him to fall sick so that He may heal our sicknesses. The Fathers explained why the Lord Christ chose to die on the cross. Through His suffering born of love, He showed us His care for us, He who is the “Shepherd and Overseer of our souls” (1 Pet. 2:25). He searches after every sick soul and opens His arms to all who have gone astray. He chose to die “on a tree,” and this was not random, as Pope Athanasius the Apostolic explains:

“For it was neither fitting for the Lord to be ill, he who healed the illnesses of others.”⁴⁷⁶

474 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Second Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians 14 (NPNF I/12:347).

475 St. Ambrose of Milan, Letters 1–91 59 (FOTC:26:339). See also Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, Pastoral Love (Arabic), (1965): p. 458.

476 St. Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation 21.6 (PP 44A:97).

“And besides, it was not his own death that the Savior came to complete, but that of human beings.”⁴⁷⁷

“… if the death of the body took place somewhere in secret, death neither appearing nor taking place before witnesses, its resurrection also would be unseen and unwitnessed.”⁴⁷⁸

“For if He came Himself to bear the curse which lay upon us, how else could He have become a curse (Gal. 3:13) if he had not accepted the death occasioned by the curse?”⁴⁷⁹

“Moreover, if the death of the Lord is a ransom of all and by his death the wall of partition (Eph. 2:14) is broken down, and the call of the Gentiles effected, how would he have called us if he not been crucified? For only upon the cross does one die with his hands stretched out. Therefore it was fitting for the Lord to endure this and to stretch out His hands, that with the one he might draw the ancient people, and with the other those from the Gentiles, and join both together in himself.”⁴⁸⁰

“… he accepted and endured on the cross that inflicted by others, especially by enemies, which they reckoned fearful and ignominious and shameful, in order that this being destroyed, he might Himself be believed to be Life, and the power of death might be completely annihilated.”⁴⁸¹

St. Augustine says, “He chose the cross that He may taste the most bitter sufferings. On the cross, He would have to accept a slow death as He became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Phil 2:8).”

Tertullian explains that Christ chose the cross as the fulfillment of the prophecies and symbols in the Old Testament.⁴⁸²