Could Jesus Christ have gotten sick while he lived on earth?

This question was recently raised in a Facebook group I’m in. In the church tradition I was raised in, the answer would have been “No way, not possible, Jesus couldn’t have gotten sick”. The reason for the church taking that position was basically 3 John 1:2, which states:

“Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.”

Being a hyper-literalist proof texter and coming from a “Word of Faith” Bible college, our former pastor took that passage (and others) and concluded that miraculous healings are always available to Christians if they’d only have enough faith, that sickness was virtually always the result of spiritual oppression (yes, viruses and bacteria caused some sickness and disease, but being spiritually oppressed made a person susceptible to sickness and disease, etc…). You get where this is going.

Basically, since Jesus was never spiritually oppressed, then Jesus couldn’t have gotten sick. That’s the position my former pastor took.

As readers know, I’ve been rethinking everything I was ever taught about Christianity. When this question came up in the Facebook group, I started rethinking the question more deeply.

One commenter, Mike, responded:

Possibly, but it is never recorded. Theologically, if one were to go down a route of thinking like Athanasius did, then the answer would be “no” because disease and sickness was attributed to sin and/or broken creation. As the Creator and the one who came to restore Fallen Creation, including humanity, He could not become sick for that would imply that His sinless body was actually corrupted.

It’s an interesting question, but the fact that the Gospel writers never included that in their descriptions of Jesus’ humanity seems to imply that at least they did not consider sickness to be on the table of discussion regarding Christ.

We as moderns consider sickness as part of being human, I’m not so sure about 2nd temple thinking though.

Fair enough, but I can see some problems with that. As could another member of the group, Charles, who replied:

I was wondering then if as a child, did Jesus ever fall down and skin his knees, cut himself?? Clearly at his trial and death, He could be wounded.

Now we’re getting somewhere. I then commented:

The show, "The Chosen" does an episode where Jesus is doing some carpentry and the tool slips and He cuts his arm/wrist area accidentally.

And the show doesn't have Him miraculously heal Himself. He simply bandages Himself up and keeps on working.

I thought it was a brilliant scene showing that Jesus was fully human.

I went further:

Don't babies and toddlers have "sinless" bodies in the sense that they haven't sinned yet?

If so, then doesn't the argument that Jesus couldn't get sick because He had a "sinless body" imply that Jesus' body was different than the normal human body? Because babies and toddlers certainly get sick from birth.

And if we're arguing that Jesus' body was different from a "normal" human body, then where does that leave us in re: Jesus suffering in all ways like we do?

The first commenter, Mike, then replied:

Yeah, this is where I think where it can be argued if there is a difference between theological messaging and “literal” events. I don’t think they are the same all the time. If the 2nd temple mindset towards disease and sickness presumed that it was a result of corruption as a byproduct of a broken world or influence by unclean spirits, then the theological messaging would imply if Jesus got sick with a cold, that those forces had dominion over his physical body. Something that would then run against his nature as Creator.

What I find fascinating is that this question touches in the ancient debates the church has had about how the dual complete natures of Jesus inter played with one another. Were they completely separate and just side by side? Were they intermixed, which then can lead to another heresy of losing the distinction of either.

I just say that the only grounds scripturally is that the Gospel writers (in partnership with the Spirit’s influence) decided that the answer to that question regarding if he got sick or not as a minor mystery that touch stones on that larger question.

My preaching/tendencies would just leave it as is and use it as an evangelist and apologetic tool that I can wield one way or the other without staking a claim.

Agreed - the Bible doesn’t document Jesus ever getting sick, so we can’t know for certain. But Mike’s second comment prompted me to respond with this:

It's difficult for me to imagine a HUMAN baby that didn't ever have a runny nose. Or constipation. Or was gassy and needed burped.

I suppose it's possible that baby Jesus never had those health issues given His dual nature. But then if His body is not subject to the same weaknesses ours are, I think we have a problem.

If Jesus had stopped eating and drinking, would his body eventually have shut down and died?

It would appear so, as He was substantially weakened by the long fast in the wilderness.

It then would seem to follow that - at some point prior to death - His body would have eventually developed sickness/disease/etc... from malnutrition.

I mean His body could obviously die - because it did. Once that fact is in evidence, one has to do a lot of mental gymnastics to get around His body being subject to other issues like sickness.

DEATH came into the human race because of sin. (Romans 5:12)

Sickness is less severe than death, but often leads to death.

If His body was subject to DEATH even though He didn't sin (and even though He had a dual human/divine nature), then how can we reasonably argue that His body wasn't subject to sickness because He hadn't sinned?

It doesn't seem logically consistent.

That’s where I left it. And I remain there - if Jesus was a human who had to eat to continue living, who was able to suffer and did suffer various injuries while being tortured and executed (and almost certainly when He fell down while playing as a kid, etc…), then it seems HIGHLY likely that His wounds could have gotten infected if they weren’t treated, and that He could have gotten a cold or flu or indigestion. And probably did. I mean Jesus fleshly body became so stressed in the Garden of Gethsemane that He suffered from Hematohidrosis - a very rare condition of sweating blood:

And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Luke 22:44

Hematohidrosis is a rare condition in which a human being sweats blood. Leonardo Da Vinci described a soldier who sweated blood before battle. Jesus Christ experienced hematohidrosis while praying in the garden of Gethsemane before his crucification as mentioned in the Defenders Bible by Physician Luke as “and being in anguish he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”

... hematohidrosis... [is] a component of systemic disease, vicarious menstruation (bleeding from a surface other than the mucous membrane of the uterine cavity that occurs at the time when normal menstruation should take place), excessive exertion, psychogenic, and unknown factors. Duan et al. reported hematohidrosis associated with primary thrombocytopenic purpura. Migliorini described a case of hematidrohosis otorrhea with otoerythrosis. Dubeikovskaia reported hematohidrosis in a 8-year-old child...

Acute fear and intense mental contemplation are the most frequent causes, as reported in six cases in men condemned to execution, a case occurring during the London blitz, a case involving fear of being raped, a case of fear of a storm while sailing, etc...

HEMATOHIDROSIS – A RARE CLINICAL PHENOMENON

That’s a significant physical issue with the human body that most people never suffer from that is caused by stress. A number of illnesses are known to be caused by stress. If Jesus’ body could suffer from Hematohidrosis because of stress, then it seems likely that His body could have suffered from other physical issues caused by stress.

Jesus was either a human being or He wasn’t. His resurrected body was clearly quite different from His pre-resurrection body, and I don’t think his resurrected body would have been subject to sickness (and certainly wasn’t subject to death). That implies that his pre-resurrection body was subject to everything humans are subject to, up to and including death.

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