Yesterday we said that anamnesis is bringing the past into remembrance in a potent and important way. In clinical medicine the word is used for a patient’s medical records, with the idea that the patient’s past and present may contain relevant information bearing on their health past, present, and future. The medical history, being an account of all medical events and problems a person has experienced is an important tool in the management of the patient. A medical anamnesis is also the patients own recollection of their health history.
On Good Friday our anamnesis brings to our present the understanding that our sin sickness was “unto death”.
Isaiah 53 says “Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
The word translated “grief” also means sicknesses. Our anamnesis tonight reminds us that the sin sickness of human beings that was “unto death” was placed upon Christ and Christ was nailed to the tree to bring us peace and health and salvation.
