Physician, Heal Thyself

Here are some notes from a number of commentaries on the proverb Jesus used to start his remarks in Luke 4:23-30. Among the most important principles to apply to any Scripture is that when the author/speaker gives you his interpretation of his words, you need to consider his meaning above others.

This was a well known proverb. It may be found in the Talmud, “Physician, heal thine own lameness.” ^[1]Ethelbert William Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (London; New York: Eyre & Spottiswoode; E. & J. B. Young & Co., 1898), 757.

Doubtless (παντως [pantōs]). Adverb. Literally, at any rate, certainly, assuredly. Cf. Acts 21:22; 28:4. This parable (την παραβολην ταυτην [tēn parabolēn tautēn])…. Here the word has a special application to a crisp proverb which involves a comparison. This use [of the word “parable” ] for a proverb occurs also in Luke 5:36; 6:39. The word physician is the point of comparison. Luke the physician alone gives this saying of Jesus. The proverb means that the physician was expected to take his own medicine and to heal himself. This proverb in various forms appears not only among the Jews, but in Euripides and Aeschylus among the Greeks, and in Cicero’s Letters. Hobart quotes the same idea from Galen, and the Chinese used to demand it of their physicians. The point of the parable seems to be that the people were expecting him to make good his claim to the Messiahship by doing here in Nazareth what they had heard of his doing in Capernaum and elsewhere. “Establish your claims by direct evidence” (Easton). This same appeal (Vincent) was addressed to Christ on the Cross (Matt. 27:40, 42). There is a tone of sarcasm towards Jesus in both cases. ^[2]A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, 1997), Lk 4:23.

The tradition that Israel rejected its own prophets was strong in Judaism; for instance, Jeremiah was persecuted by his own priestly town, Anathoth (Jer 1:1; 11:18-23). The proverb in 4:23 is attested in some form in Greek classical and medical literature, and some rabbis cited a similar Aramaic proverb. ^[3]Craig S. Keener and InterVarsity Press, The IVP Bible Background Commentary : New Testament (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Lk 4:23.

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Initial amazement turned to hostility, as the audience took exception to one of their own number (known locally as Joseph’s son; but see Mk. 6:3) making such impressive claims for himself. They wanted some visible proof of the validity of his claims before their own eyes, like the mighty works which he was rumoured to have done at Capernaum. In any event, they failed to recognize Jesus as a prophet, and he could only tell them that when the prophets of Israel had been faced with similar disbelief they had performed their mighty works outside Israel (1 Ki. 17:8–16; 2 Ki. 5:1–14). So it was a word of judgment that Jesus in effect spoke against them. There was also the suggestion that the gospel would ultimately go to the Gentiles (although Jesus himself continued to work among the Jews). In their anger the people tried to lynch him. ^[4]D. A. Carson, New Bible Commentary : 21st Century Edition, 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), Lk 4:16-30.

In these verses, Luke gives us the story of the beginning of our Lord’s ministry. He tells us that Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth and went to the synagogue, so we conclude Jesus was a churchgoer. That’s something to keep in mind when we are tempted to rationalize. “I can worship just as well at the eighteenth hole; I can worship on the lake in a sailboat; I can worship under the morning sun on the tennis courts.” On the Sabbath day, Jesus went to church, however dull or interesting it was. On the Sabbath our Lord sought out the faithful people of God. The synagogue was without clergy and, as was the custom, someone was selected each Sabbath to be the particular preacher or teacher. Often a visiting rabbi would be chosen. On this Sabbath, Jesus was the choice—local boy makes good. They had heard about this young man who was teaching in the synagogues and was “glorified by all” (v. 15). Now He was back home and the ruling elders had invited Him to speak. The synagogue was undoubtedly filled with friends, neighbors, and relatives. The custom then was to read the Word of God standing and to preach sitting down (not a bad idea from a preacher’s point of view). Jesus stood and read the words of Isaiah and then sat down to make the astonishing claim we read in verse 21. “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” In this scene between Jesus and His fellow church members, it seems to me we find at least three pivotal new concepts. NEW CREDENTIALS The first is in the area of credentials. The elders who had heard great things about their hometown boy were undoubtedly asking, however subtly, “Now, who do you think you are? Give us your credentials.” Jesus gave them the credentials of Isaiah and claimed them as His own, and they were all in the area of social concern. They were the same kinds of credentials He gave to the disciples of John the Baptist toward the end of John’s life. These are still the authentic credentials of the people of God. God’s Spirit is at work where personal and social concern are demonstrated. If we are God’s people, we care about the physical, social, temporal needs of the world. Our authentic credentials are not primarily in the area of self-improvement, our spiritual maturity, or our knowledge of Scripture and theology. These are the kinds of credentials the elders were expecting. Jesus anticipated that and said, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself’” (v. 23). We still get hooked on the wrong kinds of credentials. Let’s suppose for a minute that Mother Teresa was being examined by her spiritual superiors. They found that her nun’s training did not include Greek and Hebrew, that she failed her Scripture-memorization course. They’re concerned that she didn’t speak in tongues and never attended a successful churchmanship seminar. Such a scene is ludicrous. Her credentials were that God was using her to care for the poor and the outcast. She needed no other credentials, nor do you and I. When the Spirit of God is upon us, these are our credentials. ^[5]Bruce Larson and Lloyd J. Ogilvie, vol. 26, The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 26 : Luke, The Preacher’s Commentary series (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1983), 90-91.

They had heard, and now they would fain have seen. But already the holy indignation of Him, Whom they only knew as Joseph’s son, was kindled. The turn of matters; their very admiration and expectation; their vulgar, unspiritual comments: it was all so entirely contrary to the Character, the Mission, and the Words of Jesus. No doubt they would next expect, that here in His own city, and all the more because it was such, He would do what they had heard had taken place in Capernaum. It was the world-old saying, as false, except to the ear, and as speciously popular as most such sayings: ‘Charity begins at home’—or, according to the Jewish proverb, and in application to the special circumstances: ‘Physician, heal thyself.’ Whereas, if there is any meaning in truth and principle; if there was any meaning and reality in Christ’s Mission, and in the discourse He had just spoken, Charity does not begin at home; and ‘Physician, heal thyself’ is not of the Gospel for the poor, nor yet the preaching of God’s Jubilee, but that of the Devil, whose works Jesus had come to destroy. How could He, in His holy abhorrence and indignation, say this better than by again repeating, though now with different application, that sad experience, ‘No prophet is accepted in his own country,’ which He could have hoped was for ever behind Him; and by pointing to those two Old Testament instances of it, whose names and authority were most frequently on Jewish lips? Not they who were ‘their own,’ but they who were most receptive in faith—not Israel, but Gentiles, were those most markedly favoured in the ministry of Elijah and of Elisha. As we read the report of Jesus’ words, we perceive only dimly that aspect of them which stirred the wrath of His hearers to the utmost, and yet we do understand it. That He should have turned so fully the light upon the Gentiles, and flung its large shadows upon them; that ‘Joseph’s Son’ should have taken up this position towards them; that He would make to them spiritual application unto death of His sermon, since they would not make it unto life: it stung them to the quick. Away He must out of His city; it could not bear His Presence any longer, not even on that holy Sabbath. Out they thrust Him from the Synagogue; forth they pressed Him out of the city; on they followed, and around they beset Him along the road by the brow of the hill on which the city is built—perhaps to that western angle, at present pointed out as the site. This, with the unspoken intention of crowding Him over the cliff, which there rises abruptly about forty feet out of the valley beneath. ^[6]Alfred Edersheim, vol. 1, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1896), 455-57.