What is the meaning of "Physician, heal thyself" in Luke 4:23?

(2) They heard and wondered: could not but own that these were gracious words. Would they receive them, then? That is a very different thing. They were not the poor, the captive, blind or fetter-bruised. They were wonderful words indeed of Joseph's son! How had He learned this wisdom? and how had He the boldness to take such a place as He was taking? After all, the question was of Him and not of them. Who was He? But they had heard of miracles wrought at Capernaum: let the physician heal himself; what they had heard of elsewhere let Him repeat in His own city, to which His wonders naturally belonged, and the fame of the prophet. For it had become a proverb that out of Galilee there arose none; and as to Nazareth it was a question, could any good be expected of it? Well, if He had such power, let Him exercise it there where there was need and the occasion called.

95 Luke 4:23. — For this proverb ("parable "), see Talmud, "Bereshith Rabba," sect. 23. It is still current amongst Jews in the form "He is a physician for others, not for Himself."

But unbelief at once betrays itself. "Is not this the son of Joseph?" They could not deny the grace,93 but they contemn His person: "He was despised and rejected of men." In point of fact, unbelief is always blind; He was not Joseph's son,94 except legally — He was God's Son. "And he said to them, Ye will surely say to me this parable, Physician, heal thyself:95 whatsoever we have heard has taken place in Capernaum, do here also in thine own country." His answer to their thought was, that "No prophet is acceptable in his [own] country."96 Nevertheless grace shines out all the more because Christ was rejected. It is remarkable that He does not vindicate Himself by power; He does not work any miracles to make good the rights of His own person, but appeals to the Word of God, the Old Testament Scriptures, for what suited the present time. "Of a truth, I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months,97 so that a great famine came upon all the land; and to none of them was Elias sent, but to Sarepta of Sidon,† to a woman [that was] a widow." Grace, therefore, when Israel rejects (and they were doing so now), goes out to the Gentiles. Sidon was under the special judgment of God, and there was a widow there, reft of all human resources, and she was the one to whom God sent His prophet in the days of deep distress. When Israel themselves were suffering from a terrible famine, God opened stores for the desolate woman in Sidon. Thus grace goes outside His guilty people. So, too, in the time of Elisha the prophet. Many lepers were in Israel, "and none of them was cleansed, but Naaman the Syrian." Grace is sovereign, and in the days of Jewish unbelief Gentiles are blessed. This Scripture showed; and how beautiful this was and in keeping with Luke! It paves the way for the going forth of the Gospel. When Israel rejected the Lord Jesus, the grace of God must work among the Gentiles, among those who least expect and deserve mercy. How did the men of Nazareth relish this? They were "filled with rage, and rising up, they cast him forth out of the city, and led him up to the brow of the mountain upon which their city was built, so that they might‡ throw him down the precipice." This is the expression of the hatred which follows rejection of grace. When self-righteous men are convicted of wrong without feeling their guilt against God, there are no bounds to their resentment; and the enmity of their hearts is most of all against Jesus. T. R. for "in" has ἐν, with AE, etc., and most cursives. Edd. adopt εἰς, which may be "to" or "for" (R.V. "at"), but is probably a colloquial substitute for ἐν, as in verse 44. The critical text is that of ℵBDL, 69. †"Of Sidonia"; so ℵABCDL, etc., 1, 69, Old Lat., Memph. "Sidon" appears in EΔ, etc., Syrr. ‡"So that they might," as Edd. after ℵBDL, etc., 1, 33, 69. Memph., in place of "in order to," the reading of AC, etc.

Two Sabbath Days. — To Nazareth are we first turned, the city in which He had been brought up. As was His wont, He entered into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Standing up to read, there was delivered to Him the book of the prophet Isaiah, and finding the place, which answered to our chapter 61 of that prophet, He read just a few of the opening clauses. Then He closed the book, and sat down, the eyes of all present being fastened on Him. He had read, it would seem, not the appointed portion, according to the Jewish lectionary, but a passage He Himself selected. His doing that may have the more fixed attention on Him. And now, having gained it, He opened His mouth and announced the fulfilment of the prophetic word in His own person. He was the one of whom Isaiah had written. Never before, we may be sure, had one there stood up to read, and then declared that the prophetic word was written of Himself. It was language with which the walls of that synagogue had never previously resounded. The first effect on the congregation the historian relates, "All bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth." Then what they really wished for the Lord told them, for He knew their thoughts: "Ye will surely say to Me this proverb: Physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country" (Luke 4:23). Works of power they wished to see, but for the word they had no heart. So He went on to announce that He knew what was before Him — rejection by the people, of which they that day gave proof. But rejection was, for Him, but the treatment meted out to Elijah and Elisha. And as God worked by them outside the apostate nation, so could God work in grace outside His earthly people, ministering to any who would receive it. The helpless, like the widow of Sarepta, those whose case seemed hopeless, like that of Naaman, would, if willing, share in the blessing to be bestowed.

The greatest grace of all, the most distinct manifestation of the Saviour, passes as the wind by ordinary associations until the Lord call by His spirit. But it is worthy of remark how these people felt and acted under the irresistible testimony which accompanied Jesus. It is one peculiar exhibition of unbelief - "They bore witness … they wondered … they said." They expected the same manifestation, above all places at home, of that of which they had heard in places where He was a Stranger, but they were unconscious that the manifestation of divine power was dependent morally on faith, and when He was known as "The Son of Joseph" they could not receive Him in the power of His coming, and "He could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief." It is upon this principle He reasons, showing it was their fault, and that often thus assumed privilege put farther from grace which made them so angry, and that it was thus really often confined to the despised and reprobate stranger. The whole, duly weighed, is a very interesting and instructive picture of unbelief thus working. And, note, He presented Himself here to them not in general miraculous testimony, but in Person, offering Himself to them in gracious personality, suitable and graciously adapted to their situation, but "No prophet," etc. It is interesting too to observe our Lord's mind turning upon itself in testimony against them, "But of a truth I say to you."

The Lord knew their hearts and that they were ready to accuse Him of mere words without power. They had heard of His miracles in Capernaum and were interested, not in His words, but in seeing miracles. He anticipated therefore what they would have to say, and therefore adds that "no prophet is accepted in his own country" (vs.23-24). Such is the pathetic condition of people's hearts that they do not want a prophet who might know them too well.

"They all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth," but immediately they turn to unbelief, saying, "Is not this Joseph's son?" "And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country." He had been already at work in what Matthew calls "his city;", but the Spirit of God here passes over entirely what had been done there. He would thus ensure the fullest lustre to the "grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be made rich." This is what we have in Luke. Our Lord then shows the moral root of the difficulty in their minds. "Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow." Our Lord does not yet call a publican or receive a Gentile, as in Luke 5 and 7; but He tells of the grace of God in that word which they read and heard, but understood not. It was His answer to the incredulity of the Jews, His brethren after the flesh. How solemn are the warnings of grace! It was a Gentile, and not a Jewish widow, who during the days of Israel's apostacy became the marked object of God's mercy. So, too, "many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian." At once the hostile rage of the natural man is roused, and his jealousy of divine goodness to the stranger. Those that wondered the moment before at His gracious words are now filled with fury, ready to rend Him. "And they rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way, and came down to Capernaum, and taught them on the Sabbath days. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power." It is the word that has especial prominence in Luke; and justly so, because the word is the expression of what God is to man, even as it is the word which tries him.

It was a case, too, coming under a rule which — so alike are men; so inveterate the evil in them — could be deemed invariable. "No prophet is acceptable in his own country." And this seems as if it were a comment upon their question; "Is not this the son of Joseph?" God acting in a son of Joseph! God speaking with so familiar a voice, and disguising Himself so in nature and common life! That seems impossible; self-contradictory even; startling too by bringing God so near; unwelcome, alas, in the same proportion.

Nor was it merely that they failed to appreciate the testimony of His words, for they had heard of the things—the mighty works—He had done in Capernaum, but had, like that city, turned a blind eye to them, and had refused to repent. All this lay behind their depreciatory remark: “Is not this Joseph’s son?”

(1) First, Nazareth rejects Him, ― the place where He had been so long, and where the glory of a life to which all else was darkness had shone before their eyes. They have perforce to own His wisdom and His mighty work; but what right has He to them? They know His mother and His kindred; and these suggest no such greatness. They ought surely to have argued therefore that all this in Him was not natural but supernatural ― that there was more in Him than nature could account for: but no! they will rather discredit what they see and know, than accept such things from a carpenter's son. Divine power must not work without human credentials. The root is out of a dry ground: the plant may be anything you please, but it is a sufficient condemnation of it that the ground is dry.