Luke 4:23 Commentary and Bible Study

The Lord Jesus is in Nazareth, the town where he grew up, and he is known to many people who are listening to him in the synagogue. They have heard about the miracles he has done in Capernaum, and they naturally feel that he ought to favour his own town, his own people, with the same miracles and more. Do they not have a special place in his heart as his familiars? But there is a problem and the Lord brings the problem out into the open. Given the situation, they will naturally want to quote a proverb to him, a proverb intended to encourage him to do the same miracles they have heard that he has done elsewhere. The proverb is ‘Physician heal thyself.’ A physician who cannot cure himself does not give much confidence that he can heal anyone else. If he has healing powers, and if he is unwell, he is going to want to use his healing powers on himself. If he cannot even do that, then no one is going to trust him to be their doctor. The language is of course metaphorical. Christ is not a physician, – though he is the great Physician of souls – he is the Messiah, but as far as they are concerned, he is a miracle worker, and they want some of the benefit of his miracles for themselves. The word ‘thyself’ does not refer to him personally – they are not urging him to do anything for himself literally. It is a proverb, a very compact saying which needs to be interpreted with understanding. In context ‘thyself’ means Nazareth, the town which they think he ought to look upon as his own. He expands on the proverb to make this clear: ‘whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.’ There is in the quoting of this proverb the idea of favouritism, an idea which is completely contrary to grace and at odds with the gospel. There are no special privileges for those who are connected with the Lord or with other believers. Natural relations count for nothing in the kingdom of heaven. Salvation does not come through living next to a believer, or knowing them closely, or even through family relations, or even through marriage. And yet they wanted to believe otherwise. They wanted to believe that because they were his neighbours and close associates, they had some extra claim on the benefits he could give. And certainly, they were looking for an earthly benefit and nothing more. They did not see him as the Messiah, and as he is about to add, they had deep prejudices against doing any such thing. It was after all a self-serving interest that they had in him. There were also sick people in Nazareth who needed healing, and that is what they are thinking about. So far, it seems, he had not done any miracles there. What they are saying is, ‘You have done wonderful miracles and you have healed many sick in other towns. Why don't you heal the sick in your own town?’ He anticipates that as soon as they have got over their immediate state of being mightily impressed with him, soon they will begin to question what he is doing. ‘Just a minute. Why does he go to Capernaum and heal many people and he doesn't do it here?’ So he anticipates their complaints about him, because in fact, their lack of faith is going to mean that he does not do many miracles there.Here is an interesting feature of pessimism. Pessimism is resentful. The Lord Jesus Christ has read their minds and he knows exactly how they think, and he knows that although they are awed by his words and they have heard of his power, yet already there are doubts in their minds. They were poor, out of the way, off the track community and they were jealous of wealthy, beautiful places like Capernaum. Capernaum had received these privileges and they were not going to believe until they had the same privileges and demonstrations. That is resentment. Resentment thinks like that. I'm not going to believe until something is done for me.