Answer
Early in His ministry, Jesus was in Nazareth speaking in the synagogue. Nazareth was His hometown, and the people there were familiar with His family and had watched Him grow up (Luke 4:16). When Jesus read a messianic prophecy from Isaiah and claimed to be the fulfillment of it, the crowd in the synagogue immediately balked (verses 17–22). It was then that Jesus made reference to a proverb of the day: “Physician, heal thyself” (verse 23, KJV).
Jesus’ audience in Nazareth reacted in amazement to His words in the synagogue, and they began to remind themselves of His personal history: “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” (Luke 4:22). They could point to no sin in Jesus’ past, but they definitely brought up the fact that He was a local boy—as if that disqualified Him from being the Messiah. In essence, they were saying, “Jesus is the son of the local carpenter; He’s common, like us. Where does He get the idea that He’s something special? The Messiah will not be a tradesman!”
Jesus’ response to their reluctance to believe was to make Himself the point of a proverb: “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” (Luke 4:23, KJV).
In the proverb “Physician, heal thyself,” Jesus is the physician, and the Nazarenes are demanding that He heal Himself. It’s another way of saying, “We won’t believe a word you say until you take care of what ails you”—except, being a proverb, it’s much less wordy. The basic idea is that no one wants to visit a feverish doctor who is hacking up phlegm. The advice of a dermatologist whose face is covered with an itchy, scaly rash carries little weight. “Hey, Jesus,” the crowd is saying, “before you can help us, you have to take care of your own problems!”
“Physician, heal thyself” also carries the idea of needing proof. The attitude to the synagogue-goers in Luke 4 is that a real doctor should be able to prove his credentials by correctly diagnosing and treating whatever ailment he suffers from personally. To apply the point of the proverb more specifically to Jesus’ situation, “It will take more than words to convince us. If you’re truly the Messiah, prove it by working a miracle or doing something else equally messianic.” As Jesus expounds on the proverb, He mentions the miracles He had done in nearby Capernaum—miracles that the Nazarenes had heard about and wanted to see duplicated in their own city.
“Physician, heal thyself” also communicates a demand that the Miracle-worker work some of His miracles at home. The doctor in the proverb should heal himself; that is, he should practice his medicine at home. In the same way, Jesus should display His power at home, in Nazareth, and not just in other places. In this way, the proverb “Physician, heal thyself” is similar to our modern proverb “Charity begins at home.”
The challenge was clear. The people of Jesus’ hometown demanded signs and wonders before they would accept Him as the Messiah. Jesus gave them no miracles. Rather, He used the examples of Elijah and Elisha to show how unbelief in Israel had caused those prophets to work “away from home” with Gentiles (Luke 4:25–27). The Sabbath crowd listening to Jesus grew irate at the comparison, and they attempted to kill Jesus (verses 28–29). So much for a homecoming party.
Jesus should have been given the keys to the city of Nazareth; instead, He was given skepticism, rejection, and a terse proverb: “Physician, heal thyself.” As Jesus told the crowd just before their attempted murder, “No prophet is accepted in his hometown” (Luke 4:24).
