Matthew 9:12
When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do.
Mark 2:17
When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Luke 5:31
Jesus answered them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do.
Contents
Who called Jesus the Great Physician?
The early church fathers called Jesus the Great Physician or the Divine Physician, but as we can see from the above Bible verses, Jesus also refers to Himself as a physician.
What does it mean “Jesus is the Great Physician”?
Jesus is the Great Physician in two ways.
Firstly, Jesus came to earth to heal sick people. That was one of the things God the Father sent Jesus to do during His ministry. Healing people fulfills Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah:
Matthew 8:16-17
When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
And to show that He is the Messiah and that the Kingdom of God has arrived:
Luke 7:18-23
The disciples of John told him about all these things. John, calling to himself two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for another?” When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptizer has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?’”
In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits; and to many who were blind he gave sight. Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you have seen and heard: that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”
By healing people of their illnesses, Jesus gives an example of how things will be in His kingdom.
Secondly and most importantly, Jesus is called the Great Physician because He heals sinners. We see this when we add the following verse to the first verse presented on this page, Matt 9:12.
Matthew 9:12-13
When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Luke 5:31–32
Jesus answered them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
When the New Testament talks about death, it often speaks about the ultimate death that comes from sinning. The sickness of sinning is truly deadly and has eternal consequences.
By His sacrifice on the cross, Jesus opens us to a way of healing. His wounds heal the believers.
1 Peter 2:24
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds.
Matthew 8:2-3
Behold, a leper came to him and worshiped him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.”
Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be made clean.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
All three Gospels, where Jesus calls Himself physician, tie it closely with the healing of the paralytic man lowered through the roof. Go ahead and read Matthew 9, Mark 2, and Luke 5; they all have the story of the paralytic man right before the verse where Jesus calls Himself a physician.
Bible verses about The Great Physician healing sinners
John 3:14-15
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Numbers 21:9
Moses made a serpent of bronze, and set it on the pole. If a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of bronze, he lived.
1 Peter 2:24
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds.
Isaiah 53:5
But he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that brought our peace was on him;
and by his wounds we are healed.
Psalm 103:3
who forgives all your sins,
who heals all your diseases
The Great Physician healing people from illness
Matthew 8:14-15
When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her. So she got up and served him.
Matthew 9:35
Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.
Matthew 12:15-16
Jesus, perceiving that, withdrew from there. Great multitudes followed him; and he healed them all, 16 and commanded them that they should not make him known
Matthew 12:22
Then one possessed by a demon, blind and mute, was brought to him; and he healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw.
Matthew 14:14
Jesus went out, and he saw a great multitude. He had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Matthew 14:35-36
When the people of that place recognized him, they sent into all that surrounding region and brought to him all who were sick; and they begged him that they might just touch the fringe of his garment. As many as touched it were made whole.
Matthew 15:30
Great multitudes came to him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others, and they put them down at his feet. He healed them,
Finally
How beautifully the two meanings are woven together in this poem from the Book of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 17:14
Heal me, O Yahweh, and I will be healed.
Save me, and I will be saved;
for you are my praise.