But when Jesus heard that
The charge the Pharisees brought against him, and the
insinuations they had made of him to his disciples; which he
either overheard himself, or his disciples related to him,
he said unto them;
the Pharisees, with an audible voice, not only to confute and
convince them, but chiefly to establish his disciples, they were
endeavouring to draw away from him:
they that be whole need not a physician;
by which he would signify that he was a "physician": and so he is
in a spiritual sense, and that a very skilful one: he knows the
nature of all the diseases of the soul, without being told them
by the patient; what are the true causes of them; what is proper
to apply; when is the best time, and what the best manner: he is
an universal one, with regard both to diseases and to persons,
that apply to him; he heals all sorts of persons, and all sorts
of diseases; such as are blind from their birth, are as deaf as
the deaf adder, the halt, and the lame, such as have broken
hearts, yea the plague in their hearts, and have stony ones, and
all the relapses of his people; which he does by his stripes and
wounds, by the application of his blood, by his word and Gospel,
through sinners looking to him, and touching him: he is an
infallible one, none ever went from him without a cure; none ever
perished under his hands; the disease he heals never returns more
to prevail, so as to bring on death and destruction; and he does
all freely, without money, and without price. So Philo the Jew
calls the Logos, or word, (iatron
kakwn) , "an healer of diseases" F24, and
God our legislator, (twn thv quchv
payw n aristov iatrov) , "the best physician of the
diseases of the soul" F25. Now Christ argues from this his
character, in vindication of himself; as that he was with these
persons, not as a companion of their's, but as a physician to
them; and as it is not unlawful, but highly proper and
commendable, that a physician should be with the sick; so it was
very lawful, fit, and proper, yea praiseworthy in him, to be
among these publicans and sinners, for their spiritual good. He
suggests indeed, that "they that be whole", in perfect health and
strength, as the Pharisees thought themselves to be, even free
from all the maladies and diseases of sin, were strong, robust,
and able to do anything, and everything of themselves; these
truly stood in no "need of" him, as a physician, in their own
apprehension; they saw no need of him; in principle they had no
need of him, and in practice did not make use of him; and
therefore it was to no purpose to attend them, but converse with
others, who had need of him:
but they that are sick;
who are not only diseased and disordered in all the powers and
faculties of their souls, as all Adam's posterity are, whether
sensible of it or not; but who know themselves to be so, these
see their need of Christ as a physician, apply to him as such,
and to them he is exceeding precious, a physician of value; and
such were these "publicans" and sinners. These words seem to be a
proverbial expression, and there is something like it in the
F26 Talmud, (ayoa ybl lyza abyak hyl byakd) , "he that is
afflicted with any pain goes", or "let him go to the physician's
house"; that is, he that is attended with any sickness, or
disease, does, or he ought to, consult a physician.