“Physician, Heal Yourself”…?

A charge, a taunt, a hug.

“Physician, Heal Yourself” was a popular first century proverb.

The meaning is plain enough. “Fix yourself before you fix others.” It makes sense as a check on medical and spiritual hubris, and it had parallels in ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Roman sources.

It’s just a good idea universally. Would you visit a barber with a terrible haircut? “Physician, Heal Yourself” is a vocational seatbelt, a continuing education credit, a letter of recommendation.

But it was also a rebuke.

In the Jewish world it was aimed at startup healers and would-be messiahs, of which there were more than a passing few. And it was once aimed (from the heart, at least) at an ascending Galilean rabbi, the son of a local carpenter with questionable credentials, who was making presumptuous claims about the arrival of God’s Kingdom.

In this context, “Physician, Heal Yourself” was a taunt. It meant, “Who do you think you are?”

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For men and women called to be ‘healers’— in medical, spiritual, or psychological contexts — “Physician, Heal Yourself” is a common accusation. It’s a poison-tipped arrow aimed at the heart while we strive in our God-given callings. And who holds the bow?

Clinical supervisors? Maybe.

Denominational committees? Hopefully not.

Critics and rivals? Often.

The enemy of our souls? Always.

And of course we stab ourselves with it, too, always with the same tone: “Who do you think you are?” The faithful proverb becomes a missile from a crowd that would have us be perfect, while never, ever loving us along the way.

But thanks be to God, this is never the tone of the Galilean rabbi who heals everything in Himself. Without dismissing the wisdom of the proverb, He challenged the cynicism behind the taunt, which had kept many generations from receiving any prophet, or healer, at all.

Friends, hear me: we do need healing. The healers among us, especially. But anyone who heals himself has a fool for a physician. It simply falls to us to put ourselves in the way of healing, crying “Heal us, Emmanuel, by your own wounds.”

Here I quote a thoughtful nurse named Christopher Range:

“The Great Physician is also the patient. He takes on our sickness — not metaphorically, but in the dense, sweating, shivering reality of flesh. ‘By His wounds we are healed,’ the Prophet says. Not despite His wounds. By them. For those of us who care for the sick professionally, this is not merely consoling poetry. It is a job description. The nurse who has never been frightened cannot sit with a frightened patient and offer anything but procedure. The healer who has never felt the humiliation of a body that disobeys—the diagnosis, the addiction, the persistent sin — cannot hold another person’s shame without a certain terrible gentleness. Our brokenness is not a liability we must overcome before we are fit to serve. It is the very credential.”

His wounds cover our many sins, weaknesses, and spiritual illnesses. And atonement is just the beginning. We are then vocationally rehabilitated to continue our healing work in Him, as wounded healers.

This fall, the PRN team is supporting two groups of wounded healers: medical professionals‍ ‍and local pastors.

PRN Fall Symposium on Thursday, 11/12, 6-8pm
“Physical, Heal Yourself”: Where can struggling medical professionals go for care and community?
Come hear a panel of Christian medical professionals discuss how the Gospel applies to the unique stresses of nurses, doctors, PAs, medical students, and social workers. Bring your questions and comments, and fight isolation through Gospel-grounded resources and relationships!

Location: Renewal Church

Cost: $15 — register today!

2026-2027 Pastors Cohort 

October 2026-May 2027

Are you seeking a like-minded group of pastors to help bear your burdens in ministry in the year ahead? Could you use support from a team that encourages you in your calling while also working with you through your missteps and weaknesses? Do you want to better know yourself in the context of meetings and other leading contexts?
 The PRN pastors cohort provides a structured-yet-flexible, hybrid (half in-person, half virtual) and confidential space for pastors to process their most difficult pastoral issues, using guiding texts, open sharing and Christian spiritual practices. The group meets monthly, October-May.


For more info: Contact jalexander@philadelphiarenewalnetwork.org.
Cost: Free after the cost of materials

In hope,
John Alexander on behalf of the PRN Team