Jesus wasn’t the only physician in His day.  In his letter to the Colossians Paul calls Luke, the writer of the gospel bearing his name, a doctor (Colossians 4:14).  In Mark 5:26 we are told a woman with a blood disorder had suffered many years under the care of many doctors, and had spent all she had.  There were enough doctors around for Jesus’ analogy, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” to make sense (Matthew 9:12).  And in Jesus’ hometown, He exposed His skeptics: “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’” (Luke 4:23).

Jesus wasn’t the only physician, but He was “The” Physician who had power over every disease and sickness.  I am told the word “disease” mentioned in Matthew 4:23 refers to an illness, while the word “sickness” focuses more on the infirmities caused by disease.  For example, the flu is caused by a virus, but the flu manifests itself in headaches, body aches, fever and cough.  Jesus waged war on both, which explains why a lame man was able to carry his own bed without physical therapy.

It is any wonder people flocked to Jesus?  His healing percentage was 100% effective, and it was free!  We aren’t told of any animosity in the medical community toward Jesus, but we have to wonder if there weren’t some who were afraid He was going to put them out of business.  He undoubtedly cut into their profits.  So what has changed?