A title the early church fathers bestowed on Jesus was the Divine Physician. St Clement of Alexandria said:
‘The good Instructor, the Wisdom, the Word of the Father, who made man, cares for the whole nature of His creature; the all-sufficient Physician of humanity, the Saviour, heals both body and soul.’ (The Instructor, Book 1, Chapter 2)
Jesus was made the all sufficient one for us in every situation, whether that’s spiritual or physical health, as well as in in all of our circumstances. He weaves together, people time and place in such a way that only Good can eventually come of it, which means for us our healing and glory to God.
A good picture of this can be found in the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit. Tobit was a righteous man, a man who along with many of his fellow Jews had been taken captive to Nineveh and were seeking to live this new life in the pagan land of the Assyrians. Many of his fellow Jews began watering down or forgetting their faith, yet he did not making him a target for the authorities which caused him to flee for a time and hide. When he was able to return to his family, he would be blinded by Sparrow droppings and for 8 years endure the vulnerabilities that comes with being blind making him in the end, call out to God to let him die. As the Book continues to narrate the story we are taken to another region where a similar prayer is being said – this time a young woman called Sara, who had been promised to 7 different grooms, but all would end up being killed by a jealous demon.
So was that it for Tobit and Sara? Not on your life! Tobit had a son, Tobias, and out of concern for his family (Tobit fully expected God to answer his prayer to die) he sends Tobias to collect monies owed to him and also marry one from his own clan. However, before the journey begins a man appears who is willing to act as guide, but this was no man – this was the angel Raphael and the means in which God was going to answer the prayers of Tobit and Sara but not in the way they had desired, He was going to act as the divine physician and heal the eyes of Tobit and release Sara from the oppression of the demon.
On the journey Tobias would be attacked by a large fish which he would overcome with Raphael’s help and using some of the organs from the fish would be the means of driving away the demon and healing the eyes of Tobit. I would not suggest we start gutting fish; that isn’t the point – rather, Tobias didn’t know that he was going to be used in the hands of this Physician. Raphael would instruct Tobias what to do – but it was not the angel who would commit the initial necessary acts. We can’t know how God is using us, all we can be is open to this instruction in our daily lives. We might think not much is going on, we go to work, or look after grandchildren; we are up in the middle of the night with our sick kids or we might be at the supermarket. Yet God is with us always, and His plan is so far above any of ours, we can never take for granted anything. A small act of mercy, an encouraging word, a preparedness to go the extra mile could very well be the means in which God brings healing or freedom to someone.
Tobias would marry Sara and in a beautiful verse it would be confirmed to her that this was the man destined for her, Tobit would be healed and they would receive a new daughter. What looked bad and hopeless, God turned round. The funny thing here is, it is not like any of them showed great faith in things working out – this was all God and this is a powerful lesson that even at our lowest or stupidest, our God is a God who is near.
Ears to Hear
As a priest said to me recently, the more prayerfully we live the more we hear God throughout our lives in all sorts of situations. The key in our interior life is prayer but sometimes it is hard to pray, especially if we are dealing with something difficult or complex – or we might fear praying the wrong thing, or bothering Him with matters we deem not worthy. But Jesus cares for all things because He is all sufficient and wants to provide for us a bedrock of joy in which faith springs anew. Lay all your cares at His feet.
O God, come to our aid. O Lord, make haste to help us.