The Good Doctor By: Minister Nicholas Christian

The Good Doctor

Luke 6:17-19 NRSV

Triumph Baptist Church

1648 West Hunting Park Ave.

The Sacred Desk

June 29, 2020

The Minister Nicholas C. Christian, M. Div

 

“17 He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.”

 

On October 3, 2017, ABC launched a television series known as "The Good Doctor." This remake from a series in 2013, highlights one Dr. Sean Murphy: a young surgical resident clinically diagnosed with the developmental disorder of Autism. Throughout the series, we are taken on a journey with Dr. Murphy as he begins to adapt and open up to those in his environment. The journey takes us to many different facets of Dr. Murphy's life. However, the most consistent area of focus is when Dr. Murphy is on display in the sick room. Dr. Murphy's Autism is on exhibition not as a behavioral disorder, but as a gift that gives him the ability to diagnose, heal, fix, or cure patients who without him may not otherwise experience the same result.

In the series, people show up to the fictional San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital knowing that things are not right in their bodies, and that they need help. Yet, the condition they are in is often worse than expected, and they find themselves in a situation that is void of hope. However, before the patient is given their final daunting diagnosis and sent home, the doctors congregate in a room and attempt to find a solution or cure. Often, doctors without the unique set of skills like the ones Dr. Murphy possesses, fail to identify a remedy for the patient. In the series, it is the precise "The Good Doctor," Dr. Sean Murphy, who is often responsible for using his unique set of skills and traits that aid him in diagnosing and or administering a cure to help those who have been infected or affected by a particular disease or illness. In the end, while the patient must admit they need help, and muster the courage to show up to the hospital for that help, it is ultimately "The Good Doctor" that the credit for the help and the hope of the patient is attributed.

My brothers and sisters, I suggest to you today that this nation shows signs of being a patient in need of a good doctor. Like the patients in the tv series, America suffers from a disease that appears to be void of a cure. America has experienced biopsies by doctors like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It has been administered the vaccines of marching, protesting, and other non-violent direct action and resistance. It has been under evaluation for centuries, and it has become evident that its disease is far worse than expected, leaving many people who were fighting it void of hope.

The disease America suffers from is not HIV AIDS; it is not the Spanish flu; it is not even the most recent Pandemic of Covid-19 – a strand of the Coronavirus. The disease is none other than that of America's original sin: Racism. It is a disease that causes black women to prefer their husbands, and black children live under a stay-at-home order because they are fearful that the disease may be the reason their men and children never make it back home safely. It is a disease that causes black men and black women to wear a mask on their culture every day in corporate America, politics, medical fields, and every other occupation. The mask is a result of fear that their blackness, a target of the disease of Racism, may prevent them from getting a job, being promoted, or worse, be the reason they lose the job that they had to work twice as hard to get in the first place. This disease has resulted in a pandemic that has taken millions of lives over centuries and somehow has figured out a way to elude, evade, and escape every doctor, tactic, and vaccine we have tried to administer. That is why many blacks and others have lost their hope. That is why this disease feels void of a cure. That is why Racism has been an indefatigable plague and the plight of the black community.

However, like the patients who show up to the fictional San Jose St. Bonaventure hospital, there is hope that even though our circumstances are rife with negative symptoms and a daunting diagnosis, we have access to "The Good Doctor." Only our Good Doctor has a special trait in His hands called "All Power." Our Good Doctor does not need to perform surgery or administer a vaccine. At His name alone, the disease of Racism must bow, white supremacy must bow, bigotry must bow, and at His name, justice will roll down like a river and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Many may ask, "Who is the Good Doctor I reference?" and to them, I declare His name is Jesus. And, He has the power to extricate, eradicate, and exterminate even the diseases that no other vaccine, doctor, or even we have figured out how to cure. However, just like the patients in the tv series who did the work of admitting they were sick and subsequently seeking help, this text reminds us that we too have work we must do.

The text teaches us that Jesus comes down from choosing His disciples. As He reaches the level ground, He is met by a multitude of people, all whose origin and affiliation are different and often socially adverse. The Bible delineates that the multitudes origin is "from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon." They were Jews and Gentiles who had come to hear a word from Jesus and be healed of their diseases. The Bible does not suggest that their difference in livelihood, economic status, or worship practice separated them from experiencing an eradication of their respective diseases. It suggests that the extermination of the diseases of those from different countries came after their willingness to put differences aside and hear and be healed by the Lord our God. 

In other words, this text serves as a reminder that if we are to exterminate the disease of Racism, healing of that disease must take priority over the differences among those infected and affected by that disease. Furthermore, this nation has become overly consumed by the class of wealth, divisions of politics, and the construct of race, to such an extent that we have allowed death by this disease to be the norm. However, this text teaches us that if we are to eliminate this disease that has been void of a cure for centuries, we must do the work of putting aside our differences for the common good of humanity. By doing so, we enable the vaccine of love to permeate each one of us and bring about healing and restoration. But, to move in the direction of this antidote and complete healing, we must first agree that there is a disease that needs attention.   

In verse 18 of our pericope, the Bible is clear: "They had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured." Those present with Jesus did not arrive in His presence and ignore their differences by accident. The Jews and Gentiles recognized that they were infected by diseases that needed the attention of The Good Doctor and decided to do the work necessary for healing. Before they could take the steps for their healing, they first had to admit they had been infected or affected by a disease and that they needed healing.

My brothers and my sisters if we do not learn anything else from this text, we must learn that the greatest ally to a problem or disease is the very denial of its existence. That healing or extermination of a disease cannot occur until both the infected and affected admit and accept that the disease exists, and more importantly, that we are in desperate need of a cure.

I submit to you today that it is not just America as a whole, but that many of us individually are wrestling with diseases. We are battling with the “diseases” of addiction, anxiety, depression, abuse, violence, low-self-esteem, judgment, and so many more. Sadly, many choose to fight these diseases by attempting to act as if they do not exist. However, to ignore the reality of a disease's existence is to strengthen its stronghold and manifestation. If we want to be delivered from the fortress and symptoms of said diseases, we as both a nation and individuals must first admit they exist. We must seek help in community with each other, and individually with professional therapists, psychologists, and other doctors.

This message does not suggest that admitting one is infected or affected is easy, or that seeking help is stress-free. On the contrary, being forthcoming about sickness or disease and seeking help is one of the hardest things we as people and a nation may have to do. Even further, I do not suggest that admitting your disease exists and seeking help from medical professionals ends the work. Healing from any disease or illness is a long road that can often leave persons tired and void of hope. However, the work of admitting and seeking professional attention is necessary, and without it, healing cannot happen. 

Even further, like the patients in the tv series, we may as a nation or individuals, admit to having existing diseases and seek professional help, but still receive results that leave us void of hope. Yet, this text reminds us that even when we have tried community and doctors, that we must not lose hope because healing still has not happened. We must not give up on the fight for healing when the road is narrow and endemic with speed bumps and rough terrain. This text reminds us that when we have tried every vaccine we know, and every medical professional or doctor we should, there is another Doctor who can heal even that which appears incurable.

So, before we throw out the medicine bottles, before we stop showing up to appointments, and stop logging on to meetings, just like both the Jews and Gentiles in this text, we must put our differences aside and cast our cares on Jesus. Before we stop protesting, before we stop marching, before we stop fighting for equality, and before we give up on justice, we must hold on a little while longer knowing that there is a Healer who dwells among us that can heal and solve all our problems. Before we lose our last bit of hope, and before we throw in the towel, we must do the work of praying. We must go before the Throne of Grace and submit to God the diseases that desperately need eradication. We must continue our fight for healing, and we must pray to the Father; He is The Good Doctor. He has never lost a patient. He has never made a mistake. He has never left us nor forsaken us. And the good news is, He is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. Because God has never left or forsaken us; we know God never will. Thus, we have hope to stay in the fight for healing. We have hope to stay in the fight for freedom. We have hope to stay in the fight for righteousness. We have hope to stay in the fight for justice. We have hope to stay in the fight for equality. We have hope to keep on fighting. And while we are fighting, we will fight with the weapon and work of prayer. We will put the outcome of the fight and the fight itself in The Good Doctors' hands. For, I am reminded of the words of The Jewish poet Joseph Medlicott Scriven who says:

 

"Oh, what peace we often forfeit

Oh, what needless pain we bear

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer

Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged

Take it to the Lord in prayer

Can we find a friend so faithful?

Who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness

Take it to the Lord in prayer".