Sirach 38:1-16: a reflection

1Honor a physician according to your need with the honors due to him, for truly the Lord has created him. 2For healing comes from the Most High, and he shall receive a gift from the king. 3The skill of the physician will lift up his head. He will be admired in the sight of great men. 4The Lord created medicines out of the earth. A prudent man will not despise them. 5Wasn’t water made sweet with wood, that its power might be known? 6He gave men skill that he might be glorified in his marvelous works. 7With them he heals and takes away pain. 8With these, the pharmacist makes a mixture. God’s works won’t be brought to an end. From him, peace is upon the face of the earth. 9My son, in your sickness don’t be negligent, but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you. 10Put away wrong doing, and direct your hands in righteousness. Cleanse your heart from all sin. 11Give a sweet savor and a memorial of fine flour, and pour oil on your offering, according to your means. 12Then give place to the physician, for truly the Lord has created him. Don’t let him leave you, for you need him. 13There is a time when recovery is in their hands. 14For they also shall ask the Lord to prosper them in diagnosis and in healing for the maintenance of life. 15He who sins before his Maker, let him fall into the hands of the physician. 16My son, let your tears fall over the dead, and as one who suffers grievously, begin lamentation. Wind up his body with due honor. Don’t neglect his burial.

Sirach gives a balanced word about sickness and healing, honoring both prayer and the physician. Honor a physician according to your need, he says, for the Lord created him; the Lord created medicines out of the earth, and a prudent man will not despise them. And yet he also says, in your sickness pray to the Lord, and he will heal you. Sirach holds the two together: pray to God, who is the source of all healing, and also make use of the physician and the medicines that God has provided. Healing comes from God, whether directly or through the means, the physicians and medicines, that God himself has created for our good.

Notice how Sirach honors both prayer and the means God provides. He does not set prayer against the physician, or the physician against prayer; he honors both, for both come from God. Healing comes from the Lord, he insists; but God works healing not only directly, in answer to prayer, but also through the means he has provided, the physicians and medicines created out of the earth. To pray to God and to make use of the physician are not opposed; both honor the God who is the source of healing and who works through the means he has made. God gives the physician's skill and the medicine's power; to use them is to receive God's provision, even as we pray to him.

That is worth taking to heart, for God works, including in healing, through the ordinary means he has provided, and we honor both prayer and the means. We can set prayer against ordinary means, as though trusting God meant despising the help he provides, or as though using the means meant not trusting God; but Sirach honors both, for God works through the means he has created as well as directly. To pray to God and to use the means he provides are not opposed. Do not despise the ordinary means God provides, as though prayer alone were trusting, nor rely on the means as though God were not their source; honor both, as Sirach honored both prayer and the physician. Honor both prayer and the ordinary means God provides, whether in healing or in other needs, trusting that God works through the means he has created as well as directly, as Sirach counseled us both to pray to the Lord and to honor the physician; for God is the source of all healing and provision, and he works through the ordinary means he has made as well as by his direct hand.

Lord, Sirach gives a balanced word about sickness and healing, honoring both prayer and the physician. Honor a physician according to your need, he says, for the Lord created him; the Lord created medicines out of the earth, and a prudent man will not despise them. And yet he also says, in your sickness pray to the Lord, and he will heal you. Sirach holds the two together: pray to you, who are the source of all healing, and also make use of the physician and the medicines that you have provided. Show me how Sirach honors both prayer and the means you provide. He does not set prayer against the physician, or the physician against prayer; he honors both, for both come from you. Healing comes from you, he insists; but you work healing not only directly, in answer to prayer, but also through the means you have provided. To pray to you and to make use of the physician are not opposed; both honor you, the source of healing. You give the physician's skill and the medicine's power; to use them is to receive your provision, even as we pray to you. Take that to my heart, for you work, including in healing, through the ordinary means you have provided, and I honor both prayer and the means. I can set prayer against ordinary means, as though trusting you meant despising the help you provide, or as though using the means meant not trusting you; but Sirach honors both. Keep me from despising the ordinary means you provide, as though prayer alone were trusting, nor relying on the means as though you were not their source; help me honor both, Lord, as Sirach honored both prayer and the physician, trusting that you work through the means you have created as well as directly.