The Doctor became the Patient

The doctor became a patient in order to convince the patients to trust him. 

The diagnosis is clear: an inflamed appendix. In his distinguished thirty-seven-year medical career, Dr. Evan O'Neill Kane had performed nearly four thousand appendectomies, so this surgery would be uneventful in all ways—except two.

The first novelty of this operation? The use of local anesthesia in major surgery. Dr. Kane was a crusader against the hazards of general anesthesia. He proposed that a local application was far safer. But his theory had not yet been tested.

Dr. Kane searched for a volunteer, a patient who was willing to undergo surgery while under local anesthesia. A volunteer was not easily found. Eventually, however, Dr. Kane found a candidate.  The patient was prepped and wheeled into the operating room. A local anesthetic was applied, and as he had done thousands of times, Dr. Kane performed the surgery.

During the procedure, the patient complained of only minor discomfort. The volunteer was taken into post-op, then placed in a hospital ward. He recovered quickly and was discharged two days later. Dr. Kane had proven his theory that local anesthesia was a viable, and even preferable, alternative.

But there were two facts that made the surgery unique. The first was the use of local anesthesia. The second was the patient. The courageous candidate for surgery by Dr. Kane was Dr. Kane.

To prove his point, Dr. Kane operated on himself! The doctor became a patient in order to convince the patients to trust the doctor. 

Does that last statement sound like anyone else you know? The Great Physician became a patient, in order to save the patients and tell them to trust Him. God became man to save us and show us He loved us!

God has been in your position. Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” He came to earth, endured temptation, and died for your sins.

Have you ever been in a situation and needed God’s help? God’s been there before as well! Never forget that God became man and faced the same things you face today.

Source: DITW, January 18, 2009