Hi Mike,
In Luk 4 we read this verse:

Luk 4:23 And he said to them, Ye will surely say to me this parable, Physician, heal thyself; whatsoever we have heard has taken place in Capernaum do here also in thine own country.

These people apparently heard of all the miracles Jesus was doing. They were not looking for a spiritual blessing but wanted him to perform physical miracles like the ones they had heard he was doing. These miracles consisted mostly of healing the sick and diseased. Is this verse saying that Jesus had some outward appearance of being sick or diseased?

Isa 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Isa 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Your Brother in Christ,
M____

Hi M____,
Thank you for your question. You ask:

Is this verse saying [Isa 53:2] that Jesus had some outward appearance of being sick or diseased?

No, “having no form or comeliness,” does not mean that Christ was suffering from any particular disease. That phrase is just another was of saying that Christ was a very ordinary looking Jew. Being of ordinary appearance is to “have no form or comeliness… that we would desire Him.” 

Isa 53:2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Isa 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

The very chapter you quote here in Luke demonstrates why Christ was “rejected of men, a man of sorrows, why He was despised and why we esteemed Him not,” and it had nothing to do with Christ being diseased. Here is why Christ was so esteemed and so treated. It is all revealed right here in this same chapter. In fact it is all revealed in the verses which immediately follow the verses you quoted in Luk 4. Here is what you quoted:

Luk 4:22  And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
Luk 4:23  And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.

… and here are the verses which immediately follow:

Luk 4:24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Luk 4:25  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Luk 4:26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, [ a city] of Sidon, unto a woman [ that was] a widow.
Luk 4:27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
Luk 4:28  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

Verse 23 is connected by thought and intent with verse 24 and the following verses, which provoked the rage of the very people with whom Christ had been “brought up.” This had nothing to do with Christ having performed  miracles in Capernaum, because Christ had done no miracles in Capernaum at this time. It is important to notice the time when Christ spoke these words. This happens to be the first recorded words which Christ spoke in public after His baptism by John in Jordan, where John had made this statement in front of his disciples:

Joh 1:29  The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Joh 1:30  This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.
Joh 1:31  And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
Joh 1:32  And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
Joh 1:35  Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;
Joh 1:36  And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

So John the Baptist had proclaimed Christ to be “the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world” when John baptized Jesus.  Immediately afterwards, Christ was “driven of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil…”

Mar 1:12  And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness.
Mar 1:13  And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.

Christ was in that wilderness “with the wild beasts” and was tempted just like you and I are tempted. It is immediately after his baptism and temptation that your verses in Luke four come before us:

Luk 4:1  And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
Luk 4:2  Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

This is followed by the account of Christ’s temptation by the Devil, and then we read this”

Luk 4:13  And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.
Luk 4:14  And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
Luk 4:15  And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.
Luk 4:16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
Luk 4:17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

Verse 15 tells us “He taught in their synagogues being glorified of all,” so while these words which He reads in Isaiah may not be his very first public speaking, it is nevertheless true to say that this is His first recorded account of speaking in public, after His baptism by John, and it is in this very first account of His speaking publicly, that He is threatened with death, and was despised of the very people with whom “he had been brought up… in Nazareth.” Why was He “esteemed not?” Why was He “rejected of men and despised?” Was it because he was diseased? No, not at all. It was for the same reason you and I will be rejected of men and despised.” Here is the account of what happened that day:

Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord [ is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luk 4:20  And he closed the book, and he gave [ it] again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Luk 4:21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Luk 4:22  And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
Luk 4:23  And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.

Luke’s gospel makes this all sound like Christ’s first time to return home after His baptism by John. There is no account of Christ having even chosen His 12 disciples at this time. Peter and his mother in law are mentions later here in Luk 4, but Peter is not called to follow Christ and leave his fishing business, until the fifth chapter of Luke.
Now this is what John tells us about Christ’s “beginning of miracles,” His first miracle.

Joh 2:1  And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:
Joh 2:2  And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.

According to the gospel of John, Christ’s first miracle had not yet been performed, when He first returned to Nazareth. According to the gospel of John, Christ’s disciples were with him when He performed his first miracle, at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, and not Capernaum. But Christ knew the hearts of those who were in Nazareth, and He knew what the scriptures declare to be true of those closest to any man of God, so He told those of His own home town of Nazareth:

Luk 4:23  And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
Luk 4:24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.

Then he went on to reveal a scriptural fact which, to this very day will get any true man of God stoned by his own home town folks:

Luk 4:25  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Luk 4:26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
Luk 4:27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
Luk 4:28  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Luk 4:30  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,
Luk 4:31  And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days.

So that is why Christ was “rejected and despised of men.” It was because He came saying that God was rejecting those who had His name but refused to be obedient to His Words. That is a message which, to this very day will cause you to “be hated of all men for my name’s sake.”

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

If we are not “hated of all men” then something is not right in our spiritual walk, because the words of Christ are guaranteed to divide and separate us from our brothers in Christ, and our brothers in our own spiritual house.

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36  And a man’s foes [ shall be] they of his own household.
Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Mat 10:40  He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

It was the inability to receive words such as these which could not be received by those in Christ’s own home town of Nazareth. They knew Him as Joseph’s son, and if He were able to perform miracles in Capernaum, then they also wanted to see Him do the same there in Nazareth, and they wanted to see those miracles whether they had faith or not.

Luk 4:23  And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
Luk 4:24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.

Here is how Matthew tells this story:

Mat 13:54  And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this [ man] this wisdom, and [ these] mighty works?
Mat 13:55  Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
Mat 13:56  And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this [ man] all these things?
Mat 13:57  And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.
Mat 13:58  And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

Matthew does not tell us that the people of His own town tried to kill Him, but we do see that in Luke, and Matthew tells us that He would not do “many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

I hope this has helped you to see why the people of Nazareth were demanding that Christ perform miracles in Nazareth, just as He would later do in Capernaum, and I hope you can now see that His rejection had nothing to do with His own health or lack thereof, but it had everything to do with His doctrine, which to this very day is rejected by those same people who claim to best know Christ.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike