Choose the Right Medicine
Doctor Costume During Outbreaks of Bubonic Plague
Most of the Trick-or-treaters I saw this Halloween dressed as Spider-Man, Transformers, ghosts, or princesses. I would have loved to have seen a kid dressed as one of the doctors who served during outbreaks of the bubonic plague centuries ago! The costume bordered on the absurd. They wore masks with long beaks, a leather hat, gloves, a waxed linen robe, and a stick to move the patient’s clothing. If I had been a patient, just seeing my doctor would have killed me if the plague didn’t! Why did they dress like that?
The reason is that they thought that the plague was an airborne disease transmitted by smells that the patient’s sick body would produce. Doctors filled the beaks with various herbs and vinegar, believing that these herbs would absorb the disease in the beak before they reached the doctor’s nose, thereby preventing the disease. The logic was sound. Doctors still wear masks today to protect against certain diseases, and the modern hazmat suit is based on the same idea of avoiding breathing in harmful substances.
The problem with trying to prevent the bubonic plague through vinegar and herbs is that smells do not transmit it. It’s not airborne at all. The bubonic plague was transmitted through the bite of an infected flea, which no mask could protect against. Though the robes they wore provided some protection, they were not designed to stop flea bites. Unfortunately, doctors were trying to protect themselves using the wrong preventative techniques. The masks were an example of how not understanding the cause of the problem leads to applying the wrong cure to a deadly disease.
When Jesus came, His own people did not recognize Him as their Messiah. Though He did many miracles, the scribes and Pharisees accused Him of not keeping the law because He healed on the Sabbath. They thought Him a heretic because He did not follow their man-made traditions. They insisted that because they were physical descendants of Abraham, and followed the law of Moses, that they were saved. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explained that true righteousness, the kind acceptable to God, goes beyond keeping the law. True righteousness requires a heart aligned with God’s will.
Jesus gave several examples in Matthew 5. Six times He said, “You have heard it said, but I say…” Matthew 5:27-28 is a good example. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Jesus showed them that keeping Moses’ commandment, “You shall not commit adultery” was not enough. The sin is in not only in the physical act of adultery, but also in the lust of their hearts, even if they didn’t commit the physical act. He showed them that even if they kept the law (which no one did), they still would not satisfy God’s impossible standards.
By thinking they were earning salvation by their heritage and keeping the law, they were applying the wrong cure to the deadly disease of sin. The law never saved anyone. It only showed people how sinful they really were. Jesus is the only one who can cure our disease. If we’re trying to be saved any other way, we’re applying the wrong cure to the deadly disease of sin. Some people think the cure for sin is to have their good works outweigh their bad works. Others compare themselves to their neighbors and judge themselves worthy of salvation. Still others believe that if they haven’t killed anyone that they’re pretty good people and will go to heaven. These cures to the disease of sin are as effective as the costumes doctors wore during the plague, that is, not effective at all!
Our disease is a sick heart. Jeremiah 17:9 says: “The heart is more deceitful than all else, and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” Our sinful hearts have a deadly disease. We need a proper cure. Only Jesus can cure our sick hearts, and He will if we believe in Him.