The Great Physician statue unveiled at WCUCOM
On Jan. 11, William Carey University unveiled The Great Physician statue at the entrance to the WCU College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Artist Ben Watts of Columbia created the sculpture at the request of Dr. Tommy King and Judge Charles Pickering who wanted a healing Jesus sculpture at the medical school. Hattiesburg physician Randy Ross and his wife, Brenda, also contributed to the sculpture.
“They were gracious enough to let me form the design from an artist’s point of view, not simply a traditional healing Jesus scene,” said Watts. “I also wanted it to be thought provoking and unique, as most artists want their work to be seen and remembered.”
Watts said most traditional art, whether painting or sculpture, captures a moment in time with the viewer having to determine what is transpiring, what has transpired or what is about to transpire. In “The Great Physician” two men are seen; one has just been healed of blindness and the other is a cripple, not yet healed.
“It is up to the viewer to believe in the healing power of Jesus and to ask the question of whether Jesus will heal the cripple,” said Watts. “It was my aim to put into a permanent record the verses in Matthew which say that Jesus healed the blind and the lame. My aim was also to convey two thoughts: one to show the power of Jesus healing and the other the hope of Jesus’s presence.”