THOU ANOINTEST MY HEAD WITH OIL

Psalm 23; James 5: 13-16

Back in the 1990s when our church was involved in a community health ministry called “Project Reach,” a few churches that did not participate asked, “Is it really the church’s role to promote health and healing, or does that rightly belong to the medical community?” And so we examined history and the Bible. In Jewish Midrash (which are collections of true stories that have been passed down) it was clear that anyone who became ill was taken to a Rabbi for healing. You see, the body, mind, and soul connection has been evident long before this church created a series by that name. People who are burdened by broken relationships with family, or friends, or community put their bodies in strain as their natural resistance to illness is lowered when they experience such distress. People start being forgetful or absentminded or do poorly on tests when they are physically sick or tired, or when the ethics or sins of past actions burden them. Their mind doesn’t work right. There is a wellness connection between all three- body, mind, and soul. Do you recall reading in the New Testament that Rabbis offered healing to people of faith who came to them with ailments? Believers went to rabbis with broken spirits or minds or bodies to be healed or pronounced clean. Jesus himself was called Rabbi and we know he both taught and healed countless numbers of people, some in miraculous ways. Crowds never called him “doctor.” Jewish Rabbis have been about the business of healing and wholeness as far back as we have records.

Jesus and the Jews had a tradition of sacred healing. As Christianity spread to Asia Minor, which was the world once ruled by Greeks, they found that even they had healing ministries connected with their gods. While visiting Pergamum, one of the cities that had a church to which John wrote in his Revelation, we saw an “Asklepion,” a hospital named after the Greek god of healing, Asklepeos. Mary Ann wrote these words in one of our scrapbooks after hearing the healing story in Pergamum: “Patients were taken to a treatment room and given herbs to make them sleep and dream. When they awoke they would tell their dreams to priests who would diagnose them and prescribe treatment. One treatment was in a rock pool, another in a sacred spring. A long tunnel ran underneath the complex and it had water flowing along the sides of the walkway to create a soothing, calm atmosphere. Patients would spend time in the tunnel painting, and there was a theatre to provide uplifting entertainment as they healed. Whenever they traveled through the tunnel, the priests and assistance used openings carved in the top of the tunnel to call down words of encouragement as they walked through, something like a holy cheering section. Once the patients were healed, they would go to the Temple of Asklepeos and have their names engraved on white stones.” Christianity grew from the world of Judaism and it was also planted in Asia Minor where medicine and ministry were powerful weapons against illness.

In the Book of James, we find out that the early church was a praying church, like we are today, and was a singing church, like we are today. We find that if people got sick, they- What? Called a doctor? No; not at first; first they were to call the elders of the church and ask for prayers in receive anointing of oil for their healing. And, my friends, here the actual Greek word for elder in the original text is, Presbuteros, Presbyters! call the presbuteros of the church (who in those days would have been the ministers or and their advisors) and have them pray over you. Many Protestants have thought the passage stopped there but it doesn’t. “Have the presbyters pray over you and anoint you with oil in the name of the Lord.” That’s the part we have too often left to the Roman Catholic Church, or the Eastern Orthodox Church or to spiritual healers. But even the Bible, the New Testament, says that for healing, people were taught to go to their presbyters to ask for prayers and to be anointed with oil. After all, “Thou anointest my head with oil” is part of the favorite statement of faith that Jews and Christians share in Psalm 23. So today, not because any minister or elder has special power, not because medicine does not work, but because “the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective,” we will pray over the names of those who have physical, emotional, or spiritual brokenness with our prayer list. And because it is in the New Testament, we will offer, as an option for you, a gentle anointing on the foreheads of those who wish it with sacred oil mixed with frankincense and myrrh. This is not magic, nor is it sacrament. It is anointing oil offered in conjunction with this message of hope for all who wish it. What words will be said? “May God heal your brokenness,” said directly to you. So now, today, we have the chance to return to the ancient Biblical rite of healing; it does not add medicine, but it includes prayer, and it returns to anointing. Consider not just body parts that need healing, but also relationships, attitudes, and your soul. Then decide if you chose communion or not, if you chose prayer or not; if you chose anointing or not. It is up to you; but the Table, the prayers, and the oil have been prepared for you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us now turn to Psalm 23 in song and in word.

Jeffrey A. Sumner October 1, 2006