Word of Salvation – Vol. 27 No. 43 – August 1982
Healing by Elders, Oil And Prayer (I)
Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on James 5:14
Scripture Readings: James 5; Acts 14:1-10
Singing: Ps.H. 302; 235; 428; 347; 301
Introd: There are many, many avenues to follow when it comes to healing.
– Modern progress in medicine often borders on the miraculous.
Many worship the healing power that comes thru science.
– There is the religious healing associated with special places.
Lourdes. Or a healing stream in N.Z. Or a miracle tree in Victoria.
– There is even healing called “psychic” healing.
Healing that is related to Spiritism, done by people in a trance.
– And then of course there are also the Christian faith healers.
They advertise in the papers: Come and see Jesus do a miracle!
Today we want to look at a text that tells us that the church has a role in healing.
James tells us quite specifically that there is a part to play by the church.
The fact that James mentions it at all is clear proof that the church cannot bow out.
IOW health and healing is not just something we leave to the doctor.
The church too has a role to play.
But the important question is: What role does it play?
A] THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE ELDERS.
a) Notice right away that James urges those who are sick to call the elders.
I see that as something very significant.
James does NOT say:
If someone among you is sick let him call on someone
who has a special spiritual gift of healing.
Why does James NOT say that?
After all in I Corinthians 12 the gift of healing is mentioned.
It is listed as one of the charismatic gifts of the early church.
In fact it was a gift that was exercised repeatedly in the N.T.
Why then does James not exhort the sick to find such a “faith healer”?
First of all because in the N.T. the gift of healing was given for a special reason.
It was given to the early church as a SIGN.
A sign to confirm the gospel message about the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then especially for those times
when that gospel was not yet committed to writing.
It was a SIGN GIFT.
It was not just a gift given for the comfort or well-being of believers.
Although at times believers certainly benefited from it.
But it was first of all a gift given for the benefit of unbelievers.
Especially while they did not yet have the N.T. in writing.
A sign of the power and authority of Jesus Christ.
Let’s turn to the book of Acts for some evidence of that.
In Acts 28 we see that Paul exercised the spiritual gift of healing.
There are in fact three recorded healings by Paul.
One of them involves the believer Eutychus who died in church (20:10).
In Acts 28:8 it involves the father of the pagan Publius.
<<< READ ACTS 28:8 >>>
The other recorded instance in Acts 14 is the healing of a cripple.
<<< READ ACTS 14:8-10 >>>
So Paul clearly exercised the charismatic gift of healing.
But now notice that Acts 14 also tells us WHY he exercised that gift.
<<< READ ACTS 14:3 >>>
It was in order to confirm the message of the gospel to the people.
Paul preached Jesus as Saviour and Lord.
And in the healing miracles people saw a sign of Jesus’ Lordship.
It is also worth pointing out that Paul didn’t always use that gift.
He did not use it when Timothy had a health problem.
In 1Tim.5:23 he gives Timothy a medical prescription.
Take a little wine for your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
He did not use the gift when his co-worker Trophimus was ill.
In 2.Tim.4:20 he tells how he left him sick at Miletus.
There is not even a hint that Paul tried to deal with that illness.
James then does not exhort the sick to go to someone who has the gift.
Even though the gift of healing WAS exercised in the early church.
Unless of course we assume that all elders had the gift of healing.
But there is no grounds for thinking all elders were also healers.
James does this for a purpose.
He is teaching that when there is sickness in the church
then the church has a role to play
and that role is played through its elders.
He does not send the sick off to some faith healer somewhere.
Someone who may have had that grace-gift as sign to unbelievers.
Instead he sends them to the elders of the local church.
I am not suggesting that Christians may not go to someone else.
That it is wrong to go to someone whom God has wonderfully used.
Who has a proven and reputable record in this area.
Someone whose prayers for healing God has heard in remarkable ways.
I cannot condemn anyone for doing that.
But I cannot find any exhortation in Scripture for the sick to do that.
I can only find this exhortation here in James…
For the sick to call the elders of the church.
Because the local fellowship of believers
has a role to play in the healing process through its elders.
b) Notice too where the responsibility for this rests.
The responsibility for doing this rests with the sick themselves.
That doesn’t mean that our elders shouldn’t take initiatives.
Of course they ought to show care and concern and visit the sick.
And we as members ought to do that before we are called – if we know of it.
However the sick person has a responsibility too.
James says: He should call the elders of the church.
Where the sick person is able to do that it is his responsibility.
Please, that does not mean that when you wake with a headache tomorrow
that you immediately ring the minister or your ward elder.
James also speaks in these verses of personal prayer.
Verse 13: If anyone is in trouble he should pray.
Your first responsibility is to pray for your own problems.
And maybe in sickness – even before you reach for the pain killers.
However James is very realistic.
He recognizes that our problems can really get us down.
Sickness can have that sort of effect… especially ongoing illnesses.
Illness and pain can depress us so much that we can’t even pray anymore.
The pain becomes such a mental burden that we can’t even talk to God.
Sometimes our thoughts about sickness and healing become all muddled.
And we don’t even know how or what to pray anymore.
Well – call the elders – let them pray for possible healing.
– let them pray for God’s all-sufficient grace.
– let them ask for submission to God’s will.
Maybe those elders can see the problem in a more clear light.
I don’t believe either that James means this to be a last resort.
A little like the ‘last rites’ in the R.C. church.
The exhortation to call the elders is too general for that.
This is not just addressed to the incurably ill.
Or only to those who can no longer pray for themselves.
No! James addresses these words to all who are sick.
I stress once more that James puts the onus on the sick themselves.
You may say: What if people prefer not to do that?
Some may consider that their illness is not all that serious.
They feel they can cope with it okay by themselves.
And sometimes it is too personal – we prefer to keep quiet.
Fine – that’s their privilege.
Except maybe for one thing.
That this calling of the elders may be a step of faith.
A step of obedience that the Lord uses in the process of healing.
There is also one other aspect to this that comes to mind.
Sometimes I’ve received the complaint:
“Neither you nor the elders visited me in hospital.”
Or, more often I hear it via someone else.
The minister and elders never visited brother So-an-so.
Did they call the elders? No!
No one in the Session was even told.
Some folk seem to think that one of the spiritual gifts is ESP.
Ministers and elders should be able to guess when there is sickness.
Well, admittedly office-bearers also forget sometimes.
But when they forget… or when they don’t know… YOU call them.
James says: That is your right… your privilege… even your duty.
c) So James is reminding our elders here of a very practical point..
They are to be called to the bedside of the sick for a purpose.
But then not to bring them up to date on the latest gossip
that the sick person has missed out on.
And not to admire the patient’s scars or kidney stones.
And certainly not to unload their own problems on the sick.
They are called to that bedside to pray.
They come as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ.
They come to intercede to our Great High Priest for that sick person.
And it is especially beautiful when two elders together can do that.
Because… notice that “elders” is in the plural.
This isn’t something that can become a “one man show”.
It is elders together united around the sick-bed.
What a beautiful and encouraging picture that presents.
And in those instances where it has happened I have found it a delight.
At this point I also want to add one practical suggestion for the sick person.
Elders don’t always find it easy to pray in a hospital ward.
Ministers don’t either – but I guess they get a little more practice.
There are nurses coming and going…
other visitors are in the ward…
fellow patients are looking on.
Sometimes it helps a lot when the patient takes the initiative.
So if you’re ever in that situation don’t wait for the elder to ask.
Take the initiative – James gives you that right.
Ask whether they will pray with you and for you.
Perhaps there is one other reason why the elders are called to pray.
That is that thru them the whole church may become involved.
In our study of healing in Mark 2
we previously saw that healing was a sign of the kingdom of Jesus.
It is part and parcel of the salvation and wholeness Jesus brings.
Well, the church is central in that kingdom of Christ.
The church therefore too must concern itself with sickness and healing.
Call the elders of the church…
Because thru them you are involving the whole church in your pain.
And thru them the whole church shows concern for wholeness and healing.
Thru the elders the whole church can be motived to pray for the sick.
James also mentions that broader kind of prayer.
There are actually 3 kinds of prayer here.
He has mentioned personal prayer in verse 13.
In verse 14 he mentions prayer by the elders.
And in verse 16 he mentions mutual prayer: Pray for each other.
So ultimately here is a task NOT JUST FOR ELDERS.
All of you, congregation of Jesus Christ, pray for the sick.
Pray for God’s grace in weakness.
For submission to the will of God.
Pray for the wholeness that comes as a blessing from God.
In this way we learn more and more to be a caring, supportive community.
B] THE ANOINTING WITH OIL.
a) There is one other thing that the elders are expected to do.
And here we come to the controversial part of this text.
The elders are to anoint the sick with oil in the name of the Lord.
Some today insist that it is essential for this to be done.
In faith healing this is often seen as a condition for healing to take place.
Some people see this anointing as an important ritual.
A ritual with deeply religious and symbolic meaning.
In the O.T. oil was poured out upon prophets, priest and kings.
That oil poured upon them represented the Holy Spirit.
So these O.T. office bearers were installed in office by anointing.
By their anointing they were set apart for a special work.
So here too this anointing must be seen in relation to the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit works thru the charismatic gift of healing.
And that is symbolised in the oil.
I do not want to deny the role of the Holy Spirit in healing.
The Spirit of God is the Spirit of life.
Therefore also the Spirit who brings health and wholeness.
However I do have some problems with this interpretation.
In the Greek language there are two words for anointing.
One of those words is the word “Chrio” from which we get “Christ”.
It is the word that is always used of anointing for sacred purposes.
In the Greek O.T. it is used of anointing prophets, priests & kings.
In the N.T. that word is used of the anointing of Christ by the Spirit.
But that word is NOT the word used by James.
The word for anoint here simply means the applying of oil.
Strictly speaking it doesn’t even need to be translated as “anoint”.
It may certainly mean something symbolic.
But it does not have to be in a religious or sacred sense.
The word is used of the woman who anointed Jesus.
She anointed Jesus’ feet and dried them with her hair.
IOW we must be cautious about seeing any religious significance here.
It is stretching things to say that this oil is essential for healing.
Or to claim that it is tied up with the spiritual gift of healing today.
b) I think it better to see this as a concession the Lord sometimes makes.
A concession to the weakness of man.
In the Bible the Lord repeatedly uses material things as aids.
Aids to convince people that He is at work.
On one occasion Jesus made clay and put it on a blind man’s eyes.
Was it the clay that healed the man ? No.
Was the clay essential to curing his blindness? No.
Jesus certainly didn’t always heal that way.
Sometimes it was just with a word. At other times with a touch.
Yet somehow that clay played a role in that man’s life.
Perhaps to draw out his faith.
In Acts we find people healed by touching the apostles’ clothes.
At other times just by lying in the shadows of the apostles.
And here somehow oil plays a part in this matter of healing.
The sick were to be anointed with oil.
It seems this may have been a fairly common practice in those days.
And so James may simply be saying something like this:
Okay, if that’s the practice then let the elders do it too.
But then make sure it is done in the Lord’s name.
That way we avoid all hints of superstition and black magic.
I do not believe James is commanding the practice of anointing.
Rather James is giving approval to a common practice.
It was done in their society. Okay, that’s fine, do it.
But then make sure that people do not see it as something magical.
It is not superstition – do it in the name of the Lord.
c) But that leaves us with one other question:
Why was it a common practice in those days to anoint the sick?
It is difficult to prove conclusively but one insight is helpful.
Olive oil was used as a kind of a “cure all” medicine in the ancient world.
It certainly has medicinal properties.
Today a doctor says: Take two disprins and call me in the morning.
In those days it was probably: Take a spoon of oil and see me tomorrow.
Jesus once told the story of the Good Samaritan.
But what was it that Good Sam put on the wounds of the beaten man?
It was oil. Oil and wine.
Wine as an antiseptic; oil because of its healing properties.
In Isaiah 1:6 we read of people whose wounds have not been soothed with oil.
Oil was the cure all, used as a base for other medicine and ointments.
That would give a whole new slant to this exhortation of James to the sick.
James would then seem to be saying:
Anoint the sick with the stuff used in everyday healing.
Yes, do that symbolically if you like… with this cure-all.
But make sure that you use that stuff with medicinal qualities
in the name of the Lord.
WHY? To show that all healing is from God… all healing!
Not only those miracle cures for which doctors have no answers.
But also those healing that come from taking your medicine.
It is not doctors who heal and it isn’t drugs that make us well.
Just as it wasn’t really that oil that cured.
No. It is the Lord who does that thru those means.
So we as Christians may use those things.
Not because medical science is able to do so much.
And not because that surgeon or specialist is so clever.
But because we can prayerfully trust in a God who uses those means.
God has different ways of healing.
He can do a miracle without those things too if He so wills.
But He also uses the advances of science and technology in medicine.
All to show His love for those redeemed by His Son.
Today I find it helpful to see the oil of our text in that light.
Some in the “faith healing’ movement are quick to say:
Toss away the little white pills – just trust God.
Stop going to the specialist – come to this faith healer.
No! The God who put those properties in healing olive oil
also works thru specialists and hospitals,
through drugs and other medications
because Jesus is Lord – also of those areas of life.
That’s why the church has a vital role to play in healing.
The role of prayer in sickness.
All our medication and treatment needs to be accompanied by prayer.
Reminding you that also in sickness you are – for Jesus’ sake,
totally within the loving care of your heavenly Father.
Amen