Lent in Plain Sight: Oil
Midweek Lent
March 24, 2021
Grace, Waseca, MN
Psalm 23
“You anoint my head with oil …”: those words from the beloved 23rd Psalm are evocative for me. I immediately think of all the heads I have anointed with the sign of the cross: the scores of baptisms and the multitude of those I’ve been able to commend to God as they lay dying. There have been hundreds of times at a funeral when the head of the deceased person and the heads of those loved ones gathered to celebrate their life have been virtually anointed through the reading of this Psalm.
The Roman Catholics have a sacrament that used to be called “Extreme Unction” (“unction” having to do with oil). Then it was called “Last Rites” and now “Anointing of the Sick.” We Lutherans have a similar rite called “The Commendation of the Dying.” It may not be a sacrament for us but it is no less holy as we commend our loved ones to God while giving them permission to leave us. Yet, always the oil is delivered in the sign of the cross, remembering the words at baptism: “You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross forever.” The oil “seals the deal.”
The book we are using this Lent, Lent in Plain Sight: A Devotion through Ten Objects, points out that oil is present in many ways throughout the Bible, with various shades of usage. In “The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids,” Jesus tells a story about five wise bridesmaids who remember to bring extra oil to the festivities and five foolish bridesmaids who don’t. In this parable, oil is considered by some to have an allegorical meaning, perhaps denoting having enough faith. But interpretations like this one are iffy at best. And in the Old Testament, there is the story about the prophet Elijah who promises that the oil of the widow he depends upon will never run out during the famine. Here, the oil is a sign of God’s gracious provision.
But it’s the use of oil for anointing that gets the biggest play in Scripture, though not without shades of meaning. Kings in the Old Testament were anointed, either before their coronation or during, in a vivid act of being set apart as God’s representative. But it wasn’t just kings that were set aside; others such as priests were consecrated for God’s purposes as well. Frankly, the thought of having oil running down my head and onto my clothes sounds like a nasty prank and makes me squirm. Yet, I understand that in the very dry Middle East, this would have felt good to people, much like cool water on our heads during a hot day.
Anointing can happen without oil. When I was discerning a call to ordained ministry, I called my sister to lament: “Cheryl, I’m 38 years old and I’ll be 42 when I graduate.” My sister, always straightforward, said, “Scott, you’ll be 42 when you graduate from seminary so you might as well do what God is calling you to do. Though she didn’t use oil, my sister “anointed” me that day.
Perhaps this helps explain another major use of oil in the Bible: for healing of sickness. In Jesus’ parable, the “Good Samaritan” not only cleans and binds the victim’s wounds, he applies oil to them. And oil for healing was a practice adopted by the early church as the author of James directs the elders of the church to go, pray over the sick and apply oil. We can now understand the attraction of essential oils. But, there is also emotional, spiritual, and psychological healing provided by the anointing of oil done in healing services. And we love to sing hymns, such as, “There is a Balm in Gilead.”
Many of these themes come together in Jesus Christ, who was consecrated by the woman who anoints his head with costly oil, setting him aside for God’s work as God’s representative, preparing for death and burial. Thinking about oil not only prods us to think about how Jesus was set aside for this work, but also how we’ve been anointed and consecrated in our daily vocations to serve God and neighbor. So remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, that you, too, have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ. Amen
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