"Close Enough for an Anointing"

While anointing has been around for millennia, it has, these past few decades, become all the rage in some circles of Christian society. We see it used in more and more places in more and more ways. I’ve known those who anoint people, cars, and even check books. I guess they figure if it’s good for one thing it must be good for another.

Much of the anointing we see today seems to be practiced among the many Charismatic/Pentecostal type churches. While at one such church, the member that invited me there took the opportunity to reveal to me a small bottle of olive oil, kept safely inside the pulpit. He seemed to be quite proud of his little prize.

I can only actually remember being present only at one “anointing.” Most of the details have escaped me, but do I recall a man coming forward to the altar, apparently asking for prayer. The “minister,” who held a small bottle of oil, (I assume olive,) removed the lid, daubed some on his finger tip and wiped it in the sign of a cross on the man‘s forehead. I found it oddly mesmerizing.
 
Now, this ceremony, I suppose, was intended to somehow cajole, persuade or, perhaps, even manipulate God into granting this man the healing, physical, spiritual or otherwise, he desired. The congregation seemed to firmly believe this ritual was the path to God’s resolution and/or absolution.

I’m also reminded of another preacher who made what was to me a very curious statement. I found it so, considering his background and denominational persuasion. He drew a striking comparison between black magic and white magic. He reasoned that when pagans, etc., go through their ceremonies and rituals, they expect a certain result from their deities and/or spirits. When they call upon evil spirits, it is black magic; when they call upon good spirits, it is white magic. He continued that when we, as Christians, go through our various step-by-step processes expecting a certain result from God, it is no more than “white magic.”

In fantasy books and movies, the bad witch uses rituals to gain the cooperation of bad spirits and the good witch uses rituals to gain the cooperation of good spirits. Isn’t it all manipulation?

It seems to me that if someone drew a pentagram on the floor, sacrificed a chicken or a goat, spoke some bizarre words, intelligible or otherwise, attempting to motivate some vague deity to grant its blessings, any intelligent person would call that black magic. Strangely enough, though, Christians often gather at the altar, speak some bizarre words, intelligible or otherwise, put a little oil on some pour soul’s forehead and far too many believe that this will somehow persuade the One True God to grant the blessings they so desperately crave. Wouldn‘t this qualify as white magic? Come on, now, before you get too upset, is there that big of a difference?

To my Baptist friends, don’t feel too superior. We have as many rituals as they and we too are equally convinced we can get God to answer our prayers if we follow them faithfully. We study our Sunday School lessons, read our Bibles daily, attend worship on Sundays and Wednesdays, tithe faithfully and “witness” dramatically. We do all of this expecting that through these various consternations, we too will gain the boon of God’s blessings.

For those who believe in literally anointing the sick, sorrowful or insolvent, I would ask one question: If you truly believe in it, then why are you so tepid with the exercise? If a little will help a little, won’t a lot help a lot?

If I truly believed anointing would save me, heal me, draw me closer to God or do the same for a loved one, would I want to have oil merely daubed on my forehead? Wouldn’t I want a barrel full poured over me? Wouldn’t I want to take a bath in the stuff? Wouldn’t I want to be drowned in it? I don’t want a little Spirit or a little healing; I want the whole thing!

In the Old Testament, several examples of anointing are given. They include everyone from prophets to priests to kings. The ceremony of anointing was always used as a symbol of God’s ordination for service. Among those given, perhaps the most descriptive passage recorded is in the book of Psalms.
David, being a man who had both witnessed and experienced anointings, knew somewhat of which he spoke.

The scripture in discussion proceeds as follows:

Behold how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity.
It is like the precious ointment upon the head,
that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard:
that went down to the skirts of his garments
Psalm 133:1-2

This is a seminal event in the establishment of a government and a priesthood for God’s chosen people. The Israelites are finally free, headed for the Promised Land and God has given Moses His plans for organizing His children into the sovereign, righteous nation of Jehovah-God. They stand, poised to become what, since time immemorial, God had pre-determined them to be.

God had planted and watered the tree that would bare the fruit used for this momentous occasion. The olives had been plucked, pressed and preserved. He had birthed and reared the very ram whose horn would contain the oil for Aaron‘s anointing. Everything had been brought together at this supreme instant. Everything was in place to fulfill what God had been planning for millennia.

In my mind's eye, I see Aaron being anointed first High Priest of the temple of God and the state of Israel with great pomp and circumstance. Moses raises the horn of oil over his head and the liquid within comes gushing out! Now, it runs down Aaron’s head, his beard, his clothes, reaching the “skirts of his garments” and finally, dripping down to his feet, forming a pool around them.

There is no mistaking that this man has been anointed. He can’t hide it! Not only that, but everywhere he walks, he leaves a literal puddle. This is not the light anointing of someone who doesn’t want their life in disarray or their clothes stained. This is the anointing of someone who has cast off all worry about the world’s view of him and desires with every fiber of his being to concern himself only with God’s perspective of him. All of Heaven is enraptured by this historic occasion!

A few things really stand out for me in the passage in discussion that seems to contradict the standard manner of modern anointing. From what I’m able to determine, when people are “anointed” today, it’s done in a way to keep from ruining their hair and clothes. They don’t seem to want to be mussed up or messed up. I suppose they don’t want to be asked questions at the Steak House as to why their clothes are so wet and discolored.

It’s not the deepest theology to understand that oil represents the Holy Spirit. Some people want a little Spirit and some people want a lot of Spirit. The problem with the variance is, the Holy Ghost is all or nothing! And when He comes, He generally makes a mess of our lives. At least, what we might perceive as a mess.

God’s anointing is undeniable! It changes not only the one anointed, but the perception of those who observe him. God’s anointing leaves us drippy and sticky and smelly and out of sorts and out of place. It makes it hard for us to hold on to anything and hard to be held on to. It marks us and heals us and leaves us shimmering in the sunlight!

Some years back, I heard Bishop T.D. Jakes, (of all people,) make a statement concerning the subject of anointing that I‘ve never forgotten. He said, “I want an anointing that’s going to mess up my hair.” I understand that his church is a church that practices anointing, so, I found his statement to be a particularly curious one indeed.

And as my pastor said, concerning anointing, “…you have to be close to someone to do it.” We cannot receive God’s anointing from a distance. As Simon the Cyrene was anointed by the blood from the cross of Christ, so too must we remain close to our Savior to share in his anointing.

Our Savior, our High Priest, His anointing ran down to “the skirts of his garments as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. He prayed on a Mountain of Olives! Jesus was the Messiah! Jesus was the “Anointed One.” His anointing, the anointing of God, certainly affected his life. Although those around Him saw His anointing as tragic, God and He saw it as beautiful! Incidentally, it’s worth noting, Christ’s anointing resulted in His death.
Yes, it marked Him. Everyone around Him knew he had been anointed. As a matter of fact, He left a trail of His anointing all the way to Golgotha. Oh, yes, it even messed up His hair.

Leviticus 8:10 And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein, and sanctified them.

11 And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all his vessels, both the laver and his foot, to sanctify them.

12 And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him, to sanctify