James 5:13-16: “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
This passage starts by reminding us that there should be an automatic “Godwardness” to how we experience our life circumstances. In suffering, our first instinct is to ask God for what we need. In joy, our first instinct is to return thanks and honor to God, knowing he is the author of everything good. And when our bodies are disordered, our instinct is to ask our shepherds to help make us whole. The onus here is on the sick person to ask for prayer. Of course godly elders will want to know what’s going on with the flock and will be praying for you frequently. But this special time of prayer needs to be initiated by the sheep; their sense of need and expression of trust in God and in their elders is a prerequisite.
The elders are to “pray over him” – the imagery is probably that he or she is stuck in bed – with the intended result that “the Lord will raise him up” (out of bed, healed and well). But there are two other concepts to note in the description of that prayer. First, it involves “anointing with oil in the name of the Lord.” Why??? To us modern folk, this is weird! Why do I have to get some slimy stuff on my forehead? Is this somehow a step toward magic, needing the special ingredient to make the spell work? Hardly. It’s a symbol of setting you apart unto the Lord, designating you as special for his care. It’s a visible portrayal of how our prayer is invoking the unique work of the Holy Spirit upon your life. Just as kings and priests in the OT were anointed, just as Jesus was anointed with the Spirit at his baptism, just as the first believers were anointed with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, so this is the reality for all Christians (1 John 2:20). With oil we are remembering and invoking the reality that the Holy Spirit is at work in you because of Jesus.
Secondly, notice that “the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick.” Doesn’t all prayer require faith? Is this just redundancy? And, is this a 100% guarantee that if I go through this process I will be healed? No. Lest we drift into treating God like a health-and-wealth-heaven-is-now sort of vending machine, we need to remember that sometimes he graciously says no to our prayers in order to accomplish an even bigger good purpose (e.g. 2 Cor. 12:7-10). And the New Testament does seem to envisage that some people will have a special gift of faith, perhaps even for healing: “to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles…all these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills” (1 Cor. 12:9-11). Certainly we are all to exercise faith. But it seems that some will be uniquely equipped, at least at certain times, with a conspicuous degree of faith. How are we to know if such a faith is present? It’s not clear that we are. The elders are to pray. The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick.
Something else to discuss: James weaves in the statement “and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.” Even though this is still in the section describing calling for the elders, it also pictures a church culture where we are regularly confessing our sins to one another – downstairs after worship, some evening on the phone, some morning over a coffee date – this should be in the normal fabric of our life together. And it’s also relevant to when the elders are called to pray for healing. We’ll take the opportunity to ask if you want to confess any sins. Maybe you really don’t have much that comes to mind; that’s ok. This isn’t saying that it’s always sin that makes people sick. But we are holistic beings, and sin often can have devastating physical effects in our lives. Guilt, fear, anger, anxiety, despair, shame…these inner feelings that can result from sin often wear down our bodies as well.
Admittedly these encounters require a lot of trust and vulnerability on both ends. The person seeking healing has to know the need of God and express trust in him by calling for the servant leaders he’s uniquely appointed over you in this season of life. You have to be transparent enough to speak of the sins that have been weighing you down, and from which you want to turn. You have to be willing for us to smear oil on your forehead and put our hands on you to pray. And the elders have to be vulnerable. Because what if God chooses not to heal you? Will it be assumed that it’s because we’re flawed in our faith? “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” Well if my prayer doesn’t have great power, does that mean that I’m not righteous? And so even preparing to pray for the flock requires soul-searching and prayer for faith on the part of the elders. The result is that even the role of serving in this way should be a means of God purifying our lives, and also teaching us as shepherds to “earnestly desire the higher gifts” (1 Cor. 12:31).
So are you sick? Reach out and we’ll find a time to come to your house together or to meet you at the church. We’ll hear about your sickness. We’ll give you the opportunity to confess any sin that you want to make sure isn’t connected to your lack of wellness. Know that whatever you confess, we’ll receive your repentance as Christ’s ambassadors, and remind you of the mercy and absolution that is freely yours in Him! Before we pray, we’ll bring out the olive oil. It may seem weird :o) But we’ll be obeying this passage, stretching our faith, and inviting a unique mercy to descend upon your life. And if our end goal is Christ magnified in you and in the church, why would God not answer that prayer in a way that results in your joy?