God’s Word for You
Mark 6:13 Anointing with oil
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Saturday, December 31, 2022
After being rejected in his home town of Nazareth, Jesus taught throughout the villages of Galilee. Now he sent out the twelve apostles in pairs, to preach the gospel, heal the sick, and with special authority over demons or evil spirits.
13 They drove out many demons, and they anointed many sick people with olive oil and healed them.
Jesus gave his apostles a message, a task, and the authority to carry it out, and off they went doing exactly what he commanded them to do. Peter and Andrew went off one way, James and John another, Philip and Bartholomew yet another. Matthew and Thomas were probably the fourth pair, the other James and Thaddeus (the other Judas) the fifth pair, and that would leave Simon the Zealot to go with Judas Iscariot. This is the order of the apostles Mark uses in Mark 3:17-19. But all of them, including Judas the Betrayer, were preaching the gospel and driving out demons on this day.
This verse emphasizes the healing and powerful acts of the apostles, but remember that verse 12 gave us their primary mission: to preach that people should repent. Repentance is the climax of gospel preaching, when the law has led people to despair and terror over their sins, and the gospel has brought them to trust in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation. Repentance is the combination of law and gospel with a change in the heart of the believer: “Then they praise your Name, and turn from their sin because you have humbled them” (2 Chronicles 6:26).
The miracles, then, were a secondary but more visible feature of their work. The healing and the exorcisms they performed were a demonstration of the power of the word of God, so that other people might be encouraged to come and listen, to come and believe the gospel.
One of the things Mark mentions is never again brought up in any other Gospel account: “They anointed many sick people with olive oil and healed them.” This has been converted into a sacrament by the Catholic Church, which combines it with James 5:13-14. That passage says, “Is anyone among you suffering hardship? Let him pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and they should pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” I have already written about this and the other Catholic sacraments which, apart from Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, do not have the marks of a sacrament. They are not commanded by Christ, nor do they offer the forgiveness of sins. Christ did not command the anointing that is reported here in Mark 6, but the apostles did it because it was the usual medicine for the sick; in this way it was very nearly our application of aspirin for nearly every ailment, with the attitude that it can’t hurt, and sometimes it even helps. The people visited by the apostles would be much more receptive to them if they used the accepted remedy for sickness, which was olive oil.
It is a strange turn for an ancient sacramental church to transform the text of the very passages they look to for an additional sacrament (perhaps just to raise the number up to a magical “seven”) and ignore the words of the text. But since ‘last rites’ (or extreme unction) has been transferred from “anyone who is sick” (James 5:14) to “someone who is dying” what does the anointing do? The apostles and James used olive oil with the living, and if the church still wanted to do that, there would be nothing wrong with it. But wouldn’t it be better to comfort the dying, to preach a brief sermon or share a devotion about death and resurrection, about the joys of heaven, and the value of repentance, for the sake of the dying person and his loved ones gathered around? Regarding the anointing with oil, James says: “The prayer from his faith will save the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up” (James 5:15). Does the sacrament of Last Rites heal the one who is dying? And if it does not do that, how can the rest of verse 15, “he will be forgiven,” bring any comfort to a dying man? If he will not be raised up from his deathbed, won’t he doubt the resurrection from his grave? Also, James makes a careful distinction that the healing and forgiveness are attached to the prayer of faith (verse 15) rather than to the olive oil. It is sufficient for anyone who is sick or dying to hear and believe the word of God. If someone wants to bring oil and let it accompany a prayer said in faith, there is nothing against it at all. But to insist that the olive oil will do something that is not presented in Scripture is adding something to the Word of God, which the Word itself forbids in its own beginning, middle and end (Deuteronomy 12:32; Proverbs 30:6; Revelation 22:18).
We define a sacrament as a sacred rite commanded by Christ which offers and gives the forgiveness of sins through the gospel, and which contains an earthly elements such as water, bread, or wine. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper do these things. John preached that baptism was “for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4), and Jesus said of the Lord’s Supper: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). We love and cherish the sacraments because of the blessings God gives through them.
In this verse, we see the effects of sin in the sicknesses and demon-possessions among the people of Galilee. Just as their bodies needed healing, so also their souls needed healing with the gospel. As Job said: “The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help” (Job 24:12). Their healing was carried out by Jesus our Lord, not through his own hands, but by sending out his apostles, which he continues to do to this day, working healing through the gospel in our hearts. “Ask where the good road is. Walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16).
Praise God for his saving gospel. “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him” (Proverbs 30:5).
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.