Thoughts for the Day

The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.’ .... Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem.... And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.’ But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’ ....  Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, ‘The Lord has not chosen any of these.’ Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.’ He sent and brought him in. .... The Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.’ Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.

(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

In the Hebrew scriptures (our Old Testament) the act of anointing someone with oil was carried out to show that God had chosen and set apart someone for a specific holy purpose. In Exodus we see how the oil was created using herbs and spices (Exodus 30.20-32) to be used on kings, priests and prophets. In the New Testament Jesus, is the Messiah, that is he is our anointed King, Priest and Prophet. The word 'Messiah' means the one who is 'anointed'.

We see in the letter of James (5.14) people are healed when the leaders of the church pray over them and anoint them with oil. Today many churches still use holy oil for healing in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as at baptism, confirmation, and ordinations. The Church of England says of confirmations: "Oil mixed with fragrant spices (traditionally called 'chrism'), expressing the blessings of the messianic era and the richness of the Holy Spirit, may be used to accompany the confirmation". And for ordinations "The bishop may anoint the palms of the hands of each newly ordained priest, saying 'May God, who anointed Christ with the Holy Spirit at his baptism, anoint and empower you to reconcile and bless his people'.

On receiving the chrism oil I can say I have felt truly blessed by God for the work ahead. The outward action confirmed the inward commitment and blessing.

Lord Jesus,
we pray today for all who will be
anointed with the oil of chrism this week.
May they feel truly blessed
for the commitment they have made,
and go forward in faith to the work
that You have given them to do.
Amen.