Sacramental Anointing in Scripture

Anointing, as a physical action pointing to a spiritual reality, had its origins in the practical use of oil for cosmetic and therapeutic purposes. Anointing became a symbolic expression of blessing or of the setting apart of a person or object for purposes that transcend the profane or common dimension of life. The title Christ or Messiah applied to Jesus means “Anointed One.”

The Origins of Anointing

The practice of anointing, whether in the context of ritual or not, is an ancient one. It did not originate with Judaism or Christianity. Anointing with oil, especially olive oil, can be traced back to certain customs in the Near East. Sometimes the anointing took place in the context of a ritual and sometimes it did not. When anointing had a liturgical context, it often was the way a culture dealt with such life crises as suffering, sickness, and death. Religious anointing in many of these older societies was one of the many ways they attempted to give meaning to situations of human fragmentation. Often the anointing was connected with something that seemed to be out of harmony with the universe, a liminal situation. Because ancient peoples had difficulty explaining the origins of sickness, they often created myths to explain what appeared to be unnatural or even evil. Since ritual is a combination of mythic content and external activity, a rite of anointing would easily be used to express a belief in an order that transcends the limitations of sickness and death.

It would be impossible to distinguish which of these ancient rituals were directed to physical healing and which were concerned with spiritual effects. Because these cultures took a more holistic view of the person, anointings were both occasions of providing meaning in situations of human brokenness and a form of medicine to restore a person to physical health. Such anointings very easily possessed a sacramental character in that they were symbolic actions by means of which one reality existed in another. There was no clear dichotomy between the material and spiritual dimensions of the rites. Although there has been considerable ambiguity regarding the proper effects of the anointings, it can be said that they at least inserted the persons anointed within the larger system of meaning in their particular communities. This more holistic perspective was as characteristic of ancient Israel as of its pagan neighbors. It is an approach that should not be considered naive. Today, anointing is again seen as a way of engaging the whole person, a way of healing the body/mind split.

Anointing in Scripture

Anointing in the Bible has both a religious and a secular purpose. In a land characterized by dry weather, it was natural that anointing with oil would have a cosmetic and therapeutic intention. The secular use of oil is clear from Ezekiel 16:9, where it is the completion of the bathing process. Isaiah 61:3 speaks of the “oil of gladness instead of mourning,” which indicates a more symbolic experience of anointing. Second Samuel 14:2 makes clear that the absence of anointing is the sign of grief. There are many other instances of anointing in the Bible that operate in a religious context: anointing the heads of guests as a sign of respect (Matt. 26:7), the feet of visitors (Luke 7:46), those freed from captivity (2 Chron. 28:15), the wounded (Isa. 1:6), and the dead as part of the preparation for burial (Mark 16:1).

There are many biblical examples of anointing in a religious context, especially in the Hebrew Scriptures. To anoint a person or an object was to bless that person or thing and set it apart for religious purposes. For instance, Moses anointed the ark, the altar, and the lampstand, as well as Aaron and his sons. Exodus 30:22–29 records the anointing of sacred furniture and vessels. For the most part, only priests and kings were anointed in the Bible. Exodus 28:40–42 describes the consecration of priests, although the anointing may have been usually restricted to the high priest. Prophets were also anointed, but this practice may have been connected with the anointing of kings (1 Kings 19:16). The anointing of kings was an anointing done both by prophets and by priests, and it had the special meaning of designating the king as anointed of Yahweh (1 Sam. 10:1; 16:13; 24:6). The anointing of the king is an example of how often the civil and religious meanings of anointing blended together. The ceremony may have been civil, but the meaning was religious. Even secularly kingly anointing meant being consecrated to God’s service. Through anointing the king was removed from ordinary life and was made directly responsible to God.

While the New Testament is rich in the healing ministry of Christ and his followers and in the designation of Christ as the Anointed One, there is little recorded about the practice of anointing with oil beyond those instances found in the Hebrew Scriptures. Because healing took place in the name of Christ, often no specific symbolic action was involved, although there is evidence of human gestures connected with healing situations. One anointing recorded in the New Testament, in Matthew 26:7, tells of Jesus being anointed in Bethany shortly before his death. Here anointing was a sign of honor. Anointings were also employed in conjunction with exorcisms, as in Mark 6:13, “They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.” And the celebrated text of James 5 includes “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord” (James 5:14).

The title of Jesus is the Anointed One. He comes in the line of Hebrew prophets who were sometimes recognized as charismatic persons through anointing. This signaled that their mission was under the power of the Spirit of God. Christ inserts himself in that tradition when he quotes Isaiah 61, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me” (Isa. 61:1). The Christian church has interpreted Mark 1:9–11, which depicts the baptism of Jesus by John and the descending of the Spirit on Jesus as the “messianic anointing of Jesus” by the Holy Spirit. It was only logical that the therapeutic use of oil by the Jews and the theologizing of the early church on the baptism of Jesus would lead to anointing becoming part of the sacramental activity of the church, especially in the rites of initiation, ordination, and healing.