Anointing and the Power of Touch

Scripture: James 5:13-16

Every day many a well-meaning Christian mom will pack her kids off to school with their Veggie Tales lunch boxes, singing one of Psalty’s choruses as they go out the door, then she’ll sit down with her Women’s Study Bible to complete a devotional where she writes in her Purpose Driven journal with her Purpose Driven Pen after sipping coffee out of her Purpose Driven mug. She reminded her husband about the Dynamic Marriage class – week 8 - at church but she’ll forget to say the Prayer of Jabez which is magnetically attached her fridge, because that’s old now and few folks really remember it. How does it start? “Oh God that you would bless me indeed…” In all our Christian fad-ism and marketing, there’s one thing that mom should get but wont, because it hasn’t quite risen to the top of faith consciousness – a massage. Not only would a massage ease her stress or heal her heart, it would connect her to the history of our faith in a powerful, beautiful way.

Now, I know there are some quizzical looks on the faces of my friends, slightly shocked that Rev. Kellie “I hate to be touched” Rupard-Schorr is advocating massage. But just as the Bible assures us that “iron sharpens iron” – it is also true that massage can soften even the crankiest heart. (But don’t be too worried about the world turning upside down – strangers touching and hugging me is completely out of the question, and I still hate to get my hair cut). Anyway…back to the topic of massage, or more appropriately, healing touch.

Healing Touch and the History of Faith

While massage and Christianity seem to go together like a Jumbo Meal with a Diet Pepsi, healing touch has been a part of faith from its earliest times. Although a couple instances of touch are recorded in the Old Testament, primarily as a means of transferring spiritual authority or power to a person, common day-to-day touch was not the norm. In fact the 613 commandments of the Old Testament spend much more time talking about who you can’t touch, than who you can. Touch becomes such a “touchy” issue (sorry, I couldn’t resist that) that the Gospel writers make a point to stress how much Jesus touched other people – for healing, comfort and spiritual freedom. Jesus touched just about everyone on the No Touch List – women, Samaritans, sinners, sick people and dead folks. It’s hard for American Christians to grasp – but the hymn “He Touched Me” would be more appropriate as a testament to his rebellious and change-making behavior, as opposed to just an affirmation of Christ’s ability to affect our lives.

However, while Jesus was touching people and making waves all over Jerusalem, another force of touch had been sent on a collaborative course. Asclepiades of Bithynia was a Roman orator from Asia Minor who had learned many techniques of touch and massage while still in East. He plied his trade approximately 125 years before Christ. He failed as a rhetorician but became renown as a healer by using hydroptherapy, massage (what was then called “anointed rubbing”), and dietary changes. Pliny the Elder[i] describes his influence on Roman culture to be so pervasive that he is now considered a “Father” of psychotherapy, hydrotherapy, physical therapy and therapeutic touch. Schools sprung up all over territories controlled by Rome of people teaching his method of anointed touch. His methods found their way into the Roman religious circle – including assigning the task of water carrying to Vestal Virgins, water rites and rituals in many temples, and the temple of Athena (Roman name: Minerva) had an entire group of healers who practiced something called “tactus juxta medica” – touch like medicine.

During the 1st century as the early church began to bring Gentiles into the faith and spread across cultures, the place of touch was firmly rooted in ritual and daily practice. Stories in Acts show the Apostles touching and healing, and Paul’s letters to churches – many in Asia Minor – feature a staple of touching and “anointed touch” as an appropriate form of healing for the community.

It should be noted the word “anointing” in the ancient world did not mean putting a drop of oil on someone’s head as a symbol of God’s power to heal. It meant rubbing oil (or milk, water, mud or balm) onto a person or into a wound (In fact, the word “anoint” comes to English from French from Latin – “inunguere” – meaning “to smear into”. In the first century, oil was one of the most common healing tools there was, and the rubbing of it into the skin was an act of medicinal healing, good hospitality, and care.

James 5:13-16
13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is 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. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

So what does all this mean to us now?

The Physical is Spiritual

In the centuries since the early church readily embraced anointing touch as a medicinal, spiritual practice our relationship with both touch and faith have changed. (For a view of that history see the very awesome “Church History in 4 Minutes”). Instead of generously pouring from a jar or flask, “anointing oil” now comes in tiny little vials you can buy at the Christian bookstore – and use a drop or two on someone’s forehead.

American Christians have a much less touch-centered community (in fact, with the current H1N1 flu pandemic some churches are asking people not to shake hands or touch at all!). Some communities have become so separated from touch (and each other) that they simply say “stay in your seat and stretch out your hands”. That is unfortunate when we realize the whole point of Jesus – as an incarnation – is to be the “word made flesh”. He was the word of God in a body, and meant to be among us, touching us, healing us, teaching us and hearing us. Jesus, Emmanuel, God With Us, is a confirmation that the spiritual IS physical and conversely the physical IS spiritual. A faith without healing touch is disincarnated and unanointed.

How do we recapture touch?

We can move beyond the concept of the “laying on of hands” as something to only be done by the ordained for sacred rites and re-discover the power of generous and anointed touch in our day to day lives. People with families usually experience far more touch – hugs from kids, kisses from spouses – however, we need to encourage those tactile affections to have a priority in relationships and never become lost in the shuffle. We can become aware of the touch hungry among us – widows and widowers, single folks, and people with chronic illnesses (because of unfounded fears, people with HIV/AIDS frequently go without touch). Maybe, when flu season is over, giving someone at church an extra hand-shake, pat on the back or hug would be a blessing you can offer. Finally, for those with broken bodies or damaged spirits, therapeutic massage from a trained and certified massage therapist can be encouraged and explored as an option.

From the standpoint of biblical authority we see in James 5 not simply an admonishment to a dry and formal ceremony performed by clergy, but a directive to all Christian people to understand and participate in healing as a communal act. It is the essence of that thing called church to join the sick with the well, and the hurting with the healers. Remember those schools of Ascepliades I mentioned earlier? Roman history (particularly from Galen) records some of the places they were found as Ephesus, Rome, Colossae, Phillipi, Corinth, and Thessaly. Do those names seem familiar? Look across the tabs on your bible listing the epistles and you might see them again. Touch as healing existed in all those places, including the churches Paul encouraged through his letters to lay hands on one another, anoint one another, and give the occasional greeting of a “holy kiss” (I won’t be tackling that issue any time soon).

So what would I tell that Christian mom as she finishes up her devotional reading and gets ready to carry her stress through her Purpose Driven day? I would tell her to be “called” not “driven”, to laugh – because laughter is a sacred sound, to be hopeful, and to be healed through her faith community, through prayer and through touch. In John 9, Jesus made some mud and rubbed it on a blind man’s eyes (anointing him). He sent the man to wash in the Pool of Siloam and the man’s vision was restored. I could tell you from the authority of personal experience that I learned what he learned when I allowed healing touch into my life – “I was blind, but now I see.”

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[i] Pliny the Elder – yes yes yes – I know he made up much of what he wrote as history – however Ascepliades and his practices and schools are also confirmed by Galen and other more reputable historians.