Experiencing The Spirit: Oil - Isaiah 61:1-4


It’s not something that Anita and I use or even own. Anita and I didn’t even register for a set or request any when we became engaged and married.  We were moving into a mobile home and didn’t really know where we would put any.  For those of you who were here eleven years ago on my first Sunday, y’all probably already know this, remembering that I told you that if you came to the parsonage you would most likely be eating on the finest china that you can purchase at Walmart and dispose of afterwards.  I don’t know when the last time my parents used their china (they didn’t remember either).  What I do remember about china, other than so many couples registering for sets when they get married, is from my grandmother’s house.  That’s where I learned there was something special about the china.  It was not kept in the same cabinets as the other dishes.  The china was a special set of dishes, along with the special set of silverware, and the special set of glasses.  The only time that I can remember (and I verified this with my parents on Friday) that the china was used was for Sunday lunch (and maybe for Thanksgiving lunch or a special Christmas meal.  On Sundays, when she got home from church my grandmother would warm up and put out the large spread she had prepared on Saturday.  When she said that it was ready, first the adults and then the children (with the help of an adult) would file through the buffet line (she always prepared more than we would have ever been able to set on the table and pass around).  The adults would pick up their china plate, serve themselves, and then find a seat in the dining room (unless they were the token adult relegated to the children’s table on the back porch).  The children didn’t use the china—there were other plates for them.  After lunch, the women (I’m not being sexist, just stating the facts) would wash the dishes, and those special dishes, glasses, and silverware were not only had washed, but hand dried and carefully put back in their special drawers and cabinet.  Most everyone that I know treats their china the same way.  If it is used at all, it is set apart and only used on special occasions.
We are in our third week of “Experiencing the Spirit” as we prepare for the celebration of the pouring out of the Spirit on Pentecost.  We began this journey considering our experience of the Holy Spirit as wind.  We acknowledged that both in Hebrew and in Greek, the same word is used to indicate, not simply Spirit, but also wind and breath—so that when we read of an account of the Holy Spirit coming upon someone, we can understand that they are filled with the very breath of God, just as when Jesus breathed out upon the disciples in that upper room and they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Last week we considered our experience of the Holy Spirit in terms of water and fire.  In particular, we considered the experience of baptisms of water and fire.   It is easy to think of baptism in terms of water, that is our traditional symbol of baptism, and when we baptize someone here, we either sprinkle them with water or immerse them in water. Water cleanses…water symbolic of how the Holy Spirit washes away our original sin and joins us to Christ so that God sees us not in our own sinfulness but through the righteousness of Christ.
So what about the baptism of fire?  We do not light a fire pit and have folks walk into it.  While our water may be a literal symbolic thing that we use—the fire is purely symbolic.  The talk of fire represents the heat that the Holy Spirit applies to our lives to move us beyond being seen as righteous and towards becoming righteous—it is the Holy Spirit’s work to make us more holy, to refine us and shape us through the heat of our experiences in much the same way a glassmith, a blacksmith, or a goldsmith, uses fire to burn away the trash in their medium, and makes malleable.  The heat becomes the ways, through confronting us with our sin, forcing us to deal with and enabling us to over come temptation, or giving us the strength to endure any hardships that may fall upon us.
Today we come to try and understand our experience of the Holy Spirit as “oil.”  This is not the kind of oil you put in your car, or that leaks from you car, where even a drop or two spreads out into a nice concrete covering stain.  Though that oil is necessary for the engine to run smoothly, and without the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the church would not run smoothly, or run roughly, or run at all.  No, I’m not talking about 10W-30 or any other petroleum based oil product.  When considering the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we need to think more in line with olive oil.   Why olive oil?  While olive oil is common now for cooking, in Biblical times, olive oil took on an much different role.  It may have been used for cooking then, but when mixed with certain spices (myrrh, cinnamon, and others), it became sacred anointing oil…used to anoint the altar and other tools of the worship space, to anoint priests, to anoint kings, along with anything or anyone else so designated by God.
What was the purpose of anointing someone or something?  Anointing an object or a person signified that they were set apart, marked as holy, and having a special significance.  For example, the altar in the tent of meeting was a table that was set apart, marked as holy, and was to be used only for the making of sacrifices to God.  A priest was set aside from the rest of the people, marked as holy, and served as the one who would mediate between God and His people.  A king was set aside, considered holy, and served to represent God and lead God’s people.
As we come to Isaiah, the prophet declares that he has been anointed by God, this anointed marked by the presence and movement of the Spirit of God in his life.  He acknowledges that he has been marked by God, set aside, and made holy, and given a purpose.  What is that purpose?
He is to “bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion—to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.”  God has set Isaiah apart as one to speak to the people of God who found themselves oppressed and in bondage…grieving and brokenhearted.  Their sin had left them in exile and separated from God, and now God is declaring through Isaiah, that forgiveness and restoration is at hand.
This declaration of being anointed to proclaim forgiveness and restoration on behalf of God is taken up by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke:
When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”[1]
Jesus declared to those in the synagogue that day that He had been anointed by God to represent God before the people, just as Isaiah had, and that God had set him apart and made Holy and tasked Him with the responsibility of bringing good news, free the prisoners, give sight to the blind, and declare that God’s forgiveness was at hand.  Jesus spent the entirety of His ministry on earth doing just that, to the point of offering His own life for the forgiveness of all our sin.
How does this come to us?
Through our Baptism we have been bound to Jesus. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon each of us, as individuals and as the church, becomes anointing oil poured over our heads.  Through this, God redeems us, marks us, sets us apart, makes us holy, and sets before us a special calling to represent Him before His people and the world.  Isaiah’s declaration which became Jesus’ declaration, now becomes our declaration.  God sets before us, His Spirit-anointed ones, the task of “[bringing] good news to the oppressed, [binding] up the brokenhearted, [proclaiming] liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; [proclaiming] the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; [comforting] all who mourn; [providing] for those who mourn in Zion—[giving] them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.”
Maybe we do this as we reach out to those who are bound by addictions, coming alongside of them and walking with them to help free them from those chains that bind them, whether it be drugs, alcohol, pornography, sex, food, gambling, or some other addiction.
Maybe it is surrounding those who have experienced loss, reminding them that they are not alone.
Maybe it is coming along side those who have been oppressed because of their gender, their ethnicity, a language barrier, being born into poverty, or a physical handicap, and helping them overcome those limitations and experience life as each of us experience it.
Maybe it is responding to tragedies like Nepal’s earthquakes, Illinois’ tornado, or even a neighbor who may have experienced flooding after all the rain Friday.
Maybe it is seeking to be peacemakers in the midst of tense times in our nation and communities—not being voices of doom and gloom, not being voices of judgment, not being voices of instigating arguments, but being voices of God’s peace, love, forgiveness, and grace in the face of trouble and violence.
Whatever it may be…above all we are reminded that God has set us apart…not to be like the world, but to be different than the world…being made holy and being called to represent Him before all.
Sometimes we forget that we are anointed by God’s Spirit and called to be different, called to be holy, called to represent God to others…this morning, as each of us come to receive Holy Communion, after you receive the bread and the cup, we will have the altar to come before the altar and be anointed with oil as a reminder that we have been set aside, set apart, we are special, and God has a special part for each of us.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.


[1] Luke 4:16-21

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