Fourth Sunday in Lent (Year A), March 6, 2005
BCP: 1 Sam. 16:1-13; Psalm 23; Eph. 5:(1-7)8-14; John 9:1-13(14-27)28-38
RCL: 1 Sam. 16:1-13; Psalm 23; Eph. 5:8-14; John 9:1-41
It’s popular today to lament the dependence of American society on oil. We shake our heads at a foreign policy which obviously centers around oil, even as we jealously guard our right to cruise around in SUVs. We stare with anguish at the posted prices in front of gas stations, but that never seems to stop us from filling up.
We’re loathe to change our lives much partly through simple inertia. On reflection, however, many of us realize that oil empowers us for all sorts of things impossible for people in the past. Mobility frees us from having to live in the industrial parks where we work, adding greatly to our quality of life. And modern air travel means that nowhere on the planet is more than 24 hours away, a boon to our cultural enrichment.
God’s people have been dependent on oil since the earliest days of our history. It isn’t Nymex Crude, but rather consecrated olive oil. Despite the laments of some radicals at the time of the Reformation, most people of faith have found this oil to be incredibly empowering for them over the course of the centuries. In today’s reading from 1 Samuel, David is anointed as king over Israel, “and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward” (16:13a). And in today’s gospel a sinner born blind is illuminated through the water of baptism, an act which has been accompanied by anointing since the earliest days of the Church. “Then I went and washed and received my sight,” he testified (John 9:11b).
Our Church today is increasingly rediscovering the value of baptismal anointing, and its effect is real for those who are privileged to receive it. It underscores the power received in baptism, and it confirms the vocation of all Christians to active membership in the body. It celebrates the opening of our spiritual eyes as we start to live “as children of light” (Eph. 5:8b).
If fossil oil empowers us today in ways unknown to our forebears, then olive oil can empower us in a way well known to our ancestors. Let us rejoice in our rediscovery of this truth.
Look It Up
The word Christ comes to us from the Greek Christos (“anointed one”). What form does Jesus’ anointing take at his own baptism? (Matt. 3:13-17)
Think About It
In what sense might the traditional anointings at confirmation and at ordination be seen as extensions of baptismal anointing?
Next Sunday
Fifth Sunday in Lent (Year A), March 13, 2005
BCP: Ezek. 37:1-3(4-10)11-14; Psalm 130; Rom. 6:16-23; John 11:(1-17)18-44
RCL: Ezek. 37:1-14; Psalm 130; Rom. 8:6-11; John 11:1-45
