“The Lord’s Anointed”
Text: John 19:38-42
4-6-2022
In the name of the Lord’s Anointed Son and our Savior, dear friends in Christ. Tonight, for our final midweek Lenten service, we’re going to actually look at an item rather than a place. It’s on page ___ of your bulletin and it’s sometimes called “The Stone of Unction.” Roman Catholics would probably understand that name better than we Lutherans since one of their 7 Sacraments is called Holy Unction. Unction comes from a Latin word and it simply means, “to anoint.” Therefore, another name for that stone is “The Stone of Anointing.” But why is it called that? Well, if I tell you where it’s located that might be a good clue. It’s inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, which is built over one of the disputed sites of where Jesus was crucified and the tomb where His body laid for 3 days. The reddish stone you see there, is a flat slab that’s about 15 feet long by 2 ½ wide. Anyway, it’s purported to be the place where the dead body of Jesus was laid to prepare it for burial after being removed from the Cross. That would explain why some visitors can be seen kissing or praying over The Stone of Unction because it’s sacred to them.
Whether this is the actual spot where our crucified Lord was laid is doubtful. However, what’s not in doubt are the facts from the Gospels about the anointing of Christ’s body. Even if embalming had been a common practice back then, the Jews wouldn’t have used it because it requires the removal of the dead person’s blood. And that’s a no-no to the Jewish people. So a body had to be buried as quickly as possible before decomposition set in. And yet even in those hasty preparations, there was a protocol to follow. First, the corpse was washed. In the case of Jesus that would have been more difficult because of His numerous, bloody wounds. Then, in order to buy some time for the mourners, sweet-smelling, aromatic spices were sprinkled over the linen cloths used to wrap the body. Nicodemus supplied 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes for that purpose as he helped Joseph of Arimathea. In this way, they anointed Christ’s body for burial.
It’s interesting to note that after the Sabbath was over and work could be done, some of the ladies who were followers of Jesus made a point of going back to the tomb on Sunday morning with the intention of further anointing their dead Lord. It could have been that the Good Friday crew had worked with such haste that the job was only half done and the women wanted to complete it. Or, they may have just simply wanted to honor Christ also by adding to the spices already on His body. In the end, all this anointing was unnecessary because Jesus rose from the grave.
But there was another reason why these post-mortem anointings weren’t necessary: Jesus was already anointed… in more ways than one. As you heard in our first reading, a woman anointed Jesus with a costly perfume during the week prior to His crucifixion. The other Gospel writers identify her as Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha. And so the question is, why did she do it? Certainly, she had heard the clear predictions of Jesus that He was going to die very soon. Did she have a premonition that the burial was going to be hurried and she therefore needed to anoint Christ ahead of time? No, that’s not likely. Rather, like Joseph and Nicodemus and the women on Easter morning, by anointing the body of Jesus Mary was showing love and worship towards her Savior who she believed was the Christ sent from God.
That title of Christ will now reveal to us the deeper symbolism of these physical anointings of Jesus’ body. In the Greek, the word Christos means “anointed one.” The Hebrew counterpart is Mashiyach, or as we say in English, Messiah. It originates from an ancient practice that was part of the ritual for officially recognizing the new high priest or king in Israel. A flask of oil was poured over his head, anointing that man, and visibly showing that he was chosen by God for a sacred task. So it was perfectly natural that those who believed that Jesus was the Christ, the anointed one of God, would feel compelled to recognize that by anointing His body.
Understanding that will help explain some things that we’ve touched on over the past 5 weeks of Lent. Do you remember how Jesus asked His disciples at Caesarea Philippi who they believed He was? It’s significant that Peter responded, “You are the CHRIST, the Son of the living God.” In other words, “Jesus, we believe that you have been anointed by God as our King.” Yes, the disciples had merged together a physical kingdom with the spiritual, but even so, they recognized Jesus as the second person of the Trinity and their Savior. Think also of the words that Jesus spoke in the synagogue at Nazareth. He got up and read from Isaiah 61, which begins this way: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.” When He had finished, He told the people this Scripture was now fulfilled in Him. God the Father had anointed Him, not with oil but with the Holy Spirit, designating Him as the chosen one to save God’s people who were oppressed by sin.
Now, it’s true that in the New Testament there is more than one Greek word for “anoint.” Those other words generally have to do with the application of the oil or spices in the anointing process like we’ve been talking about. But what I would have you see is that the physical anointing which took place was a statement of faith. By it, these folks were confessing their faith that Jesus truly was the Christ, the Anointed One of God, sent from heaven and anointed to be the Savior. Granted, at the time they perhaps didn’t fully understand the depth of what that meant and yet they were expressing their love and worship via these forms of physical anointing.
The amazing twist to all this is when we look at how the benefits of Christ dying on the Cross for our sins are applied to us personally. Recall how God gave His Old Testament people a ritual involving a visible anointing of His chosen ones so that everyone could see what the Lord was doing? Well, in your Baptism you were anointed with those holy waters being poured over your head. In a very real sense you could say that it’s our Sacrament of Holy Unction. That outward anointing was happening even as the inward anointing of your soul was taking place. In that anointing God was declaring to the entire world that He had chosen you for the sacred calling of being His beloved Child. And as you were anointed with that water you were also anointed with the Holy Spirit so that you could fulfill that holy calling. Now that Christ has anointed your soul, you are wrapped in the sweet aroma of His righteousness. That pleasant smell of righteousness has taken away the stench of your spiritual death and in fact, brought you new life. All because Jesus, the Anointed One, suffered and died in order that you might be anointed by His atoning blood. Thanks be to God for His grace and mercy which is our in Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!