Should we pray for healing?

Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. James 5:14-15

“My mother isn’t well. She’s been taken into hospital”.

So said my friend, a member of the church of which I was the pastor. Of course, as a minister I was well-used to praying for the sick, sometimes with the laying on of hands – whatever seemed appropriate. But what came next wasn’t so routine: “Would you be willing to visit her and anoint her with oil?”

I could hardly decline such a request – nor indeed did I want to. My friend, not British by birth, was from a different Christian background from me and, I suspected, had the words of James 5 in mind. To him it was a simple matter: the Bible says that the sick should be prayed over and anointed with oil, so, well, that’s that, isn’t it? Just get on and do it.

So of course I said Yes – it would be my privilege, and that was said entirely sincerely. My only problems were the practical ones: What sort of “ceremony”, if that was the right word, should I devise for prayer offered in the public space of a hospital ward? Even more, what should I do for oil? No doubt some ecclesiastical retailer could provide me with some kind of “sacred” oil, but that was completely alien to my understanding of how God’s mercy and grace might be called upon.

So it was off to the local chemist for a plastic bottle of baby oil. And (jumping the details) it turned out to be a very precious occasion – just a little group of us gathered for a few minutes round the bed of a sick lady. Questions of how exactly we understand a New Testament passage could wait.

But those questions were real. A trawl through a few Bible commentaries made clear that James 5:13-16, taking the passage as a whole, is something of a minefield for Bible-teachers. If we could get hold of James, sit him in an armchair, and quiz him over a cup of coffee, what would he say?

Why does he suggest using oil? True, oil was known in the ancient world to have healing properties – the Good Samaritan “poured oil and wine” on the injuries of the man who had been attacked (Luke 10:34: how that verse used to puzzle me as a child in Sunday School!). True, the Israelites in the Old Testament used it for the sacred anointing of kings and priests. And true, Jesus himself seems to have authorised the use of oil when he sent the apostles out to preach and heal (Mark 6:13). But it certainly doesn’t figure prominently in the Gospels or Acts; indeed, it hardly figures at all.

Some teachers say that the whole idea of “spiritual healing” was only ever intended to be for New Testament days anyway, oil or no oil. But they fail to find good New Testament evidence for that, and, to be completely honest, they tie themselves in all sorts of knots trying to explain how the Bible, of course, doesn’t really mean what it clearly seems to say.

For that is what’s at the heart of the debate, isn’t it? Do we modern Christians expect healing in answer to prayer in the way James certainly seems to do? Still more, should we expect such healing? Could it be that God has seen fit to withdraw this gift because of our lack of faith? But then didn’t Jesus say that faith like a grain of mustard seed – yes, that small - is enough to move mountains?

In a word, how do we hold together “You may ask anything in my name and I will do it?” and “Not my while but yours be done”?

It’s generally agreed among Bible scholars that, when it comes to interpreting any particular passage, the place to start is with the most natural, straightforward and literal meaning. This is surely right. But with a passage like James 5 it can be very difficult, for James seems almost to take healing for granted: “the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well”. Yet we know that often when we pray for healing it isn’t granted, and it’s just unrealistic – one might even go so far as to say slightly dishonest - to claim that it is.

For what it’s worth, the policy I worked out over the years was basically this: (a) to take the Bible’s promises at face value, and therefore to do, if asked, exactly what James 5 suggests; but then (b) to be completely open in the event of healing not being given, and to frankly admit that I just can’t provide an adequate explanation.

Putting it more bluntly, if that means living with Bible passages that seem to contradict one another, so be it. Honesty with God and with our fellow Christians trumps over-sophisticated, medieval-type argumentation. Stop agonising over theological niceties; just summon up faith, and pray; God is well able to look after the rest!

Oh, by the way, I ought to mention that the lady we prayed for that day made a full recovery. Just in case you wondered.

To God be the glory!

Father, you forbid us to seek signs, but you also encourage us to reach out to you for clear answers to prayer. This is a balance we sometimes find it hard to maintain and understand. So please grant us the gift of simple, childlike faith, and to trust all things to you. Amen.