Broken

Broken

James 5:13-18

Today we are going to be discussing one of the most controversial, and misinterpreted passage in all of scripture. So let’s just jump right into it. Today’s passage is James 5:13-18, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. ¹⁷ Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. ¹⁸ And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”

            The Catholic Church uses this passage to support their sacrament of “Extreme Unction,” which is praying over someone who is extremely sick, and even forgiving their sins for them, something only God is capable of doing. This is also the passage many use to justify their practice of anointing objects, and sick people in order for them to get better. And finally, it’s also the passage that people who practice and believe in “faith healing” use to justify their beliefs and actions. I am in no way saying that God cannot heal people who pray fervently. I am saying that this passage does not justify this practice and that just because God did not heal someone who was sick that that person did not have enough faith.

            Lately, I have found myself asking more and more questions when I am debating someone. Rather than trying to win someone over to my side through witty points and declarations, I have been asking them questions that force them to see the error in their point of view. Most people when they read this passage believe it is about healing, or being made well through prayer and faith in God, but we need to read this passage in the context of the surrounding scripture. Scripture, like anything else can only be understood within its context. For instance, if you walked by and over heard me say, “I shot an eagle today.” You wouldn’t know if I had shot an eagle with a gun, a camera, or in a golf match. You wouldn’t know if you should call the cops, ask to see the picture, or give me a high five.

            My questions to determine how to correctly interpret this passage would be: 1) What is this passage about? Most people would say it is about the healing power of faith and prayers. I then would check the surrounding passages to see how that interpretation would fit in the surrounding context. How about 5:1-6? No, that is about how the rich were persecuting the poor. How about the immediate preceding section, 5:7-12? No, that is about being patient and persevering through persecution. How about the passage immediately following this one, 5:19-20? No, that is about helping a brother who has fallen into sin back out. In fact, the entire book was written to people who were suffering severe persecution. Look at James 1:1, “James, a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ: To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad….” Why were they scattered abroad? After Stephen was martyred in Acts 7, a heavy persecution broke out across the church and everyone except the apostles fled town. Why? Because they feared for their lives. Acts 8 says that Saul was dragging off men and women to prison. These believers lost their lives, loved ones, families, friends, jobs, sources of income. They lost everything and they were hurting.

My second question would be: 2) Why in a book devoted to giving hope and encouragement to the persecuted believers, would there be an out of place passage concerning faith healing? My third question would be 3) If the passage was about faith healing, why would James use as an illustration a story of Elijah praying that it would not rain? Why not a passage where Elijah healed someone, or raised someone from the dead through faith? If this passage is about healing, the illustration is strangely out of place. If this passage is about having hope while enduring suffering, then it is a perfect illustration. Think about it. When Elijah prayed, it did not rain on the entire earth for 3 ½ years. Think about how dry that would be. Food would be extremely scarce. Your water supply would dry up. Your livestock would die off. You would be feeling very weak, tired, hopeless, and wondering if God had a plan for your life. It is the same feelings you have when you are enduring persecution, trials, and tribulations. 

John MacArthur is a biblical scholar, preacher, and a teacher who I have great admiration for. Dr. MacArthur has actually made it into two Lecrae songs. There’s a song by L’il Wayne where he brags about how much money he has saying “I got a backpack full of stacks.” Lecrae responds with, “I got a backpack full of tracts, plus I keep a Johnny Mac,” a reference to his greater interest in leading others to Christ rather than being rich, and his John MacArthur Study Bible. MacArthur was preparing to preach on this passage and used 16 different sources in his preparation. After reading 16 different people’s interpretation of the passage, he found that he disagreed with all 16. So he did some deeper studying, and dived into the Greek—the original language of the New Testament. What he discovered, was in my opinion, groundbreaking because no one else was thinking like he was. Without getting over our heads with strange Greek words, let’s look at what he found.

Verse 13, “Is anyone among you suffering?” “Uh, hello? We’re all suffering here.” “Is anyone cheerful?” This was probably written in a more lighthearted sarcastic manner. Most of his intended audience were probably not too cheerful. Here’s where we get to the meat of it, verse 14, “Is anyone among you sick?” The word translated “sick” is astheneo, and could also be translated into “weak” or “impotent” which means without any power or strength. And if we skip down a little further we get to the word “anoint.” This makes us think of Jesus the Christ, or Jesus the Anointed One. The Greek language has five different words for the verb “anoint.” The one James used, aleipho is a common form which means to oil anything, or put oil on anything--from oiling your car to oiling some antique wooden desk. Another word is Chrio which is confined to only sacred and symbolic anointings. Question 4) Why would James use the common oiling when he meant the sacred oiling? He wouldn’t have.

How many of you have ever worked out really hard and needed to rub in to your muscles Ben-Gay, Icy Hot, or some other analgesic? In the culture that James was writing to, they had their own version of Ben-Gay. It was an oily, ointment like substance that they would rub in to sore muscles and wounds. It would help sore muscles as well as stave off infection.

So let’s go back and re-read this passage with our minds focused on James writing to a group of people beaten and broken down through persecution. I’m going to read it with a few of my thoughts thrown in there as well. This will be the King Jimmy Version. “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone among you cheerful? Probably not likely, but let him sing praise songs. Is anyone among you so weak and broken down that you can’t even pray for yourself anymore?”

[Has anyone here ever been broken? You won’t have to think about it. You would have instantly thought of the circumstances of how you were broken when I said that. If you didn’t, you haven’t been broken. I was broken. I was praying and reading my Bible constantly. I remember walking through my house minding my own business and then just dropping to my knees bawling, praying that God would heal me, and then literally like 5 seconds later I would be on my feet as if nothing had happened, thinking, “That was odd.”]

Back to the scripture: “If someone doesn’t have the strength to pray for themselves, call the leaders of the church, and let them pray over him, rubbing his shoulders, and helping to heal their wounds. And the prayer of faith will save the weak, and powerless, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, because sometimes weariness, pain, and weakness comes from our own sinful choices, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”

[When are you most likely to sin? At church camp when you are feeling really close to God? Or when God is seemingly distant and you have been suffering through all kinds of trials, tribulations, and persecutions? What kind of sins are you likely to commit? Grumbling, complaining, questioning God, not praising God….]    

Back to the scripture: “Because the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes a lot. Elijah was a man just like we are and he prayed that it would not rain, and it did not rain for 3 ½ years symbolizing the pain of enduring persecution. And then he prayed again and everything was restored and made whole again just like you could be.”

You know it’s interesting that through this entire book dealing with persecution and brokenness, in fact throughout the entire Bible it never says that brokenness is bad or wrong. Psalm 34:18, “The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.” Again in Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.” Also Jesus told this parable in Luke 18:10-14, “¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ ¹³ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

(Break Cup) Sometimes we have to be broken before God can use us. Why? Because we start thinking about how much God can use us and our ability to hold water. We don’t even need help. But when you become broken and smashed to bits, apart from God, there is no way you will ever be useful. Listen to the words of Paul in 2^nd Corinthians 12:8-10, “Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. ⁹ And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Are you broken? Are you like the Pharisee? Or are you like the Tax Collector? Are you like this mug? Do you want to be? Or would you still rather do things on your own abilities?