Saturday, December 20, 2014

Dec 19 - Not Blank This Time - Ps 23:5b

The best comment I got to an accidentally blank email …

Ohhhhhh no! Pastor Ed and his devotion

must have gotten taken up in the rapture!

 

thou anointest my head with oil

Psalm 23:5b

 

David who wrote this Psalm was a king. And at a king’s coronation, they anointed his head with oil.

 

Jesus was (and is) The King. Just before his crucifixion, Mary anointed his head with oil. Indeed, the titles “Messiah” and “Christ” literally mean “the anointed one” – in Hebrew and Greek, respectively.

 

But kings weren’t the only ones historically who were anointed. So were priests. And with his Messianic anointing, Jesus is our great high priest. Indeed, as it says in Hebrews 4: “14 we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God … 15 [But] we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

 

So kings and priests were anointed in the ancient world. But they still weren’t the only ones. Who else was anointed? Dead people! And just before his crucifixion – just before Jesus was dead and buried, died for our sins – Mary anointed his head with oil. Indeed, she anointed him as Priest, King, and Savior (who would die for our sins).

 

So what does it mean, “thou anointest MY head with oil.” Is this talking just about kings like David (or even Jesus)? No!

 

When we claim allegiance to the true king, we are adopted into the family of God. And we too are anointed. As children of the king, we are princes – royalty.

 

We are also priests in the line of Jesus – proclaiming his truths to a wayward kingdom.

 

And we a lower-case saviors – throwing a lifeline to a drowning world whenever we proclaim the true king.

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy with oily hair

(and not because I haven’t washed it,

but because I’m God’s grateful child)

 

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