11 - James 5:13-20
James 5:13-16
13 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.
After warning the believers against
swearing by anything in earth or in heaven, James then begins to conclude his
letter with some very specific instructions pertaining to various situations
they might find themselves in. He begins by telling those who are going through
any kind of suffering, to pray. While this might seem like an obvious thing to
do for some, it’s not common for all people to pray when they suffer. Many of
us choose to not pray when suffering comes our way. We display anger against
God as if He were the cause for our suffering, and as if our anger at God was
going to change our situation in any way.
We should never forget that
we are on a spiritual journey that involves spiritual battles as well, and that
the enemy of our souls - the devil, is out to destroy our faith. He will often use
suffering to try to do just that. During those times of suffering, the one
thing we should actually do is get closer to God, and seek Him. The one thing
we should never do, is walk away from Him in those difficult times. James
already talked about the one main thing that can result from the trials we face
– the transformation of our character to reflect the nature of Christ, and
that’s why he asks us to consider it pure joy when we face trials of various
kinds. (James 1:2-4) If, during our
times of suffering, we choose to walk away from God, we’re choosing the path of
defeat, we’re choosing to not be transformed into the character of Christ, we’re
allowing the enemy to have his way in our lives, and to destroy our faith in
God.
He then says that if anyone
is cheerful, he must sing psalms (songs). There’s something that happens to the
attitude of those who are happy when they sing songs. It takes their happiness
to a whole new level. It simultaneously does something to the person’s attitude
going forward the rest of the day. Let’s never forget that we need to take care
of our attitudes, mental states and emotions, and when we take care of them, we
are able to help others in so many ways.
He then goes on to talk
about what to do when one is sick. Back in the day, there would not have been
as many doctors as we have today. So he suggested that if one is sick, they do
something else, apart from what most of us would immediately do today. Before
we look at that, let’s remember that most illnesses are psycho-somatic, meaning
that the state of the mind has an effect on the functioning, and the health of
the body, and if this is so, then James’ suggestion below seems a lot more
meaningful to us today, who live in quite different times than when he wrote
this letter.
He goes on to suggest that a
sick person send for the elders of the church to come and pray for them in
faith, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord, as they do so. This is
something that is hardly popular in the church today. Elders in the church were
meant to serve as guides, as leaders, who helped people grow in their faith,
and who managed the affairs of the church.
When the elders come and
pray for the sick person, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord, and
in faith, then the sick person will be healed, and the Lord will raise up that
person back to normal health. This does not seem like an expensive option at
all, and yet, it’s hardly practiced in the church today. Let’s seek to get back
to the basics of our faith – perhaps we will see a lot more miracles happening
today, and as a result, this will build both our faith, and that of others who
witness these miracles.
James goes on to make a
connection between illness and sin, and adds that when the elders pray in
faith, anointing the person with oil, not only will the sick person be healed,
but also his sins will be forgiven him. Does this not remind us of the time
when Jesus healed the man who was paralysed? Not only did He heal him, but He
also forgave his sins. Not all illnesses are connected with sin, but it does
look like sometimes sin is closely linked to illness.
James goes on to add that we
are to confess our sins to one another, and to pray for one another, so that we
may be healed. This again, is something that is hardly practiced in the church
today. He is not talking about confession to a priest, who then intercedes for
that person to God. There’s no room for that in Christianity as we have one
mediator between God and man - Jesus (1
Timothy 2:5). He’s talking about being so open in our relationship with one
another as believers, that we are able to talk about our faults and failings
with each another, and pray for each another, so we can experience the healing
from the hurts or illnesses that sin causes. Often, unconfessed, un-repented of
sin has an impact on our minds, and in turn, on our bodies as well, and
eventually it takes its toll on our health, resulting in sickness. He adds that
when we pray for one another in this way, we will receive healing, both for our
sins as well as for our sicknesses.
James goes on to add that when
a righteous person (one who has been made righteous by God, and who is in close
relationship with God), prays fervently for someone, those prayers are heard by
the Lord, and results in God answering those prayers in powerful ways.
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.
James then goes on to make
reference to a time in the life of the prophet Elijah, whom he says had a nature
just like ours, meaning that there was nothing supernatural about Him. He says
that when Elijah prayed earnestly that it would not rain on the earth for three
and a half years, it did not rain, and when he prayed again that it would rain,
it rained and the earth produced its fruit. The only thing that seems to be
different between Elijah and most of us today is that he prayed earnestly,
whilst most of us don’t pray so earnestly, but apart from that, he was just
another ordinary person like we are.
James 5:19-20
19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the
truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him
know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul
from death and cover a multitude of sins.
James then concludes his
letter with an encouraging note to his readers (or listeners). He tells them to
make every effort to help someone who has wandered form the truth, to come back
to the fold. He says that if anyone helps a person turn from back his erroneous
ways, then that person is actually saving that person’s soul from eternal death,
and also helping that person find forgiveness for all his sins. When one finds
forgiveness for his sins, that’s exactly what happens – that person’s sins are
covered, his life completely transformed, and he is headed for heaven, to live
with God forever.
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