Working at the temple has some definite advantages. The temple really is a place of learning and for the last year I can truthfully say that every week if I went there with the intent of learning something I have never come away disappointed. I have been shown things while I ponder the ordinances, found new meaning in scriptural passages I never saw before and have begun to see much of the imagery in the ordinances, procedures, paintings and even the architecture. But some of the most gratifying lessons come from being able to sit with learned men and discuss scripture and doctrine in the late hours of the shift when there is time to do such things. I want to share one example.

When Christ walked the earth he gave the blind their sight, the deaf were made to hear, the lame and halt were given their strength to move and function, the sick were cured of disease, the leprous made clean and whole, devils were cast out, and even the dead brought back to life. When Christ was criticized for telling a palsied man that his sins were forgiven he asked the critics “Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, arise and take up thy bed, and go thy way unto thy house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all…” This was an example of Christ showing that his power to heal physically was proof of His power to heal spiritually.

The effects of sin makes us blind and deaf to the truth, lame and halt in our capacity to do good, sick and afflicted with the loss of the comfort of the spirit, and dead as to the things of God. The spiritually sick are healed through the atoning blood of Christ by faith in Him and repentance. As we exercise that faith we lose the blindness and deafness, we gain power to make things happen for good and we become alive in Christ.

When we administer to the sick we anoint with consecrated olive oil. For some time I have had the notion that there was a direct correlation between olive oil and the atonement, but I could never find an authoritative reference. I reasoned that the atonement was wrought in the Garden of Gethsemane where olives are pressed to squeeze the oil out. When Christ was in that garden the night he bore the weight of the sins of the world Luke says he “sweat as it were great drops of blood”. I felt the comparison was obvious, but I needed to know if it was true.

I mentioned this to one of the brothers I work with who has a reputation for being very well read and asked if he had any thoughts about it or references I could read. Without a second’s hesitation he told me to look up “The Olive Press” by Truman G. Madsen, May 1989, and Russell M. Nelson, “Why This Holy Land?,” Ensign, Dec 1989. Both address the topic, but Elder Nelson’s hits the point directly. I quote:


“Sites and Symbols of the Atonement”

“Jesus came to the base of the Mount of Olives to effect the first component of the Atonement. This He did at the Garden of Gethsemane. The word Gethsemane comes from two Hebrew roots: gath, meaning “press,” and shemen, meaning “oil,” especially that of the olive.

“There olives had been pressed under the weight of great stone wheels to squeeze precious oil from the olives. So the Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane was literally pressed under the weight of the sins of the world. He sweated great drops of blood—his life’s “oil”—which issued from every pore. (See Luke 22:44; D&C 19:18.)

“Jesus was accorded titles of unique significance. One was the Messiah, which in Hebrew means “anointed.” The other was the Christ, which in the Greek language means “anointed” as well. In our day, as it was in His day, the ordinance of administration to the sick includes anointing with the consecrated oil of the olive. So the next time you witness consecrated oil being anointed on the head of one to be blessed, and these sacred words are said, “I anoint you with this consecrated oil,” remember what that original consecration cost. Remember what it meant to all who had ever lived and who ever would yet live. Remember the redemptive power of healing, soothing, and ministering to those in need. Remember, just as the body of the olive, which was pressed for the oil that gave light, so the Savior was pressed. From every pore oozed the lifeblood of our Redeemer. Throughout the joyous days of your mission, when your cup of gladness runs over, remember His cup of bitterness which made it possible. And when sore trials come upon you, remember Gethsemane.”


So the next time you administer or are administered to, think on the symbolism that the oil represents the atoning blood of Jesus Christ and the power to heal the spiritually sick and dead through God’s priesthood – the authority to act in His name for the good of His children – and the faith that must be exercised both in that power and in Christ’s atonement for it to be effective, in this life or in the next.