CONSECRATING A SICKNESS AND A LIFE TO
THE LORD
The concept of consecration permeates
gospel principles. Healing the sick is one example. The administration ordinance
effectively consecrates or reconsecrates a life to the Lord. To
consecrate is to set something apart as holy. Thus, the administration
ordinance consecrates or sets apart the illness for a holy purpose, and
that purpose is always the welfare of the afflicted person’s soul—whether the expression
of that purpose is spoken or unspoken in the ordinance. (2 Nephi 32:9) The
ordinance also consecrates the person’s healed and saved life to the Lord. When
considered in this light, every affliction is an opportunity to bring a person
to Christ, who will heal the afflicted both spirit and body. Therefore, our
being saved from sickness and affliction by the power of the priesthood might
be viewed as symbolic of Christ's power to deliver us from all our enemies, (Mosiah
29:22; D&C 49:6; 58:22) including spiritual and physical death. Joseph
Fielding McConkie and Robert L. Millet wrote: “It may be that all of the
miraculous healings performed by Jesus were but tangible symbols of the
greatest healing that he alone could perform—the healing of sick spirits and
the cleansing of sin-stained souls.” (McConkie and Millet, Doctrinal Commentary
on the Book of Mormon, 4:41)
A sickness or affliction reminds a
person of his fallen state, and it drives him to recognize his helplessness and
his need for the Lord’s intervention. (Alma 26:12; Moses 1:9-10) That is,
because of the Fall, a sick person finds himself in a weakened situation, but
he knows that Christ has overcome the Fall and can help him. In the context of Zion,
that person finds himself afflicted by the world and desperately seeks
deliverance into the health and safety of Zion. When a person is sick or
afflicted, he places his hope in the Savior and the Lord’s saving power. The sick
and afflicted person humbly beseeches the Lord for help, which motivates him to
call for the Lord’s authorized priesthood representatives, to use his name and
answer the person. The sick and afflicted person recognizes the Lord’s servants
as having the authority of Jesus Christ, to use his name and answer the person’s
request. (Alma 15:5-11) The elders come in response to that request. Preceding
the administration ordinance, the sick person (or a friend, loved one, or the
elders [James 1:14]) should offer a sincere prayer of faith in which the person
humbly declares his testimony of the Lord. In the prayer of faith, he expresses
his belief that the Lord, through his Servants, can heal him from the specific
effects of the Fall that he is suffering, and he asks the Lord to heal him. (Alma
15:5-11) At that point, the elders authoritatively perform the ordinance of
administration through the power and in the name of Jesus Christ. (McConkie, Mormon
Doctrine, 21-22) Because the administration is sealed, it is
recognized in heaven and on earth, (D&C 128:8, 10) and the Lord promises to
confirm or validate it. (Mormon 9:4-25; D&C 132:59)
By means of the administration
ordinance, powers on earth and in heaven are set in motion, and now the Lord
begins to direct the process of healing, both spiritually and physically. When the
healing process is completed, the Fall symbolically has been overcome, and the
once-afflicted person is now in a position not to bear heightened testimony of the
realty of the Savior, the Lord’s power to deliver, and the certainty of the restoration
of the gospel and priesthood. Throughout the process of healing, the person has
rededicated and reconsecrated his life to the Lord. No wonder then that the
person, through his illness and healing, is brought closer to the Lord and the
ideal of Zion. Such a person becomes a witness, someone who can bear testimony
of the power that is resident in Zion and the quality of salvation that can be
found there. (Larry Barkdull, The Three Pillars of Zion [Orem, Utah: Pillars
of Zion Publishing, 2009], 472-73)