Reflection on James 5:13-20

James 5:13-20

¹³Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. ¹⁴Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. ¹⁶Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. ¹⁷Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. ¹⁸Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.
 ¹⁹My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, ²⁰you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Reflection

As James finishes his letter, he gives us a vision of what the Christian community could be.  It could be a community full of prayer.  And, we are not talking about reciting the Lord’s Prayer repeatedly, or any other memorized, rote prayer (though they have their place too).  No, he is talking about prayer that comes from a suffering heart.  It is the prayer that spills out when you have tried everything, and everything has not been enough.  It is a prayer that seeks Jesus to intervene because no one else can fix what has become broken.  And, it is a prayer that is not prayed alone.

You have prayed alone before, right?  You have prayed the desperate prayer in the middle of the night that seems to echo dully out the window and into the darkness, finding no ear upon which to rest. 

But, James’ vision of the Christian community is far from this lonely image of an unheard prayer of solitude.  Quite the opposite, he says that if one is suffering in such a way, “they should call for the elders of the church,” surround the person, “and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord” (James 5:14).  The Christian community, the church, is presented as this community of prayer that actually cares, and actually comes, and actually is present in each other’s lives.

Are you celebrating anything?  In James own words he asks, “Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise” (James 5:13).  Well, if you are celebrating, then we will sing a prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God!  We will throw a party and celebrate the goodness of the Lord!  You can never sing too many songs, nor can you have too many parties as James shares what the Jesus community could look like.

And, to top it all off, this community is to be a safe place to bring your sins, and your failures, and your struggles.  Using that healing oil on the sinner, James promises that, “Anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.  Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed” (James 5:15-16).

James understands a basic truth: it is hard to have forgiveness if you cannot even confess the sins and missteps for which you need forgiveness!  But, you are in a community filled with Jesus’ grace.  Such a community of love and forgiveness means that you can honestly bring your struggles and your sins to your fellow believers (and to God).  James promises that “anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven” (James 5:15).  James encourages us to, “confess [our] sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that [we] may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective” (James 5:16).

That is what the Christian absolutely could look like!  It could look like this group of people who loves like Jesus loves, prays for healing as Jesus prays, celebrates the goodness of God as Jesus celebrates, is unafraid to tell the truth about our sin as Jesus is unafraid, and forgives each other in abundance as Jesus forgives.  The Christian community could absolutely look and sound like this: the very real body of Christ.

I have seen this before.  I have seen it with my very own eyes, and have experienced it with my very own voice and body.  I have experienced this living, breathing community of faith that James envisions.  James says that “faith without works is dead,” but the community I experienced could in no way be considered dead by James (James 2:26).

They are a small, but spirit-filled congregation in Argentina.  When you enter their church building, you will notice a few things right off the bat.  You will first notice the broken windows above the altar and the stains of water damage marking the walls below.  You will also notice the organ, with books and chairs stacked on top.  It has not worked for years and there has been no money to fix it.  Interestingly, against one wall you will see pews stacked on top of one another.  They were formerly in the middle of the worship space, but now, highlighting the center of the worship space you will discover chairs in a circle around a central altar.

As the congregation gathers, the majority in their 20s but the oldest in their 90s, they talk, and laugh, and decorate the space with flowers from their home gardens, and they set up handmade candles gifted by relatives.

As worship begins, they share the all the good things that God had done for them throughout the week.  These are not announcements though; they are conversations throughout the space, people talking over one another; laughter rising through the holes in the broken windows above. 

Soon we sing songs of praise, and after we talk again with one another, sharing our struggles, and sins, and pains with one another.  One man shares how he tripped up on his battle with alcohol that week, and those around him give him a forgiving hug.  After the readings and the sermon, everyone taking a part in the reading and leading, we gather in a huge circle, taking turns as we pray for all that our neighbors had shared earlier, both their joys and their struggles. 

As we finish singing the last song (played on a guitar by one of the students in attendance) the local baker sneaks out of the worship space and returns with a huge, beautiful cake.  It is a Peruvian refugee’s birthday.  She had no family in Argentina.  She was utterly alone, except for her new Christian family who now surrounds her, and sings, and gives her gifts. 

I wish that James could have seen it.  He would have been so amazed by how alive, and authentic, and real these people’s lives of faith were together.  There was nothing dead about their faith.  There was nothing “put on” for show about their faith.  There were no masks with fake smiles and fake concern being worn for the sake of pleasantness and good order.  These were real people, sharing real joys, and real pains and struggles, and actually taking the time to listen and share and do this thing that we call the “faith” together.  When you are there, you know for a fact that Jesus is present.

As we were leaving worship, one of the young women came up to my traveling partner and myself and asked, “How was it?  What can we do better?”  She assumed that we “United States Americans” had some secret to the faith that was bigger and better, that she needed to learn before we left.  That is always the impression the media seems to provide after-all: that United States Americans, with their unlimited funds, do everything better.

I did not know what to say, because they had it all.  All she had to do was read James and see that they had it all.  They were a living community of faith that in no way shape or form was dead to the life and death of Jesus Christ.  Their community was wise in faith beyond imagination.

My response: “What you all have here is truly a gift.  Keep being exactly who you are.”

Young people these days appreciate people who are real.  They can smell a fake from a mile away.  They can sense a cover-up immediately.  They know when it is all a show.

But, in the same way, they also appreciate honesty, and humility, and someone they can relate to.  They appreciate connecting, in a real way, with someone who is willing to share their own lives, share their own struggles, and share their own faith.  They appreciate when the prayers are real, when the concern is real, and they love when you celebrate their joys.  When you do, they know for certain that they are not alone.  They know when Jesus is present and when people have pushed him away.

What a joy it is, then, when they find the Christian community as painted by James.  What a gift it is when they are able to find people praying in the way of Jesus, and celebrating in the way of Jesus, and forgiving endlessly in the way of Jesus, and searching and finding in the way of Jesus.  What a gift it is to have a people of God who actually care if you wander, as James says, “from the truth” (James 5:19).  And, what a gift it is to have a people of God who actually, actively, seek to bring you back, because that is what brothers and sisters in Christ’s family do.  James says that “you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20).

The true Christian community truly cares and truly believes that you deserve better than having a life of being lost and wandering towards cliffs and crevasses that lead to death. 

This community of Christ’s grace is one of the most important gifts that James can possibly even imagine.  So, what a gift it is to be together, as a part of the body of our savior Jesus Christ.

Reflection on James 3:13—4:3, 7-8a

James 3:13—4:3, 7-8a

The wisdom God gives unites our hearts and minds. Instead of living to satisfy our own wants and desires, we manifest this wisdom in peace, gentleness, mercy, and impartiality toward others.

13Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. 14But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. 15Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 16For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.4:

1Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? 2You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8aDraw near to God, and he will draw near to you. 

Reflection

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8a).  This promise in James of God’s presence with you whenever you reach out toward God brings to mind the image of a little child, grabbing onto a mother’s dress, covering eyes with the fabric when a fearful sight comes into view.  In this image, Mother God, reaches down and draws us closer as we draw near and cling to her dress in fear.

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8a). 

In fact, this entire reading from James makes me think of drawing close to my parents as a child.  In particular, it makes me think of all the times I rode on my dad’s shoulders as we walked around.  If you remember, my dad was pretty tall, so when my tiny self was on his shoulders, I felt like I was on top of the world.  From up there I could see the tops of counters, the tops of tables, and better yet, I could even see the dusty tops of the cupboards.  I feel bad for really tall people.  The world is so much dirtier up there. 

Back to my dad, when on my dad’s shoulders, I felt big.  I also felt powerful.  I would shout down from up there and people would actually listen to me.  This so rarely happened when I was on my own two feet, where it was easy for everyone to look over my head and ignore me completely.  But, up there, I felt like I was a part of the world, rather than being overlooked by the world.

In fact, I felt so big and powerful that my imagination would allow me to forget about my dad below.  I would sink into my own world, imaging that I was the tall one, stomping about in the world, in control of my own world; a real grownup.

That illusion; that daydream of control came crashing down one day while we were walking along a trail.  Ahead of me, as I moved forward on my dad’s shoulders, I saw a tree branch approaching.  I panicked, starting to shift from side-to-side, searching for a way to avoid the inevitable.  I started grasping ahead, toward the branch, in order to maybe grab it and push it out of the way.  It was all of no use though, no matter what I did, the tree branch was approaching and there was no way that I was going to be able to avoid it.  I immediately started crying in a panic laced whimper, arms flailing and legs kicking.

And, I think that is the sort of reality that James is trying to paint for us.  It is a reality where we become concerned only for ourselves, shifting, swaying, and grasping around so as to control our realities.  Because, let us admit it, the world is out of control.  At least it seems to be out of my control.  There are people who we cannot control who say and do things with which we are just never going to agree.  There are situations in which we are placed that are difficult, with few “right” answers, but we try our best to control them all the same.  We live in a world that is out of control, but we try to bend it in our favor anyway, because what else are you going to do?  “You have to think about yourself and fight for yourself in this world,” we reason, “because there isn’t going to be anyone else to do it for you!”

James gets it.  He gets that self-concern and selfish ambition comes naturally; almost expectedly.  People will naturally fight for their lives when they see the tree branch coming.  People will naturally force the ways of the world to bend in their favor in order to live a good life.  People will work the system to eke out a few extra bucks for themselves.  People will say what others want to hear in order to gain their trust.  People will cut down oxygen rich trees in order to create the field.  People will find substances that will bring joy and sedate when the prescribed ones do not work.  People will dispose of helpless, unimportant people if it serves a greater good. 

James gets it.  But, he warns: “where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind” (James 3:16).

James says that wherever there is a passion to get ahead and not be left behind; wherever there is selfish partisanship that only seeks to win rather than seeking the good and seeking the truth, then the only thing that you can expect from all of that is disorder and wickedness.  Shouts, blood, tears, anger, rage can all be expected.

“You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts” (James 4:2).  James says that all of these cravings are at war within us, and they are the cause of all of the conflict in our lives (James 4:1).

I once witnessed a community theatre completely fall apart, volunteers leaving left and right, because there was a disagreement over the color of the new seats in the theatre.  One faction wanted a warm orange, to brighten up the place and make it inviting.  The other faction wanted a dark, subdued blue, so as not to distract from what was happening on the stage.  It was a battle that devolved into name calling and votes that were nothing more than power plays during the board meetings. 

You might be thinking, “Who cares if it is orange or blue?  Just flip a coin!”  But, you would only say that because you think that the fight was really about orange and blue seats.  In fact, it had nothing to do with orange and blue seats and had everything to do with the branch of financial hardship that everyone knew was coming soon as their funds dried up, and everyone was trying to get control of the situation.  Everyone was in it to gain power and control so as to secure the future they envisioned.  And, as James says, “disorder and wickedness of every kind” followed close behind.

James gets it.  He understands how easy it is to curl in on ourselves and do whatever possible in order to gain control of the situation.  He gets it in the same way that Jesus understood that worries will arise within your soul; you do not need to seek the worries out.  He gets it in the same way the Jesus understood that anger will come and rage within your heart; you do not need to seek the anger out.  Selfish ambition and the need to control will come; we do not need to seek it out.  But, he also understands that we do not need to let it overwhelm our lives and the lives of those around us, all of whom we are supposed to be demonstrating our love.

About worry, Jesus says in the Sermon of the Mount, “Do not continuously worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear” (Matthew 6:25).  Instead, he invites us to “Look at the birds” and “Consider the lilies of the field” (Matthew 6:26 and 28).  Jesus means it.  He wants us to actually stop what we are doing, look, and meditate on the birds and the lilies, because in the stopping, we might both come to our senses and see something in a new way.

In the same way, Jesus tells us, “If you are continually angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment” (Matthew 5:22).  Once again, Jesus invites us to stop, abandon what we are doing immediately, and make things right with the one with whom we disagree.  “First be reconciled to your brother or sister,” Jesus says (Matthew 5:24).  That is the most important thing.  After-all, by making up with those with whom we are angry, we might come to our senses and see something in a new way.

James, who I remind you is a scholar on the sayings found within the Sermon on the Mount, follows Jesus’ lead and tells his people: “If you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth” (James 3:14).  In other words, if you feel envy and selfish ambition at work within, stop, do not say another word, close that mouth, and first “make peace” (James 3:18).  James and Jesus are both big fans of taking a deep breath before you do anything.  They are both big fans of, first, making peace within ourselves and with those around us.  That comes first.

There is no reason to completely lose control when you see the branch coming.  How will that help anything?  Your kicking and slashing about will just either hurt yourself, or someone else.  We know this to be true.

And, what do we discover if we just take a moment to stop?  What do we discover if we first seek peace within and without?

Do you know what I forgot that day when I saw that branch coming my way and I completely panicked?  I forgot that I was on my dad’s shoulders.  I was so consumed with saving myself that I forgot that he had a hold of me the entire time.  He had a tight hold on my legs, and he was not going anywhere without me. 

Something that I never even stopped to consider was that he could see what was about to happen just as well as I.  And, as soon as he felt me thrashing about, he reached up and held me close to his head as he swooped low and safely navigated the branch.

“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you,” Jesus promises (Matthew 7:7). 

“You do not have, because you do not ask,” James says, reiterating Jesus’ point (James 3:2)

Or, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly,” and you use what you have been given only for yourself (James 3:3).

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:7-8a). 

Draw near to God, because God chose to draw near to you.  God came to you as a child.  God came to you in the healing hands and feet of Jesus.  God came down out of the heavens into this troubled world to go to a cross in order to save you from this troubled world; in order to lift you up on his shoulders and bring you home.  God has already chosen to draw near to you.  You are already sitting on the shoulders of our loving God.  You are not walking alone, nor are you walking unnoticed in this world.

So, grasp onto the one who is holding you.  “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8a).  Our lives are about drawing near to one another.

One day, while Jesus was teaching about how he was going to suffer and die and rise again, two of his disciples were arguing about which one of them was the greatest.  They became wrapped up in themselves.  In response, Jesus drew a child close, took it into his arms and said, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me” (Mark 9:37). In a self-centered world, Jesus’ followers are all in the business of drawing near to one another just as their God has drawn near to them.  And, so we repeat again and again this simple truth: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8a).

Reflection on James 3:1-12

 

James 3:1-12

1Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. 3If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. 4Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.

 How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! 6And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, 8but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. 10From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. 11Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? 12Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh. 

Reflection

He thought he started life as a chicken.  That was what he was told after-all by his older siblings.  My wife’s younger brother, at a young age, was convinced that he had hatched from an egg and started out as a small chick.  His older siblings even had a photo of little chicks to prove it.  He knew which one he was, and for a while that was his reality. 

He is now in his 40s, and I think he now understands that he was never a chicken, and that being a chicken at any point in any human’s life would be impossible.  I do not remember the story well enough to know exactly when his poultry based reality came crashing down in a burst of imaginary feathers around him, but it probably happened around the time that he chose to bring the chicken photo portraying his childhood to his school’s show-and-tell so that all of his friends could see.

James says in the Bible that “Not many of you should become teachers,” and I think I know a couple of older siblings for whom this was definitely true.  Words do actually shape our realities.  As James says, “So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!” (James 3:5).  Just as a fire burns the forest community, scarring it for years to come, so too does the tongue if not used well.

Speaking of not using the tongue well, my father used to sing in the car all of the time.  We would drive along, listening to classic rock, and one of the songs to which he would sing along was “Secret Agent Man” by Jonny Rivers.  You know how the chorus goes:

“Secret Agent Man

Secret Agent Man

They've given you a number and taken away your name.”

Of course, my Dad could not let Jonny’s mush mouthed singing go unrecognized, so he would sing, “Secret Asian man, secret Asian man.”  That is right, for the entirety of my childhood my dad sang of a man from Japan, China, or the Koreas, who somehow figured out a way to keep his racial identity a complete secret from everyone around him.  I am not sure how that works, but that was how my dad sang the song.  Have you ever considered what the consequences might be if you have a joke, but never let anyone know that it is a joke; particularly your own children.

So, I was cleaning in my college dorm room one day when the song came on the radio, and I started singing, loudly, “Secret Asian man.” I sang it at the top of my lungs which immediately sent my roommate into fit of hysterical laughter, sliding his body down the wall to the floor all while pointing directly at my face.  “Asian man, Asian man,” he repeated again and again while pointing.  He might have been mocking me.  He soon taught me the actual lyrics, and I have to tell you, after that day, the lyrics of the song made so much more sense.

Words do actually shape our realities.  As James says, they are like bits put into the mouths of horses, allowing us to “guide their whole bodies” (James 3:3).  The tongue and the words they share have the power to guide other people down the path of singing incorrect song lyrics and ending up in a place of embarrassing college mockery, or even worse.

The Bible has a lot to say about using your tongue to speak truth.  Proverbs 8 boldly makes this commitment to God: “My mouth will utter truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips” (Proverbs 8:7).  We can only hope.

And, Jesus also desires only truth to pour off of our tongues.  He teaches that there is to be no deception when we speak.  There is to be no intentional misguiding when making our promises.  Jesus desire only truth coming from the tongues of those who follow him.  “Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37).

Words matter.  Words do actually shape our realities, and the realities of those around us.

“You aren’t going to be any better than your mother,” the teacher excoriated the young woman. 

Those cutting words hung on the shoulders of that woman for years.  Her mother was a troubled individual with whom she struggled enough, but to be seen as nothing more than an extension of her troubled mother by that teacher weighed on her, shaped her, and steered her life.  She pushed against those words.  She fought those words.  She did not want those words to define her, but they did anyway. 

The tongue of that teacher was like, as James describes, “a very small rudder” on the back of a very large ship, which steered the enormous ship of the rest of her life (James 3:4).  In the end, the woman did make something of her life, probably because of those words, but it was all at the expense of her freedom.  She was held hostage to those words for years.  And what might have happened if, rather than fighting the words, she did what some others do and just assumed that they are true and inevitable. 

She was her own person.  Those hateful words did not need to be spoken at all.

“How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!” James says of the tongue and the words that they speak.

“And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:5-8).

Did you know that 50 percent of the gospel stories, the stories about Jesus, are all about Jesus’ actions, and only 30 percent record his words.  The other 20 percent are other bits of narrative, but 50 percent are his good and loving deeds and only 30 percent are his words.  Though Jesus had a great tongue and great words, I still think that there is something there to learn.  I think that James understands this action to word ratio quite well as he encourages us to have a vibrant and active faith, full of works, and at the same time tells us that most of the words that come out of our mouths are “deadly poison.”

“Don’t talk about your love of others, show your love of others,” he would encourage. 

“Keep the mouth shut and the arms open wide,” I imagine him pressing us today.

Or, maybe, we can ask Jesus to take our words to the cross and put them to death.  I know that there are a lot of words that I have spoken, that should not have come out of my mouth that I would gladly hand over to Jesus to take with him to the cross, how about you? 

Hurtful words; shameful words; words that caused guilt; words that caused the breakup of relationships; all of these words Jesus is more than willing to take to the cross and put to death forever. 

What words do you pray Jesus would take to the cross and put to death for good?  What words came off of your tongue that you could not capture before they set a forest fire or steered the ship in the wrong direction?

Oh, how troubled are our tongues!  “With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God,” James says. “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing” (James 3:9-10).

So, we pray.  We pray that those tongues that we just cannot tame, and those words that we just cannot breathe back in, be gathered together and taken to the cross to die with Jesus; as well as our sinful selves. 

“Lord, have mercy on us.  We are so sorry for our words and our unchecked tongues.  Forgive us.  Give us a clean heart and a clean tongue.  And, give us other words, better words, clean words, and life-giving words that can flow out from our tongues.  May your Holy Word touch us, dwell within us, and work through us.  Amen”

Hear the good word of Christ:

“Anyone who comes to me I will never drive away;” (John 6:37).

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

“Your sins are forgiven” (Luke 7:48).

“I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them” (Luke 6:47)

“Come, follow me,” (Matthew 4:19).

Reflection on James 2:1-17

 

James 2:1-10 [11-13] 14-17

1My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? 2For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, 3and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” 4have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? 6But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? 7Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

8You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 9But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. [11For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. 13For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.]

14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

Reflection

Sometimes I wonder if Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount today, who would be standing on that hillside looking up at Jesus? 

As Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” or as we might understand, “The good life belongs to the powerless, for the kingdom of the skies belongs to them,” I imagine a single parent, whose spouse has left them with little money and little help, hearing those words as they try to keep their children quiet (NRSV, Matthew 5:3).  Jesus looks directly at that parent and assures them that Jesus plans on including them in spreading the love of the kingdom.

Jesus looks up again and says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4).  The message that the good life belongs to those who cry out at the injustices of the world falls on the ears of a young teen who fears that school violence might also hit her.  Her dark shaded eyes of pain and grief over this violent world lock on Jesus’ own eyes as Jesus ensures that God’s good kingdom has not forgotten about her.

“Blessed are meek, for they will inherit the earth,” catches the attention of the factory worker who can afford to live in nothing more than a trailer.  He has no power or ability to increase his wages.  He is an unnoticeable cog in a huge corporate wheel, but Jesus notices him and promises that the good life belongs to those with no influence in the world.  The man is intrigued.  He wants to know more, so he draws close to Jesus.

I imagine the scene to be similar to the actual scene on the mountain where Jesus taught.  I imagine the poor, the powerless, those hungering for equality, those who try their hardest to create peace in this world, and those who are pushed around and forgotten all being invited to be Jesus’ people, a city on a hill that shines God’s light and love to the world.  

It is an astonishing scene, really.  Jesus does not go first to the movers and the shakers in the community as he seeks to establish his kingdom.  Jesus does not go first to those with money and power. 

But, is it not to those powerful people where almost all of us think to go first when we desire to start a new ministry or begin to try to make change in the world? Do not most of us seek out those who have the resources, who can create the most bang for the buck? 

Jesus is so very different.  Jesus starts to make change in the world by gathering the hungry, homeless, powerless, and a handful of blue collar workers to create his kingdom of light and love.

A few years back there was a young preacher in town who wanted to make a difference for Jesus in our community.  He was a great guy, and we got along really well, but I was blown away when the first people he called together to be the hands and feet of Jesus to our little town were those who lived in a mental health group home.  

“What a strange place to start” I thought to myself.  But, before saying something to him that would have been outright stupid, I looked at Jesus and those he invited on the mountain, and I realized that those very people were the probably the most faithful place to start.

Jesus was rarely impressed by those with money and power.  Rather, Jesus was most impressed by those who had faith.  Jesus was most impressed by those who trusted in him and actively followed in his footsteps.  Jesus sought to create in his kingdom people an active faith.

And, James has all of this on his mind as he preaches to his own people.  He holds close the image of those poor and powerless people being invited to be the hands and feet of the Jesus movement.  He holds close those powerful words of invitation and promise from Jesus, “for yours is the kingdom of heaven,” as he attempts to redirect a people of God who have started to wander away.

Just listen to how James has Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount on the brain as he teaches, “Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?” (James 2:5). 

“Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).

James worries that his community of Jesus followers had started to get it all wrong.  They had started to treat those who were well off, wearing fine clothes and jewelry, with places of honor, while forgetting to equally honor those who had nothing.

“This is not the way of Jesus!” James insists.  Jesus outright chooses, as his kingdom people, those who are poor, forgotten, and cast out.  They are his go-to people.  So, we do not get to make any distinctions.  Income does not matter to Jesus.  Race does not matter to Jesus.  Community standing does not matter to Jesus.  Even, religious rank and title does not matter to Jesus.  That is bad news for me as a pastor, but good news for you as a people. 

James bristles at the notion that distinctions have become a thing in his faith community.  He says, “have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?” (James 2:4-7).

What James hopes will sink into his people’s very souls in an active faith, filled with Christ’s equal love for everyone.  He says that all of us would do good to remember to “love your neighbor as yourself” (James 2:8).  In fact, it is part of Jesus’ primary commandment, to love God and neighbor.  James hopes that we not only remember it, but that it might become a part of our daily existence.  “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

James is not impressed by those who only talk as if they are faithful and caring, but is rather impressed by those who are actually faithful and deeply caring.  He is impressed by the same people for whom Jesus is impressed. 

Take that gentile woman in today’s gospel reading from Mark, Chapter 7 that deeply loved and cared for her demon possessed daughter.  That woman heard about Jesus and his power.  That woman trusted that Jesus could do something about her suffering daughter.  And, her trust in that never wavered.  She knew that Jesus could do something for her precious one.  The woman loved her daughter as much as herself, and because of that love, she pressed and pressed Jesus until the girl was healed. 

“Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” Jesus answered her demand to intervene and heal.  But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs” (Mark 7:27-28). 

The faith Jesus had given her when she first heard about his healings, was not a dead faith.  It was not a flat faith.  It was not a poorly carbonated and sugar-free faith.  It was a faith that was alive with an active sort of love that would not give up until her girl, her precious girl, was healed and restored.  Who do you press Jesus about again and again?  Who do you love so much that you would do whatever it takes to give them what they need?

Jesus was impressed.  As I said before, Jesus was most impressed by those who had an active faith.  Jesus was most impressed by those who trusted in him and actively followed in his footsteps.  Jesus seeks to create in us an active faith that actively loves. 

There are plenty of people in this world who simply say, “Thoughts and prayers.”  There are plenty of people in this world who pray that people might be warm and fed,” but they never lift a finger to do anything about it.  If I am completely honest, sometimes I am that person.  But, “What is the good of that?” James asks (James 2:16b).  Jesus actually cares that his people actually be warm and fed.  “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (James 2:17).

But, your faith is not dead, O followers of Jesus Christ.  Not after today anyway!  After-all, you have been called by Jesus from the mountain.  You who are poor, and weak, and sinful have all been called by Jesus to be washed in the love of his kingdom.  And, because you are washed in the love and mercy of his kingdom, you too become the love of his kingdom.

“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).