14th Sunday after
Pentecost – Year B
James
2:1-17
Faith
that Works
I may have laid it on a bit heavy
during Tuesday night’s bible study. It
was the first meeting of the new year; there were more folks present than we
had study guides; many of those present were eager to get started (even as they
admitted their Biblical knowledge was “weak”); and, we were studying the Book
of Romans.
I may have laid it on a bit
heavy. Especially since our theme text
for the day was as close as you can get to the “Lutheran catch phrase.” You know the verse. Romans 3:28: “For we hold that a person is justified by
faith apart from works proscribed by the law.”
I was in “the zone,” and I may
have even made reference to the places in the bible where the words of Paul
most need to be heard. I may have even
referred to the Book of James. And then
here we are this morning, reading not from Romans but the Book of James. For the next five Sundays we will be reading
from James. So we had just as soon make
our peace with him this morning; and I need to remember what he says when I am
tempted to re-enter “the zone” during our Tuesday evening bible studies.
While Paul wishes to speak of
faith apart from works, James’ insistence is that those who are hearers
but not doers are like persons who see themselves in the mirror then
quickly forget what it was that they saw.
Of such persons, James says, “their religion is useless.”
The disagreement between Paul and
James is legionary. There was conflict
between them from the outset. Paul
interrupts his missionary journeys in order to return to Jerusalem. Paul’s followers are anxious about this, they
worry that Paul will be imprisoned by the religious leaders in Jerusalem. When he gets there, it is James and the
Elders who receive him. They listen to
him talk about the work he had been doing among the Gentiles. Paul is trying to convince them that these
Gentiles are good and faithful followers of “The Way.” (Remember that it wasn’t called the Christian
Church until much later.) James is
inclined to agree, but he and the Elders are not yet convinced that these
Gentiles can really be considered followers of The Way, unless they first go
through the process proscribed for those who wish to convert to Judaism. This process involves a number of “works;”
things you must do in order to make the change.
These tasks, these “works” were what concerned Paul.
There is in Christian Theology a
technical phrase which we sometimes misapply.
It is “the plain sense of scripture.”
In our era, we make the mistake of believing that this phrase refers to
the simple, plain meaning of the words (usually the words as they appear in an
English translation.) But “the plain sense
of scripture” is a reference to the “sense” that the first readers would have
made of these words, not the sense that you or I would glean. These are not always different, but sometimes
they may be. And before we lay it on too
heavy we need to ask ourselves whether our understanding matches the
understanding of those original hearers.
Paul never opposed “works” when
“works” referred to doing helpful and loving deeds. Paul instructs the newly form communities to
take up collections and to send the money to Jerusalem in order to aid the
orphans and widows. Paul’s tirade
against good works isn’t against faith that shows itself in actions, it is
against works which have no purpose other than allowing one to say, “I have
jumped through this hoop.” Paul’s
opposition to “works” has a lot more to do with whether new converts had to be
circumcised than it did with whether followers of Jesus ought to feed the
hungry and clothe the naked.
Let us hope that Jesus’ followers
will forever oppose the kinds of works which are done merely so that the doer
can boast of having jumped through a hoop.
We know there is something phony about good deeds done in order to
feather our own cap, or advance our own status in the world. Those are the “works” which are done in order
to impress – impress a neighbor or impress God – and no such works will ever be
considered appropriate.
It may be the case that James and
Paul were arguing about something quite different than we argue about when we
merely adopt their language without reforming the meaning for our own day.
I want to suggest the same for
the writings of Martin Luther, and his critique of the Book of James. In his writings, Luther refers to James as an
“Epistle of Straw.” Sometimes, in our
dedication the reforms Luther brought to the Church, we have used his words as
an opportunity to eliminate one book of the Bible which we need to study and
understand. Here again, we need to
remember the context.
Luther had entered the monastery
in an attempt to appease God. His
life-altering decision was based on a mistaken notion that somehow God would
love him “more” if he were to don the cloak of a monk and give himself over to
prayer and fasting. Luther was known for
his acts of self-denial. He would fast;
he would sleep outside in the cold without a blanket. He performed these works, in order that he
might prove himself to be a devoted servant of God.
The Church of Luther’s day, had a
pretty tight hold on the means of grace.
You couldn’t get absolution unless you underwent the Church’s process of
confession. You were not allowed to receive
communion until the Priest had verified your faith. These hoops, these tasks, these ways in which
the Church inserted itself as a dispenser of God’s means of grace, these were
the things which bothered Luther the most.
Rather than being on the side of the person in the pew, the Church (in
his opinion) found ways to make the path to Christ more difficult.
The “works,” required by the
Church in order to be in good standing with the Church, were what Luther
opposed. He was not against the care of
others, or the acts of compassion extended to those in need. This is the man, who when given ownership of
the old monastery, opened the home to all who were in need of shelter or food.
There is no conflict between the
works done out of care and compassion for others and the faith which saves
us. James has it right – how would it be
possible for us to claim that we have been overcome with God’s goodness and
then refuse to extend that graciousness to others? How can we claim to love God and refuse to
offer forgiveness to the neighbor? How
can we give thanks to God as the provider of all things and then refuse to
share those things with others? How can
we have faith, and not have good works?
I sometimes think we hold on to a
mistaken notion of Paul or Luther’s criticism of James so it will be easier for
us to do exactly what James tells us we cannot do. I am referring to his mocking of a believer
who tells a hungry or homeless person, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your
fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs. Adopting a “no works” policy assuages our
guilt in knowing that we do horde, or waste, or simply refuse to share.
On Tuesday evening we return to
our study of the Book of Romans. I will
teach the class with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm; and I am sure that I
will sometimes lay it on a bit heavy. Hopefully,
our weekly return to the pages of James will remind all of us that while works
done for their own sake do nothing other than provide bragging rights; those
who have been overcome with God’s grace cannot help but do the good deeds of
our Messiah.
The devotion to God which is pure
and undefiled insists that we care for orphans and widows and all those
who are in distress. We do keep
ourselves unstained by the world and unwavering in our allegiance to the
Christ by whose name we are known.
Amen
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