The LCA provides this sermon edited for lay-reading, with thanks to the original author.

Proper 17, Year B

James 1:17-27

“INASMUCH AS YOU DID THIS … YOU DID IT TO ME”

A new friend was asked “Are you a practising Christian?” He replied, “Yes - I need all the practice I can get!” Many Christians in our community consider themselves to be practical people, men and women who like to get things done. Yet when you ask some of them to do something practical and down to earth for Jesus, they suddenly find reasons why they can’t do it. St. James addresses this in today’s text.

The letter of St. James is a very practical one for churches of every age. He’s very realistic about the problems and temptations we face as forgiven sinners. Where Christians who are still sinners gather together, things will go wrong sooner or later. One Christian will say or do something that will hurt or offend another Christian. Non-members of the Church, on hearing of this, use it to try to discredit the Church. Those inside the Church see it differently. Just as a hospital collects the sick under one roof and labels them as such, the Church collects sinners. There are folk outside the hospital who are every bit as sick as those inside it, but their illnesses are either undiagnosed or disguised. It’s similar with sinners outside the Church.

Churches aren’t always model communities of good behaviour. They are, rather, places where human misbehaviour is brought out in the open, faced and dealt with. In this letter, St. James confronts, diagnoses and deals with areas of wrong-belief and misbehaviour among Church goers. His letter is full of practical wisdom and advice for us to put into practice this week. What good is a truth if you don’t know how to live it? What good is an intention if you cannot sustain it? St. James advocates a Christlike fellowship that rallies around the sick and sin-scarred to help and heal them. While we’re saved by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, our Christlike deeds, words and gestures show others that our faith isn’t just something theoretical, but can be seen in action.

“The only thing that counts is faith active in love (Galatians 5:6).” Before God seeks a loving response from us, God gives us His gifts of grace. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights (v27).” No one gives us better gifts than those from God. No one can out-give God. Gifts like the gift of life itself, rain, sunshine, health, a loving family and friends are gifts too good to take for granted, but instead fill us with lifelong gratitude. Surpassing all these gifts of grace is the gift of a second birth through the waters of Holy Baptism. God’s Word of truth, the Gospel, is active in Baptism to claim us as His own and give us sisters and brothers in Christ to care for us, and to pray for us. Baptism is good news for daily living, because it means each new day we can leave our old self behind and make a new beginning, a brand new start with God.

You can begin each new day afresh because “the mercies of the Lord are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22).” Your Lord’s unmerited mercy to you makes it possible for you to make a fresh start in your relationships with those who have offended or angered you in the past. We belong to the Master, “whom to serve is perfect freedom.” He invites us to live by the liberating “law” of love, a law that no longer demands of us, but gives us to each other in love.

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set you free from the law of sin and of death (Romans 8:2).” We’ve been freed from slavery to our own interests, to care about the interests of our neighbour. We’re free to do what faith loves doing most of all – doing what our Lord wants. Our Lord commends to us what Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls “The Ministry Of Holding One’s Tongue”. This isn’t easy in an era marked by anger. Anger has been called “a new national habit”. People are angry at the government, at immigrants or at the Immigration Department, angry at the traffic, angry at the excessive salaries of the rich, and even angry at the Church which they feel has let them down.

We feel our outbursts of anger are justified. “I’m an exception. It’s not okay for others to be angry with me, but I’m entitled to punish the other person for how I feel. They deserve to suffer for how I feel”. This is how angry people seek to excuse their outbursts. The New Testament says that we diminish angry feelings by not expressing them in words. Ephesians 4:31-32 says, “Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”

Angry words are self-defeating. Expressing an emotion often causes us to feel that emotion even more intensely. Those who perform loving deeds usually feel love all the more. Those who act kindly usually end up feeling kind. And those who express anger usually end up feeling angrier. What we say and do influences how we feel, as much as how we feel influences the things we do. On the other hand, when someone’s angry with you, remember the 90% rule of effective communication: 90% of this is not about me, the listener. 90% of anger is about something unresolved inside the speaker. The reverse is also true: when I’m angry with someone, it’s 90% my own problem and not that of the one listening to me. To release anger within yourself before you say a word, shake your hands a dozen times and see your anger diminish. Anger prevents the listener from hearing what you’re really saying. Nothing destroys listening faster than blaming someone else. We serve as mirrors for each other, as our presence reminds them of their own weaknesses, of issues they need to deal with in their own hearts.

That’s why St. James urges us, “Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger”, because anger impedes the work of the Lord instead of assisting it. James tells us that those who hold their tongue in check, control both body and mind. “The Ministry of Holding One’s Tongue” involves the ministry of listening. “Nature has given us one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak (Epictetus).” Perhaps an ear is a better symbol of love than a heart. Love loves to listen to the other person. Just as love shown to God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for someone else starts with listening, with our eyes as well as our ears. We think we must always contribute something when we’re in the company of others. Listening can be a greater service than speaking. All around us, there are people looking for an ear that will listen. Anyone who thinks their time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet is in danger of ending up with little or no time to listen to God. By listening to each other, we make it easier for them to feel that God is listening to them. We listen because God listens to us with infinite patience, sympathy and understanding.

The words God welcomes from our lips are those shaped by our prayers for one another. Wise words, kind and caring words spoken to others are those that come as a result of our prayers and from the regular hearing of God’s Word. Jesus says, “Blessed are all who hear God’s Word and put it into practice (Luke 11:28).” A mirror gives us a double message: it shows us what we are, and what we should do after we’ve seen ourselves in it – wash, brush or comb our hair, have a shave or fix our make-up. St. James says that to not act on what God’s word tells us to do is as absurd as to forget the message of one’s mirror. As we leave church, we need to ask ourselves, “What will I do differently this week as a result of what I’ve heard here? I want this week to be a God-shaped one.” St. James won’t let any truth about Christian living lie around unused. He bugs us until we put our religious commitment into practice.

James defines genuine religion as visiting those in our community of greatest need of our loving presence, those neglected or uncared for by those in our neighbourhood. Words from Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats on the last day, shape this plea from St. James. Jesus said, “I was sick and you visited Me … inasmuch as you did this to one of the least of My sisters or brothers, you did this to Me.” Jesus spent much of His ministry visiting all kinds of people, especially the needy and neglected, in their homes. He spent time with individuals. He never saw His time as too valuable to interrupt His plans to help someone in need.

Our Saviour reassures us that we will receive a greater blessing from our visiting and our practice of hospitality than we bring to those we visit or invite into our homes. When we visit or invite lonely people to share food with us, we not only bring Christ’s presence with us, we also meet Christ there ahead of us. Christ Himself ministers to us through those we visit. They make Christ real to us, since by serving others, we serve our Saviour Jesus Christ. After St. Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he could never look another Christian in the face without seeing our Saviour Jesus. When we show down-to-earth love to others in very practical ways, we’re thrilled to be serving our Saviour.

Visiting people who live on their own, or have no family nearby to call on them, becomes a privilege rather than a duty. What better way is there of expressing gratitude to God for all the gifts of blessings He’s given us? Visiting others or inviting them into our homes lets them know they’re not battling through life on their own, with no one concerned about what’s happening to them. The greatest single reason visitors return to a church is because they were recipients of hospitality from a church family. In the past, this happened more often than it does today. Spontaneous invitations like this have always brought blessings that outweigh the effort put in. As you visit or entertain other folk in Jesus’ name, may He richly bless the words you hear and speak.

Jesus says, “Freely you have received, freely give (Matthew 10:8).” Freely give of yourself, your time and your talents in eagerness to put your faith into practice for the benefit of others.

Amen.

And may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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