Commemoration of James of Jerusalem, the brother of our Lord 2020

 

Commemoration of James of Jerusalem, the brother of our Lord

22 October A+D 2020

 

Alleluia! Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

Grace mercy and peace be to you from the God of all comfort and the Father of all mercies, who has brought us forth by the word of truth, of His own gracious will, for faith in Jesus Christ His Son, our Savior, who has given us the Comforter so that we would not be orphans, but be taught to cry out, “Abba, Father!” in all times of trial and sorrow.  To this merciful and only God be all glory and praise and honor now and unto the ages of the ages. Amen. 

 

But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 1:4

 

The word patience that James uses might be better translated as endurance.  It means remaining steadfast underneath a heavy burden.  And this patience is something that we all need.  In Jesus’ parable of the Sower, none of the seed that is sown grows mature fruit except the seed that falls on the good ground, which represents those who keep the Word of God in a good and noble heart and bear fruit with patience. 

 

James bore fruit with patience.  He didn’t believe his brother Jesus until after His resurrection from the dead. Paul says that Jesus appeared personally to James after his resurrection.  James repented and believed in His Savior, his brother whom he now called his Lord.  He did the will of Jesus’ Father in heaven by believing in Jesus and enduring the suffering that comes with it. He became Jesus’ true brother then, and his actions at the Council of Jerusalem in Acts and his epistle show an urgent zeal for steadfastness in the faith that he had gone most of his life without. 

 

James became the bishop of Jerusalem.  His epistle was written after the stoning of Stephen, when a great persecution scattered his congregation all around Judea and Samira.  His epistle is written to the Jews who first believed the Gospel – to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.

 

James wrote to persecuted Christians.  He immediately appeals to them to rejoice in their trials, because he knows that this is how our faith produces patience, and patience is precisely the perfection that Jesus means when he says, “You shall be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” 

 

James isn’t talking about moral perfectionism when he says “that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”  He is talking about the perfection of the Father, the God who, “makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”  This is the perfection that Jesus showed all the way to the cross.  “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  Perfection in this life is not ceasing to sin.  If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  No, perfection, completeness, is found in Christ, who showed us the love of the Father.  It is a forgiveness won by James’s brother and ours.  It is the mercy that acknowledges the love of the Father for those who hate Him and us.  It is faith receiving forgiveness and love growing from that faith in patience.  It is forgiving those who do us wrong as God forgave us.  It is living with the conviction that this love is worth more than all riches.  It is walking in the truth that God has reconciled the world to Himself by the death of His son, that He is gracious to all, that the sins which others commit against us and which hurt us, are forgiven by the perfect and patient obedience and death of Christ on the cross.

 

This is the perfection that God gives us already on this earth, while we are still sinners.  It is the perfection that Stephen proved when he cried out for those who were stoning him to death, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.”

 

And this is our prayer, that we love those who have not loved us, that we face this world of sin and death and suffering with the confidence that the same Jesus who faced this same world will confirm us to the end, as He did with our dear sister Bekka, and as He did with our dear brother James.

 

Don’t ask with doubting.  What doubt can there be?  It’s either the world that is dying or our Lord Jesus who is risen.  It’s either riches that leave us or the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. And you love Him because you know His love.  It is the love that kept Bekka steadfast in the truth faith unto life everlasting. It is the love that kept James in the faith when the rulers of the Temple dragged him to the pinnacle of the Temple and threw him down, and then stoned him on the ground until he was dead.  It is the love that has met you when you sinned and didn’t turn you away, so how can this love fail you?  Then let not your faith fail to pray without doubting, because He who promised you life is faithful, and He does not lie. 

 

We don’t pray because we are worthy but because God has promised to hear us.  James was a sinner who knew the grace of God, and He knew that it wasn’t in vain.  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ made him a new man.  And when he saw that he had rejected the truth, he embraced it in his risen brother and Lord.  He asked for wisdom and He got Jesus. 

 

So ask, brothers and sisters.  Is this world tempting you to join her in her futile quest for glory?  Know that friendship with the world is enmity with God.  God loved the world and gave His only Son.  Remain in Jesus and you will have the love you need toward the world.  It is not the love that admires the rich and successful and powerful.  It is not the love that is lost when an election is lost or a job is lost or a wife is lost.  It is the love that rends the tomb in two and raises the dead and gives life to those who were dead in their trespasses and sins, but you are not dead in sins, if you have tasted that the Lord is good also to the evil and justifies the ungodly. 

 

Persecution is here and it will continue.  The world will hate you simply because you cling to Jesus.  It is not your anger that will show the world Christ’s righteousness. No, it is your turning the other cheek, just as Jesus gave His face to those who struck Him.  So receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.  Receive the word and do it.  Pray.  Pray for Stephan and Gabe and Sam without doubting.  Pray for me and your pastors at home without doubting.  Pray for yourself and your loved ones and your enemies without doubting.  Pray for wisdom, and God will give it.  You will lack nothing, because you will have the perfect wisdom.

 

It will not be the wisdom of this world which does not know God.  It will be the wisdom that is crucified on a tree for sinners.  This wisdom God will pour into your heart in times of trial and trouble.  You will learn to forgive as you have been forgiven.  You will learn to die to yourself with the prayer, “Lord, do not lay this charge against them!”  God will press your faith until love blooms.  

And when God takes from you the joys that this world thinks make life worth living, then you will still have the word which will not pass away when the rich and powerful are shown to have wilted and withered and have nothing.  But you even now have what Bekka and James now see with their soul.  You have the face of the Father smiling at you; here He counts your tears and puts them in His bottle; there He will dry them all from your eyes.  Here your faith is tested so that you produce fruit that will last beyond the grave; there you will bring your sheaves and sing salvation’s glad refrain.  Here you feel the weakness of flesh and blood; there you will see your own body glorified even as Christ’s is.  Here you must endure, you must be patient, you must feel the pruning hook; there you will feel only joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing will flee away.  Here you must mourn with hope; there your hope will be fulfilled, when the wisdom you prayed for with faith’s Amen! will shine in and around you and you will not be alone.  James will be there.  Bekka will be there. All the saints will be there. How my heart yearns within me! 

 

Dear Father, grant us the wisdom that comes down from above, that we, being instructed in the doctrine of the blessed apostles, may not fear death or any adversary, but may endure with patience, bearing fruit that is grown by Your grace and love, through Christ our Lord. Amen.  Alleuia! Christ is risen!