July 25, 2010 - Feast of Saint James, Year C (RCL)
Today is the feast day
of Saint James,
the patronal saint of our parish.
And it’s appropriate on this day
to hear the stories of James, and look at how his life
might inspire ours.
There are at least three James in the New Testament.
There’s James the brother of Jesus, who is known as James of Jerusalem or James the Just.
Then there’s James the son of Alphaeus, one of the disciples, who is often known as James the less.
Then there’s James son of Clopas, though some people think he’s the same guy as James son of Alphaeus.
And then there’s James the brother of John,
who’s known as James the Greater.
Confused yet?
Our James
is the last one.
James the Greater.
He’s the one
who has a shell as his symbol,
which is why our parish letterhead
has shells on it.
And for James
it all begins one day
when he’s sitting in his boat on the shore of the Sea of Lake Galilee. His brother John is with him, and his dad,
and they’re mending their fishing nets.
Two of their friends, Simon Peter and Andrew,
are a little ways along the shore, throwing a net out to see if there are any fish lurking in the shallows.
And James and John notice a stranger walking up that way,
and suddenly Simon Peter and Andrew
are folding up their nets,
and next thing
they’ve begun talking with the stranger,
and the three of them
are heading towards
James and John.
And when they get close enough,
John yells,
“Hey you guys, what’s going on? Sick of fishing already?”
And Simon Peter and Andrew
look kind of awkward,
and then the stranger says,
“They’re coming with me. We’re going to fish for people. Wanna come?”
And almost without thinking
James and John get up,
say a quick goodbye to their dad,
and join the other three guys.
And next thing they know,
they’re traveling round with this guy, Jesus is his name,
and he’s teaching people about God, and healing them, and doing all these miracles. And other people have joined them, crowds wherever they go, and among them a smaller group who stick with them, so altogether there’s twelve of them, plus Jesus,
and they become the inner core, Simon Peter and James and John.
Andrew somehow
got left behind,
though maybe he was just happier
to not be quite so intensely involved.
And so it’s James and John who go with Jesus
to the house where Simon Peter and Andrew grew up,
and get to witness Jesus healing Simon Peter's mother-in-law.
And James and John along with Simon Peter
who go with Jesus to the home of Jairus, a synagogue leader,
where Jesus brings Jairus’ daughter
back to life.
It’s James and John
who Jesus gives the nickname
“Sons of Thunder”
and it doesn’t take much to guess
that perhaps the two of them
were a little loud and quick tempered,
prone to rumbling
at the slightest provocation.
Like the time when Jesus and the disciples are on the way to Jerusalem,
and at one village they pass through
no one offers them any hospitality,
and James and John
are ready to call down curses on the people there.
Though Jesus is quick
to squash that idea.
And yet Jesus takes them one day,
along with Peter,
when he goes off to pray,
and they get to witness the transfiguration.
And in that last week of Jesus’ life,
it’s James and John, along with Peter,
who privately ask Jesus
when his predictions
of the destruction of the temple
will be fulfilled,
and it’s James and John, along with Peter,
who go with Jesus to pray
in the garden
of Gethsemane.
James is clearly one of Jesus’ closest friends. ANd so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised
that James and John’s mother
comes to Jesus
and asks,
“Can I have a favor?”
And Jesus doesn’t answer her straight away,
but asks,
“So what do you want?”
“Well, see my two sons?”
and she points to James and John, who are lurking in the background,
“See James and John? Grant that when you’re king, they get to sit with you, one on your left
and the other on your right.”
It’s a reasonable request, for all that the other disciples
get upset about it.
After all, James and John are, apart from Peter, the closest to Jesus. He’s pulled them out by themselves a bunch of times.
You’d expect, that if he was going to become a great political leader, he’d need a couple of key assistants, and who better than James and John? Peter’s really
the only other
contender.
Jesus’s response, though, isn’t what James and John or their mother
expect.
“Can you drink the cup that I drink?”
“Sure,” they answer,
not really sure at all
what he’s talking about.
“You will drink it,” he says, “but the other thing
I can’t promise.
That’s up to my father.”
Of course, the other disciples
are not happy.
What right do James and John have
to push themselves forward like that.
But a few years later,
long after Jesus has died and been raised,
they remember.
They remember,
because King Herod,
not the King Herod that was around when Jesus was born, but his grandson,
equally insecure, equally violent,
King Herod decides
that the followers of Christ have become
too much
of a threat.
And he arrests James
and has him executed,
beheaded.
The first of the disciples
to die
for his faith.
There are many other stories of James, legends
that report him traveling to Spain,
and working miracles that result in the shell being adopted as his symbol.
But what makes him most important
is the promises he made to Jesus.
“Sure I’ll follow you.”
“Sure I’ll drink your cup.”
Not knowing
what it would cost him.
He probably thought
that his promises
would be much more benign.
Yes, he wanted to follow Jesus,
as long as that meant travel, not hardship,
and yes, he was willing to drink the cup that Jesus drank,
as long as that cup contained wine
not poison.
James is a little bit like Peter.
Remember Peter, always enthusiastic,
who said,
“I’ll never deny you, Jesus!”
And then, just days later, denied even knowing him
when Jesus was on trial.
James has that same initial enthusiasm.
But unlike Peter, he ends up being more steadfast, more consistent.
Not as dramatic a leader,
but quietly leading the early church
day by day.
Until the day that Herod decides
to make an example of him.
His faith costs him
his life.
He does drink the cup that Jesus drank,
the cup
of death.
And we
are a lot like
James.
We make promises
often without really realizing
where they will lead us.
At baptism, our parents and godparents
promise on our behalf,
and we reaffirm at our confirmation,
that we turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as our Savior;
we promise to put our whole trust in his grace and love;
we promised to follow and obey him as our Lord.
And then
most often, we forget about it.
But these promises are firm, these promises
are binding.
Following Jesus
make take us places
we never expected.
Putting Jesus first, as our Lord,
means that we will have to put other things
second.
It’s as simple as the baptismal covenant, which we renew
at every baptism.
We promise
to join in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and the prayers.
That’s church. Worship. What we are doing now.
And we promise to do it,
not just once,
as the apostles established it.
Every Sunday. No exceptions.
That’s the promise.
And we promise to resist evil. Standing firm
for what we know is right, standing firm
for what Christ has taught us.
That’s the promise.
We promise to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ. Living out our faith in practical ways, but also opening our mouths and telling people about Jesus.
That’s the promise.
We promise to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves. Seeing Christ in all persons, regardless of their race or gender or ethnicity or sexuality, regardless of their bad temper or personality or political viewpoints. Not getting caught up in gossiping or badmouthing people,
not writing off people
because they are different.
Loving them.
That’s the promise.
And we promise to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being. Working for peace, even when it costs us.
Demanding our politicians put peace and justice as a priority.
Not accepting that it’s okay
for people around the world to have to try to live on less than a dollar a day, not accepting that it’s okay for kids here in this country
to go hungry, or get a poor education, just because they lost the lottery of birth.
That’s the promise.
That promise to follow Jesus
can’t be taken lightly.
Because following Jesus
can take us places
we never expected.
For James, it took him to death.
And yet
undergirding it all
is the love of God.
When we put our trust in Christ
we place ourselves in the hand of God,
a place that is utterly safe, utterly secure.
Because nothing,
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
nothing
can separate us
from the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
© Raewynne J. Whiteley 2010