We'll begin with the text upon which the sermon was based, James 2: 1-17.
2 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
On Sunday we talked about the whole faith and works thing. We'll get to that another day. The other sermon I wanted to preach was on the paragraph from verses 8-13. James makes a bold claim: if you break one part of the Law you've broken it all. I've talked about similar things using the same commandment he cites, "Love your neighbor as yourself." But James takes it even further in verse 11 by pointing to the great Law-Giver. The same One who said one part of the Law also said the other. To go against his word in one way is the same as going against it in the other.
In one swoop James personalizes all of the Law and Scripture. This is a brilliant corrective to the bugaboo we've been talking about for the last couple weeks: objectifying (and thus depersonalizing and distancing) our faith.
As with sin two Sundays ago, as with faith last Sunday, we fall into the trap of thinking about offenses against the Law as things unto themselves. "I committed this sin but I did not commit that one. That sin is bigger or worse than the one I committed. Therefore that person is a bigger sinner than I." Offenses are described as detached objects with their own distinct mass. They can be picked up and put down at will. The implied goal: don't pick up anything too heavy and you'll be OK. It's all up to you! The Law, then, is just a list of tables, delineating the offenses and how much they each weigh.
This loophole allows all kinds of nastiness to enter into our lives of faith. This is exactly where the, "Oh yes, we're all sinners BUT..." mindset comes from. That statement is inevitably followed by finger pointing at some person (or group of people) who are then ostracized from God's family by virtue of their terrible transgressions. We'd never be so crass as to claim we're sinless. We know God wouldn't like that. So we allow ourselves a little sin while reserving the right to condemn our neighbors for their much greater ones.
James says, "Nuh-uh". Sin isn't a detached object that can be weighed and measured. Sin is a transgression against a person...God and the neighbor whom God loves. Saying, "At least I didn't commit that sin" is the same as kicking your mom in the left shin and then saying, "At least I didn't kick you in the right one! Or slap you! Or pull your hair! Remember Jimmy pulled your hair last week? Don't you hate him worse?" This makes no sense. You hurt somebody. You violated the trust of that relationship. That's the point, not how you did it.
Personalizing the Law makes everything come crystal clear. We're not spiritual accountants, doing the books. We're in a living, breathing relationship with God and with our neighbors. We have to tend to that relationship every day. The Law tells us how to love God and how to care for the people whom God loves. He loves them so dearly that hurting even the least of them is the same as hurting him. Understanding this is far different than understanding the Law as a choice between big and little sins, trying to figure out what we can get away with and who did worse or better than somebody else. The latter way of thinking is self-centered, the former focused on caring for others. The latter way puts you in the position of judging sins and everyone who commits them. The former puts you in service to God and everyone around you. They're opposite ways of thinking and cannot co-exist.
We say glibly, almost as a matter of rote, "We're in relationship with God." It's an article of faith, one of those things that you say and then go, "Yeah, yeah, so let's get on to the important stuff." We need to stop right there. That IS the important stuff. It's a real relationship. Unless we start out seeing it as such we'll never understand the things we're trying to get on to. That all of us have heard (and some have said) things like, "My sin is little and theirs is bigger" only shows how easy it is to forget the most basic, important things as we rush to justify ourselves and our own prerogatives.
I wonder who we think we're fooling? You can almost see God standing there, waiting until our little speech runs down so he can tap us on the shoulder and say, "Pssst. I'm still here. Shall we talk about that shin-kicking incident now or do you want to justify it some more at the expense of your neighbor?" Any other response besides, "I'm sorry" and then starting to tend to that relationship more faithfully is only more foolishness.
I pray you have wisdom and that all the people of faith around you will as well.
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
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