You know who Martin Luther is, right? Not Martin Luther King, Jr., but Martin Luther… The man who nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Wittenburg chapel in 1517, starting a reformation that forever changed Christianity... The man after whom the Lutheran church got its name...
He was no fan of the book of James.
You may recall that it was Martin Luther who said that we are saved by faith alone, not by works. This was a radical idea for his time, and was a correction to the abusive practice of priests offering forgiveness to church members by selling indulgences or requiring them to perform other tasks in order to obtain forgiveness. Luther based his idea of “saved by faith”, in part, on the book of Ephesians, which says that we are saved by grace through faith.
But as we just heard, in the book of James it says that faith without works is dead. This strikes a balance to what it says in Ephesians, but Luther found it offensive. He even called the book of James “an epistle of straw.”
Luther also disliked the book of James because the works James talks about are specifically works that benefit the poor. Despite the many good things Luther did, Luther was no friend to the poor. Maybe he felt he had to pick his battles, and with his already radical ideas, he didn’t want to further upset the authorities. But when the peasants were being oppressed, and they launched a rebellion in protest, Luther showed them no compassion. He had very little compassion for the poor. Instead, he sided with the authorities - those with wealth and power.
So that’s another reason why Luther hated the book of James.
However, the call to care for the poor is certainly not unique to the book of James. I’ve mentioned many times before how the plight of the poor was a primary concern of the ancient prophets. In fact, God called prophets in times when the poor were left behind by economic policy. When only the kings and ruling elites benefitted from a nation’s prosperity, and the poor were oppressed, the prophets proclaimed God’s judgment. But when the poor were included, and were able to benefit from fair and just economic policies… well, in those times, God didn’t call any prophets. There was no need.
And of course, Jesus also spoke about helping the poor. He talked about caring for the least of these, and he pronounced God’s blessings specifically on those who were left out of the blessings of the world.
After 2,000 years of Christianity, one would think we would have found a way to follow the call of the prophets, follow the call of Jesus, follow the call of James, to care for the poor. And yet, even today, justice and opportunity are denied to the poor. Like Martin Luther, many today still defend economic policies that favor the rich and deny justice to the poor. Many today look down upon the poor, the homeless, the struggling workers living paycheck to paycheck, and those who are unable to work. “Let them fend for themselves.” “Let them pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.”
Never mind that they have no bootstraps - or boots, for that matter.
How important is caring for the poor in the book of James?
The book of James has a chiastic structure. That means that the main point comes not at the beginning or at the end, but at the center. In this case, the center comes at the first half of chapter two, and the first half of chapter two is all about not making distinctions between rich & poor. What comes before this is a leadup to the main point, and what comes after is further explanation and application of the point.
Leading up to chapter 2, the focus is on giving. “Every generous act of giving is from God.” In other words, God’s nature is to be generous, and those who give and show generosity are allowing God to be present in them and through them.
“Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers.” (1:22). The rulers like to talk about equality, about community, about generosity, but they do so little.
Then, in chapter two, the heart of the matter. James writes: “Do you, with your acts of favoritism, really believe in Jesus?”
Ouch. This statement is to the point and brutal. If you favor the rich, if you neglect the poor, then it doesn’t matter what words come out of your mouth. It doesn’t matter how much you say you are a Christian.
Your actions betray you. You have made distinctions, favoring some people over others. You have shown preference to the rich. You drag the poor into court. You have neglected to care for the poor as Christ instructed you. You pretend to have faith, but your lack of action shows that your faith is dead.
In verse 19, James goes so far as to say that even demons believe. Demons believe, demons have faith - and they shudder, because faith by itself is not enough.
Goodness gracious, no wonder Martin Luther didn’t like the book of James!
Help the poor. Let your actions match the words you speak, the faith you proclaim.
Let me throw some church words at you. The first is orthodoxy. Orthodoxy has been a main concern of the church over the centuries. Orthodoxy means “sound doctrine.” In other words, having the right beliefs.
A lot of churches today are concerned with orthodoxy. They have lengthy, detailed statements of faith, and they expect all their members to agree with and abide by their statement of faith.
But a growing number of Christians are discovering that orthodoxy by itself is not enough. In addition to orthodoxy, Christians must also focus on orthopraxy.
Orthopraxy is correct conduct. Instead of having the right beliefs, orthopraxy means having the right actions and behavior.
In our current reformation, there is a renewed interest in orthopraxy. More people are realizing it’s not enough to just say that you believe, say that you are a Christian; one must also show by one’s actions and behavior that they are a Christian.
Orthodoxy and orthopraxy are big words, but it makes sense, right? Don’t just believe in Jesus, but also act the way Jesus would want you to act. Don’t just say the right words; back those words up with how you behave.
And although church history has tended to emphasize one or the other, they really belong together. Because to truly believe in Jesus, you will follow as best you can the way of Jesus. You will devote yourself to Jesus and the things Jesus stood for, the things he lived and died for. You will commit yourself to living in the kingdom of God.
According to James, the way of Jesus is the way of perfect love. Of course, none of us can love perfectly. Martin Luther did not love all people perfectly. Modern rulers do not love all people perfectly. You and I do not love all people perfectly. For this reason, all of us do depend on grace for salvation, as Martin Luther said.
But as James points out, it’s still important to do our best to show love. Showing love through our actions is important. We are still called to do the best we can, to grow in love every day, to show acts of love to our neighbor.
Love, James wrote, is more important than judgment. Love triumphs over judgment. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Anytime we find ourselves judging, criticizing, complaining, or discriminating against another, we are neglecting love. Anytime we justify our privilege over another, anytime we rationalize our way out of working for equality, we are neglecting love.
What James is saying, we know instinctively. We know it in our hearts, without even having to be told. Because when we think about the people whose faith we most admire, it’s usually not those who can eloquently express their theological ideas, systematically or not. It’s not those who boast of their faith on street corners or on twitter.
It’s those who actually do good works. It’s those who actually perform acts of love. We see them doing acts of love, acts of goodness, and we think, “What great faith they have.”
James would say the demons stand on street corners and boast on twitter. The demons may even go to church. But only those who truly have faith are out there, feeding the poor, defending the rights of the oppressed, working for equality, fighting against racism, speaking out against all forms of hateful rhetoric, and defending the victims of hateful rhetoric: immigrants, Muslims, the LGBT community. Only those who truly have faith are out there, putting love into action.
I want to tell you about Victoria Pratt, a judge in New Jersey. She gave a TED talk about her experience as a judge, in which she said that her job is to render judgments about whether a crime has been committed; but it’s not her job to render judgments on people. “People would be satisfied with the judge’s ruling, even if the judge ruled against them, if they perceive that they were treated fairly, and with dignity and respect.”
She said that when she was moved to criminal court - the courtroom that had the reputation for being the worst courtroom in the state of New Jersey - she carried this philosophy with her. The people who stood before her were drug addicts, drug dealers, prostitutes, mentally ill homeless persons… many of whom showed up in court over and over again.
They had bad attitudes and troubled lives. Even the officers and lawyers felt like they were punished because they had to work there; one lawyer even called them “the scum of the earth.” These were the people he was representing!
Could Judge Pratt render judgments on crimes without rendering judgments on people here?
She described a 60 year-old who appeared in her courtroom, handcuffed, obviously dealing with drug withdrawal. She asked him: “How long have you been addicted?”
“30 years.”
“Do you have any kids?”
“Yes, I have a 32 year-old son.”
“So you’ve never had the opportunity to be a father to your son because of your addiction…”
He started crying.
She told him: “Go home, come back in 2 weeks, and we’ll give you some assistance for your addiction.”
Two weeks later (“surprisingly,” she said) he showed up in court. “Judge, I came back to court because you showed me more love than I had for myself.”
And in her TED Talk, Judge Pratt said: “My God, he heard love from the bench?”
People in her courtroom leave wanting to turn their lives around, because of the respect & dignity & love shown to them. In that courtroom, they are seen as human beings, not as “the scum of the earth.” That is mercy triumph-ing over judgment. Love, triumphing over judgment.
Unfortunately, we are tending to do just the opposite, even when we’re not in a courtroom. We are judging people, poor people, as if they are criminals, as if they are scum, when they are simply trying to do their best in a system that is still rigged against the poor, a world that is hostile toward the poor.
They are struggling for equality, struggling to survive… and they are being judged for their efforts. Did you see the judgmental reactions this week when Fox News tried to shame actor Geoffrey Owens by posting a photo of him bagging groceries at Trader Joe’s? A man working hard to support his acting career by bagging groceries deserves praise, not shame and judgment. And fortunately much of the reaction he received since that initial post has been positive.
Because when we are at our best, we show love and encouragement, not shame. We show support, especially to those who are working hard to make ends meet; support and love to those who are struggling.
Just like the peasants Martin Luther was so hostile toward, peasants who were treated unfairly, who had absolutely no way to pull themselves up by their bootstraps because society gave them no boots, and then were judged and condemned by Martin Luther for trying.
It’s not easy to show perfect love. We will make mistakes, and we will fail, and we will need to ask for forgiveness. But showing love is what it’s all about. Putting love into action. Caring for the poor. Working for justice on behalf of all those who have been oppressed.
Thank God we have our church. Our church is our training ground. It’s where we learn to love. It’s where we practice love.
We’re going to be starting our stewardship campaign, and I rejoice in the opportunity to make a pledge to support the ministry of this congregation for another year. Because through the ministry of Bixby Knolls Christian Church, I learn to put my love into action, to truly love my neighbor as myself, and to demonstrate that actions and behavior do matter. It makes me a better person, and helps make our community and our world better, too.
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