Easter 6 2019 Rogate
James 1:22-27
May 26, 2019
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
There’s an old tradition that St. James’ the lesser, the brother of Jesus and author of the Epistle, had knees were calloused in prayer. If true, then it is very fitting that we hear from him on Rogation Sunday, which refers to the “asking” that we heard in our Introit this morning. To carry along the theme, in the Gospel reading, Jesus teaches us about prayer. In the Epistle, James enlarges what we prayed in the Collect of the Day. We are to be hearers of the Word of God, but also doers of that Word. We hear the teaching and reality which marks the risen life of the Christian., a life of holy thought and life of daily duty in service and love toward the neighbor.
It’s helpful when reading this passage, and in fact all of James, to have a good grasp of the distinction between what is called “passive faith” and “active faith.” Now, to be clear there is only one faith, not two kinds or types or anything like that. Part of the point from St. James is that this one faith is both passive and active. Passive faith is reference to faith that receives the promises and the blessings of God. Thus faith itself is a gift from God. On your part faith is passive, it doesn’t “do” anything, it offers nothing, and it contributes nothing. It is your hand into which Christ lays all that He has to give.
While it is most certainly true that we are saved by faith alone in Christ alone, for faith passively receives Christ’s righteousness, faith is never alone. Good works always follow true saving faith. In this way, faith is always accompanied by love and hope. Faith produces works. This is what is referred to as “active faith,” which is really just a way of talking about faith working itself out in love expresses in service toward others. This too is a work of God. God produces faith within us that passively receives Christ’s benefits which then leads us to start doing the things that God has expects us to do in cooperation with the Holy Spirit.
This is what James is getting at. “Be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Hearing the Word leads to application of the Word. It is necessary to do good works. This doesn’t mean that we earn grace by doing good works, but because it is God’s will (AC XX 27). And so later on in chapter 2, James says, “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” It’s like a man who glances at himself in the mirror and then forgets what he looks like. There’s no true recognition, no deep understanding, nothing that endures past the immediate moment. It is indifferent toward spiritual things, lazy with false security.
This has taken many different forms throughout the years. An all too often heard excuse is that one doesn’t need to go to church, doesn’t really need to read the Bible or receive God’s gifts of Word and Sacrament, but one only has to “believe.” Yet faith comes by hearing and is fed by the Sacrament. Without these, faith withers and dies.
Related to this is also the misinformed and unbiblical attitude, “I’m spiritual but not religious” as if those things are opposed to each other. James gives a definition of religion here, one that is rooted in the spirituality of the cross and anchored in passive, and active, faith in Christ and lived out among the community of the saints. Being “spiritual” in an internal, mystical, privatized, highly-individualized way is not true, saving faith. Rather, it is an excuse which uses spirituality as yet another means of escaping from the external world ever deeper into one’s own self. That kind of religiosity is isolating, with the potential of intensifying our loneliness and lack of connection with the external world. It leads to a lack of doing the Word as a person becomes increasingly cut off from hearing the Word (adapted from Gene Veith).
In James, indeed in all of Scripture, spirituality and religion are not something different. Religion is not a set of intellectual beliefs nor a movement nor a relationship, but it is the deeds that a person does because of their faith and what has been passively received in Christ that are carried out within the community of believers. Or in other words, it is active faith in Christ produced by the passive faith in Christ lived out in the context as the body of Christ.
Our Lutheran Confessions put it this way, “A person keeps the Law when he hears that for Christ’s sake God is reconciled to us, even though we cannot satisfy the Law. When Christ is apprehended as Mediator through this faith, the heart finds rest and begins to love God and to keep the Law. It knows that now, because of Christ as Mediator, it is pleasing to God, even though the incomplete fulfilling of the Law is far from perfection and is very impure” (Apology 4.270).
It starts with the mirror, of being shown our own reflection, and who we really are. The Law of God, that is to say, the will of God for His creation, shows us the reality of things. The mirror of the Word shows us our sin, but even more, the Word of the Gospel reveals the righteousness that we have in Christ. Genuine righteousness seeks to serve others as it is Christ’s righteousness and He came to serve sinners. God, who implanted His Word in us and justified us, calls us to serve others.
James identifies three ways that this is done. First, to bridle the tongue. James warns of the dangers of the tongue when misused, as well as the benefits of this. Here, our Gospel reading becomes very applicable. Jesus’ teaches us about prayer, which is a part of our active faith. It is the positive fulfillment of the 2nd Commandment, calling upon the name of God in every prayer, praise and giving thanks, interceding for the world with the grace of God.
Second, in charity, in serving others, most notably caring for the widows and orphans, that is, caring for those who are most in need. We often pray for an increase of faith in Christ and love for others. This is the positive fulfillment of the 5th Commandment, to help and support our neighbor in every physical need.
Last, in purity, to keep oneself unstained from the world. As we need to have self-control in how we speak and charity in regard to others, so we also need purity to avoid sin in our own lives. But this is more than just avoidance of sin. It includes repentance, of the stain of our sinfulness washed clean by Christ, a forgiveness and righteousness that is delivered by Christ through the Word and Sacraments and received by faith passively so that your faith may actively serve your neighbor, that you may be hearers and doers of the Word of Christ.
And finally, when speaking or thinking about faith, passive and active, this is the most important thing: faith always has an object, faith is always “in” something or someone. True, saving faith is faith “in Christ.” This one true faith receives Christ’s victory over sin, death and the devil. This one true faith works itself out in the love of Christ. This one true faith speaks of Christ and directs our attention to Christ who is the Word, and the Doer of the Word for you.