James 2.1-17 , Mark 7.24-end
Bridestowe, Lydford, Trinity 14 (Proper 18), 9/9/2012
How do people know what you really believe? By looking at what you do.
How do people know if you have faith? By seeing it work in you.
It's not what you say, it's what you do that counts.
When I was here in July I mentioned the old Jesus People anthem ‘We are one in the Spirit, We are one in the Lord’; how it doesn’t say, ‘And they’ll know we are Christians by our creeds, by our creeds’. It says, ‘And they’ll know we are Christians by our love’. And love is something which we don’t just say - it is something we do.
The letter of James opens up to us the uncomfortable possibility that what we think we are doing as Christians just might be revealed, on inspection, as quite different from what we are actually doing.
James' letter encourages us to face this tricky question about our Christian lives, about our church life: is what seems to be going on, what is actually going on?
The church might think that we are faithfully taking part in God's redemptive purposes for the world. But are we? How can we tell? We can tell by looking at what we do. That's what James is on about.
James knows that the Gospel is a performance, and we are the actors in it. Our actions demonstrate our values, our beliefs, our assumptions.
If all the world is a stage and we are the players, then it is in acting out the drama of life that we express our Christian beliefs. From Act One Scene One to the very final curtain they'll know that we are Christians by the way we behave onstage.
And as actors work together on a production, relying on each other’s encouragement and skill to develop each scene, so we Christians need each other’s help and encouragement in the task of mission. As the old song says, ‘We will work with each other, we will work side by side ... And we'll guard each one's dignity and save each one's pride. And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.’
'Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead'. James preached this because he had come to see that there was a difference between what the believers thought they were doing and what they were actually doing.
In their times of worship together James heard the believers saying 'Amen' when they heard the words of scripture, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' He saw that when the neighbour was someone who came in to worship wearing gold rings and in fine clothes they got a lot of attention and were offered the best seats. But when the neighbour who came in to worship was a poor person in dirty clothes, they were told to stand or to sit at the believers' feet.
This, James told them, was making distinctions among themselves, and becoming judges with evil thoughts. This, James told them, dishonoured the poor. What the believers thought they were doing was loving their neighbour as themselves; but what they were actually doing was showing partiality.
By looking at what they did, James saw what these Christians really believed. The believersthought they believed in equality for all in the love of God; but what they actually believed was that some people - the well-off ones - were worth more to them and to God than the poor.
'What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?' asks James.
How do you react to someone who you can see are in need, but don't know what to do to help them - or won't help them. When you see a person whose thin and worn-out clothes aren't keeping them warm enough, who clearly aren't eating well and maybe haven't had a good meal for days - how do you respond? Do you say to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill', and send them on their way.
James sees the Christians doing this and tells them, 'If you don't supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?' 'Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.'
The Jesus we follow through Mark's gospel walked in a land like ours - a land full of demons and deaf people and those infected by madness and disease. He walked where these people walked. And when Jesus was stopped in his tracks by these people, this is what he did: he spoke with them, touched them, healed them.
He put his fingers into their ears, he spat on them and touched their tongue. Without any regard for health and safety regulations, or for the niceties of religious law, Jesus sent these people away with their bodies and spirits restored.
People knew what he believed about them by what he did for them. It's not what he said, it's what he did that counted.
To demonstrate that, Jesus had a little argument with a Syrophoenician woman who came to him to ask him to rid her little daughter of an unclean spirit. Because she was an outsider, not from round there, he rejected her approach. Said a nasty thing to her. Called her a dog. Said, 'Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.' It’s the sort of thing that most other people in that situation would have said to her, or if too polite to say, would have thought. Why should you, a foreigner, come here and take our benefits?
But the woman took his rejection as a challenge, persevered with him, said in reply, 'Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.'
And to show that it's not what he said about her, it's what he did for her that counted, Jesus told the woman, 'For saying that, you may go - the demon has left your daughter.' And she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Jesus models for us the way to show our belief to others. By that I don't mean we should go around calling people names who ask us to help them. By that I mean that we should walk where people walk. And if people stop us in our tracks, we should be attentive to them, speak with them, and if they're lonely people we should try to do something to touch them, and if they're broken people we should try to do something to heal them.
We can do this because Jesus does it to us first. We can do this because it's a joyful way to live. We can do this by encouraging each other to live out our beliefs in this way.
So, if you’ve experience of being helped or healed of a particular problem, let it be known to the Christians around you - so that others can come to you for advice on how to help people they know going through something similar.
Or if you’ve experience in working with, lets say, the homeless or the unemployed, or medical experience, or social work, or other skills in helping others, let this be known, so that others can draw on what your experience offers them, or those they’re trying to help.
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand, And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land, And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.
Note
Revised version of a sermon preached in Liverpool, September 2009.
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