“Loving our Neighbors” Colchester Federated Church, September 8, 2024, Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost & Rally Day (James 2:1-17)

As I shared last Sunday, we are spending the whole month of September engaging with the New Testament Letter of James.  We remember that this James is none other than the brother of Jesus, and the leader of Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem.  Sometimes people call him James of Jerusalem or James the Just.  Now unlike Paul, who often wrote letters to faith communities about specific situations (and sometimes communities in conflict), this letter is quite broad.  In fact, some Biblical scholars argue that this letter belongs to the genre of Wisdom Literature.  The Letter of James is aligned with the Sermon on the Mount—arguably Jesus’ most important moral teaching.  So, the way we will explore James together is as part of the Wisdom Literature tradition.  Because the Letter of James contains wise instructions for how people can still live out our lives faithfully following in the footsteps of Jesus. 

Last Sunday we thought about anger.  We considered the wisdom that James shared: “Know this, my dear brothers and sisters: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to grow angry.”[1]  We considered the evolutionary realities of what happens to our bodies when we feel anger and what that surge of energy does within us.  We also considered that anger has a way of masking feelings beneath the surface and how we can best respond when we are faced with anger.

This Sunday we are contemplating what loving our neighbors looks like.  James of Jerusalem offers us a scenario to consider.  Imagine that two people walk into our worship service at the same time through our big green front doors.  One person has a gold ring on their finger and is wearing nice clothing.  The other person is poor and dressed in filthy rags.  Suppose we took special notice of the one wearing the nice clothes and jewelry and said, “Here’s an excellent place to sit” and our ushers led them to a pew near the front.  We all are excited that this person is here with us to worship.  We’re the cool church where the cool people come.  Just look at this lovely visitor!  Though suppose that to the poor person we said, “Stand over there in the back” or even, “Sit on the ground over there so you won’t disturb anybody.”  We think to ourselves, ugh, we can’t believe that person came here on this beautiful Sunday morning.  Did you even see what they were wearing? 

Now, how would this behavior from good church-going Christians show our understanding of Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves?  James cautions the earliest followers of Jesus to not show favoritism among themselves.  Because when believers show favoritism to the rich, they are discriminating against the poor.  People start acting like judges who judge other people according to their own prejudices and self-interest and not according to God’s values.

The wisdom that James shared is: “You do well when you really fulfill the royal law found in scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself . . . My brothers and sisters, what good is it if people say they have faith but do nothing to show it?  Claiming to have faith can’t save anyone, can it? . . . faith is dead when it doesn’t result in faithful activity.”[2]

This is one of the most powerful statements about Jesus’ message in the entirety of the New Testament.  That faith is dead when it does not result in faithful activity.  What is the point of claiming to have faith in Jesus as our teacher and savior and moral exemplar if that faith claim doesn’t at all affect how we treat other people?  Christians can be some of the most loving people out there.  But too often, Christians can be judgmental jerks.  It was Mahatma Gandhi who famously said to a Christian missionary named E. Stanley Jones: “Oh, I don’t reject your Christ.  I love your Christ.  It is just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ.”[3]

The truth is that sometimes there is a gap between what we preach and how we live.  There is a gap between saying that we must love God, love our neighbors, and love ourselves as Jesus taught and actually putting that call to love into action.  In the letter, James further gives the example of imagining someone who is naked and never has enough food to eat.  What if somebody said to that person, “Go in peace!  Stay warm!  Have a nice meal!”  What good is it when we don’t actually give that person what their body needs?  James explains, “In the same way, faith is dead when it doesn’t result in faithful activity.”[4]  Our beliefs can hopefully affect our behaviors for the better, for the good of our neighbors.  Our words can hopefully align with what we believe and how we act.  Because to believe is to care, and to care is to do.

This week as our country has been confronted with yet another school shooting, this time at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, we are confronted with what this means as followers of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.  According to The Washington Post, there have been 416 school shootings since the Columbine High massacre in 1999.[5]  416 school shootings.  Once again as we look to the news stories of the day, we are confronted with our American love of guns.  Sometimes I fear that in our country we love our guns more than we love our neighbors.  The phrase we often hear from politicians about their “thoughts and prayers” being with victims is beginning to sound more hollow and rote after each incident of gun violence when it seems that nothing changes.  It’s the same old story.  And we only need to insert the new community that will now face generational trauma when we read about it and write about it and preach about it and pray about it.  That’s part of what can feel so disheartening.

Though at the end of the day, Christianity is a Way of new life and a Way of hope.  We are absolutely allowed to have our moments of rage and despair and everything in between.  But the beauty of our faith is that it compels us to eventually lift up our eyes and soften our hearts and reach out our hands to love our neighbors.  Because that is what Christ called us to do.  As Jesus taught us: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.  Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”[6]  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

[1] James 1:19, CEB.
[2] James 2:8, 14, and 17.
[3] “Gadhi’s Message to Christians,” https://www.mkgandhi.org/africaneedsgandhi/gandhis_message_to_christians.php
[4] James 2:16-17.
[5] Live Updates from The Washington Post, September 5, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/09/05/georgia-school-shooting-apalachee-high-updates/
[6] Matthew 5:3-9, NRSVUE.

Photo by Shaira Dela Peña on Unsplash