Possible

And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. ³⁷For nothing will be impossible with God. Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Luke 1:36-38

 

Nothing is impossible with God.  This is the fundamental truth about the story of Christmas.  The birth of Jesus, the story of Mary, Zechariah and Elizabeth, the shepherds and the wisemen, Herod…it is an amazing and miraculous story.  That God would enter into this world and live among us; that God would be so humble by taking on flesh and blood for the sake of humanity. This is nothing less than the impossible becoming possible.

 

Mary was a teenage girl who was inconsequential.  She was no one from nowhere.  She was engaged to be married to Joseph the carpenter, but it was an arranged marriage that she had no say about.  And yet, God chose Mary to bear the Christ child.  God could have picked a queen or a princess.  God could have picked a priest or well know leader’s family to have the child.  God could have done anything, but God chose Mary.  This of course says a lot about Mary.  She was faithful and obedient to God.  She says yes when she had so much to lose.  Yet the story is remarkable not only for what it says about Mary, but more importantly what it says about God.  God chose to come into this world as an illegitimate son.  God chose to come into this world as a child born into to poverty from a family with few prospects.  God chose to live among us in obscurity and incognito for 30 years.  God could have chosen otherwise but did not.

 

God’s decision reveals a lot about God’s heart.  God has a heart for the oppressed and marginalized.  God has a heart for the nobodies of this world.  In Jesus, we clearly see that God is up to something powerful and miraculous.  God is fulfilling the promises made through Moses and the prophets.  God’s kingdom is entering into the world to transform it.  Mary understood God’s big plans and signs the beautiful Magnificat which ends thusly:

 

He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

⁵²He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

and lifted up the lowly;

⁵³he has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty.

⁵⁴He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy,

⁵⁵according to the promise he made to our ancestors,

to Abraham and to his descendants forever. Luke 1:51-55

 

The kingdom of God, ushered in through the birth of Jesus, it is a great reversal.  God’s work in the world is to bring peace and hope and love to a dark, troubled, and broken world.  God will humble the exalted and exalt the humble.  God will bring justice and mercy into this world.  God’s kingdom makes the impossible possible.

A Loss of Hope

Luke 1:1-25; 57-80

Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” Luke 1:18

As we enter the season of Advent and take time to reflect upon what the birth of Jesus means for us today, it is natural to re-read the scriptural accounts.  Some stories we know well, while others are far too often overlooked.  The story of Zechariah and Elizabeth is vitally important to the story of Jesus, because of the divine action in the birth of John the Baptist.

Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were considered “righteous” and “blameless” before the Lord (1:6), despite not being able to have children.  The scriptures tell us that Zechariah had prayed to God for a child (1:13) but they in their advanced age were childless.  As a temple priest, Zechariah would have been seen as a leader in the community but because they had no children there would have been some people who would have questioned Zechariah and Elizabeth’s faithfulness to God.  In those days (and today) children were seen as a blessing from God.  But it was also true that not having children was a point of shame and disgrace, particularly for Elizabeth (the women always get blamed!) (1:25).   They may have prayed for years for a child and yet nothing changed. 

When the angel comes to Zechariah with the news that he will have a son who will be an instrument of God’s work, he should have been thrilled. After all, God heard the prayer and was delivering.  Instead Zechariah responds with doubt and disbelief.  “How will I know this is so?” (1:18). He is asking for a sign from God in order to believe.  If anyone should be able to have faith or believe in the mysterious ways of God it should be a priest or religious leader.  But Zechariah has lost hope. He has lost a sense that with God all things are possible; that just because a situation may seem desperate or bleak God can and will bring redemption and transformation.  Zechariah has lost hope and asks for a sign.  The angel silences him and he is then unable to speak until after the child is born. 

When we lose hope and cannot believe in the promises and presence of God, we live in a silent and devoid world.  We can no longer hear God’s voice or receive the good news. Hope is not wishful thinking or naïve.  Biblical hope, a God-filled hope, is the belief that God can and will turn suffering into redemption, a belief that despite all outward appearances God will heal a broken world, a belief that God’s love is stronger than hatred or division or greed or anything else that divides us.  Hope is a choice to believe despite the evidence to contrary, and despite the long and arduous wait. 

Zechariah lost hope in the midst of waiting.  He lost hope waiting for a messiah and could no longer see what God was up to.  I pray that we all might maintain hope and reminder Paul’s words:

We also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not disappoint us. Romans 5:3-5

Worldy and Godly Wisdom

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. James 4:4

What is the proper relationship that a person of faith should have with the world? Must me take James' absolutist perspective that the world is totally bad and always oppossed to God?  Can anything good come from the world?  Throughout his letter, James offers stringent exhortation for the community of faith. They must reject the wisdom from below (worldly wisdom) and seek to follow the wisdom from above (Godly wisdom). Following the way of the world is dangerous because it fundamentally challenges the community of faith to stay connected to God and to one another.

Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. James 4:1-2

Worldly wisdom promotes competition and envy among people. We crave what we do not have and we crave more of what we do have. These cravings drive our behavior to acquire more and cause us to see others as opponents or obstacles that stand in our way, rather than fellow human beings worthy of dignity and respect. Within the church, a worldly widsom driven by envy and competition is disastrous for the mutual spiritual building up that we are called to live out.

James rightly calls out this behavior and mindset and calls the faithful to abide by the wisdom from above. The wisdom from God never forgets that God is the source of all blessings; God is the one who blesses us and provides for our needs. Godly wisdom is humble. Godly wisdom does not crave and strive for more but finds contentment and peace within God's grace. "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you." (James 4:10)

James writes to a community of people who continually find themselves in the tension between worldly and Godly wisdom, a tension that continues today. We cannot ever truly separate ourselves from the world, nor should we strive to. God created the heavens and the earth and called them good. There is much beauty, goodness, and love in the world. But we also must remember that the ways of the world tear down and destroy. We must be in the world but not of it. We must be able to be in the world in order to share God's love and grace with others. But we must also be able to stand back and view the things of this world from a spiritual perspective. We must be able to critique the world and call ourselves and others back to faithfulness. Like any tension, it is always a difficult balance to maintain. Thus the Christian community is so vital because it can offer us support, encouragement, and correction.

Taming the Tongue

But no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. James 3:8-9

Growing up I remember being taught: "sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me." Usually this was the last line of defense against those who said mean and nasty things to me. The only problem is it isn't true. Words do hurt. Words cause lasting and deep pain. In fact, the physical pain we endure often heals while the emotional pain from words of judgment and condemnation can last a lifetime. So, how are you using your words? To build people up with praise and encouragement or to tear people down with words of judgment, critique, and meanness?

James really understood human nature and the capacity of the tongue to spout venom and evil words. I cannot imagine meeting someone who at some point in their life has not said things they regret; hasn't used hurtful words. Unfortunately, the most hurtful words we use are often against those we love the most. We speak words of hurt and judgment to our children, parents, and our partners. These words cannot be taken back or undone. James' words for us are convicting words of caution, but also words of encouragement. Our tongue can be used to tear people down, but can also be used to build people up. We can speak words of love into people's lives. We can bless people with encouragement. We can console people who are hurting. Our words can give hope and comfort. The choice of what comes out of our mouth is ours to make. What will you choose to say?

Faith and Works

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? James 2:14

James is deeply focused and dedicated to help the early Christian community live as fully dedicated followers of Jesus. He speaks powerfully against those who profess to be followers of Jesus with their mouth, but whose actions do not measure up. Hypocrisy has always been a major challenge for the faith community and remains the biggest complaint against Christians today. When we say we love others, but act in mean spirited ways, we betray our faith. When we say we are concerned for the poor, but do nothing to address poverty we demonstrate our hard hearts. When we say we love God, but only focus on ourselves we prove to be a shallow imitation of a disciple. James wants us to live our faith in action as well as in our hearts. James' call to the church is to be one that cares for the most vulnerable, is committed to loving acts of service and is seeking a community where all people are included and respected as people of God. The good fruit of faith is works of love and service.

For all this we can commend James' contribution to the cannon. He has much to say to all of us and we need to take his challenge seriously. But James also speaks about being justified (made righteous) through works not through faith.

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. James 2:24

James argues that faith alone cannot justify our relationship with God. It is through works of love that people's relationship with God is made right. This is the opposite of what the apostle Paul argues:

Yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. Galatians 2:16

Paul says that we are justified by faith in Christ and NOT by works of the law. This is the complete opposite of James. How do we reconcile such opposing view points on a topic as important as salvation?

Martin Luther saw this contradiction clearly and advocated dismissing James from the bible as he called it "an epistle of straw." His theological vision was closely tied to Paul's articulation of justification in Galatians and Romans (see Romans 3:21-26). For Luther, works could never get us closer to God. Only Jesus can provide salvation which comes as a free gift of grace through faith. Since the time of the Reformation, Luther's interpretation has held sway among Protestants leading to the marginalization of James' influence. But did Luther get it right? Are James and Paul really arguing against each other? Does James really have nothing to offer? Is it possible to follow Paul's interpretation of salvation and James' exhortations for living the Christian life?

I find it helpful to remember that neither Paul nor James were writing as a systematic theologian. They were both deeply concerned about the real lives of the Christian community and write pastorally. Their concern is not to carefully articulate a well-reasoned and precise theological argument for how salvation happens. Rather their primary concern is for people to live faithful lives. James' argument is compelling because he does not allow us to be self-satisfied in our relationship with God. It is not enough to be a believer; true faith will be expressed in action. Paul says many similar things about good works and loving others. In the end, I think Paul probably gets justification right but James is more helpful in encouraging us to live faithful lives. Without the letter of James we would be without a strong and powerful voice calling us to live lives worthy of being called a follower of Jesus. This voice is needed today.

Doers of the Word

But be doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. James 1:22

The letter of James is hard-hitting and intense. James challenges us to be all-in for Christ and he is unrelenting in requiring complete devotion to God. It seems almost inconceivable that someone could read James and not feel spiritually inadequate or that their actions do not measure up to God's expectations. I certainly feel convicted when reading it. That being said, James is also a faith-filled letter with encouragement and deep insight into human nature. James challenges the reader/hearer to apply their faith into their life in real and meaningful ways. This is an important message for all of us to hear and even more important for us to do.

When James tells us that that we must be doers of the word and not merely hearers of the word, he calls out all of us who sugarcoat and qualify the tough teachings of scripture to fit our own agendas. James knows our tricks and knows our ability to self-deceive. We can often comfort ourselves with the idea that we are faithful to God because we come to church, read the bible, and pray regularly. But James insists that the life of faith is more than this. "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for the orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." (James 1:27) To be a doer of the word is directly linked to helping the most vulnerable of the society in their needs. We cannot claim to be faithful to Christ if we merely hear these words but do not act. For James, faith is an action verb and it is best expressed in acts of love and compassion for those who are most needy. This is a challenging word for all us and calls us to get off the comfy sidelines of passive faith and into the game of serving and loving our neighbor.

The life of faith is not easy; it requires everything we have and is not without hardship and difficulty. But James also articulates the great promise that the life of faith offers.

Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. James 1:12

To love the Lord means to be doers of the word; that our whole life is focused on faithfully living out our calling as children of God. May we each have the strength and courage to be doers and not merely hearers.