DOERS OF THE WORD
James 1:17-27
17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. 21 Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. 25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.
26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
The Book of James is a book of admonitions (on average, one for every two verses) designed to help nascent Christians understand their faith. It follows the Wisdom tradition by emphasizing the law and understanding as a pathway to God and right living. There are no stories. Jesus is barely mentioned and there are no parables. Like the Torah, it is pragmatic. It provides guideposts and guardrails for the faithful. James strongly emphasizes the need to walk the walk. Talking is not enough. He wants us to understand the inextricable connection between belief and behavior. To separate them makes religion worthless.
In this passage, there are three themes which summarize the passage and summarize the whole book of James. First, we are a new creation, birthed by the word of truth. Second, he contrasts our anger with God’s righteousness and third, he contrasts those who claim to hear and those who do God’s word. James would argue that if you are not doing God’s Word, you didn’t hear it in the first place.
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The image that we are ‘birthed by word of truth’ suggests a concept of life that runs contrary to many of our natural instincts. The word of truth says we are part of God’s creation, not the center. Survival of the fittest, one of our most basic natural instincts, make regard for others a luxury to be offered only when our needs are met. But the ‘word of truth’ says our needs are important but not the only ones that count. The ‘word of truth’ calls us into constant discernment to balance the needs of the one with the needs of the whole. When we ignore or dismiss our impact upon others, we act out of sinful self-centeredness.
The lectionary passage does not include the supporting verses to James’ first summary point, but they are important. “14 But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it; 15 then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved.” We want an easier life. We may even think we deserve one. When that happens, we turn away from God and to a false sense of self-importance. We lose humility. We become entitled and we seek what we cannot keep. Death is the only end to such a life.
The ‘word of truth’ tells us we are creatures. None of us escape aging and frailty—unless of course we die at the peak of our abilities. (A rather high price to pay to avoid the hardships of real life.) Paradoxically, there is much to learn in enduring temptation, loss and suffering. Christians call such learning ‘redemptive suffering.’ Such experiences allow us to see life as it is rather than insist upon how it ought to be. If the Son of God could experience rejection, suffering and death, I don’t believe any of us will get a free pass. It is hard enough to live through these experiences without calling them bad or unfair. They are hard but that does not make them ‘bad’. Rather, they are part of life as a creature. But, as ‘born of the flesh’ beings who want to hold on to what we know, we will spend an inordinate amount of energy asking ‘Why?’ or ‘Why me?’ We are likely to feel persecuted and entitled to relief.
Living in the word of the truth frees us to live instead of wasting our lives complaining about what we cannot change. We have many desires about the way our lives ‘should be’ but as often as not, they are generated from a false focus upon the importance of self. It is hard to live in the truth that we are simultaneously special—we are children of God—and specks of dust in an infinite universe.
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“Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.”
We spent a lot of time on this one in FIRL. These are concrete, practical guidelines to help us be mindful of both us and our impact on others. Quick to listen says be willing to suspend judgment long enough to be curious. Listening means creating a space for conversation. Slow to speak reduces our temptation to say, ‘yes, but…which is almost always an attempt to make our point, prove we are right or actively dismiss the possibility of other points of view. God’s righteousness calls us into a relationship. Self-righteousness dismisses others and seeks its own way. And almost always our anger is self-serving and interferes with relationships.
Psychologically, our anger is secondary to our sense of helplessness and our inability to make things ‘right’. As often as not, even when we are defending others or advocating for justice, we are imposing our sense of justice upon others. Even if we are ultimately correct, the way we go about such advocacy can be just as sinful as the people we are complaining about. It is hard not to be prejudiced and indignant about prejudiced and indignant people. But when we do not engage in this struggle, we are expressing our anger, not God’s righteousness. Again, God wants us to be in respectful, mindful relationships. We cannot force others to do likewise. We can only articulate what we believe—and then treat others (even those who mean us harm) with curiosity and respect.
It is hard enough to hold these values in the center of our thinking. It is infinitely harder—and dangerous, to live with them. Ask Jesus. It did not work out so well for him. That said, we hold to the faith claim that such a life leads to life that death cannot destroy. Holding to such a faith claim is the new birth provided by the word of truth. We live in an angry time. Such anger is fed and exploited. It is all too tempting to meet dismissal and anger with more of the same. Revenge and indignation feel so much more satisfying than the vulnerability and accountability that reconciliation requires.
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“Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
I still love to watch movies in which the ‘bad’ guy gets what he deserves. It is hugely attractive to think we can intimidate people into peace. It just doesn’t work. We end up feeding a circle of violence—interpersonally and globally. I understand this but I discover, to my dismay and embarrassment, that doing the word is a whole lot harder than understanding the word. Indignant bemoaning other people’s angry reactions does us little good. In fact, we are far more likely to feed the secular cycle of self-righteousness rather than striving for God’s righteousness.
As a very practical tool, gratitude lists are helpful here. When we spend the energy to identify what we are thankful for, we create a space for humility and positive feelings. It is simply harder to feel indignant when we experience gratitude. Unfortunately, in real life, our focus is almost always, “Why is it so hard for me?; Why can’t I have what ‘they’ have?” We almost never ask: “Why do I have such privilege? Why do I have the opportunities I have? Or even, “Why was I born in the United States and not in a third world country?” Our bias is to wonder or complain about what we don’t have rather than focus on what we do.
If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
James does not mince words. If we are claiming to be religious, we must do the work of reigning in our secular, worldly selves. We must not deceive ourselves.
We must reign in our harsh words and judgments. We must be proactive about care for others, and we must remember our concepts of deserving are virtually all self-serving. We must be doers of the Word. Let it be so.
