Fr. Bill Carroll – The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, September 1, 2024
Be doers of the Word, and not merely hearers.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today’s lessons urge us not just to believe in Jesus, but to follow him. Our faith is worthless. they assert, if it does not change our lives. The letter of James, in particular, makes this bold claim by building on the biblical prophets, and the life and teachings of Jesus.
The Book of Amos, for example, says that our worship offends God unless it leads us to mercy and justice:
I despise your festivals, (says the LORD), and take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and your grain-offerings, I will not accept them. And the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals, I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs. I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Or, to quote from another prophet–the prophet Isaiah, whom we often hear on Ash Wednesday:
Is not this the fast that I choose (says the LORD): to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
In the New Testament as well, belief and devotion are not enough. We aren’t really listening to the Word of God, until we show mercy and do justice to our neighbors in need.
And so, we feed the hungry. We house the homeless poor. We welcome immigrants and strangers. We protect widows and orphans. And we speak up—and we stand up—for the most vulnerable, who have God alone for their helper.
In our lessons today, both James and Jesus use a variety of images drawn from agriculture. There is planting and harvesting going on. James speaks to us about the “implanted word that is able to save our souls.” He tells us that we are the “first fruits” of God’s harvest of righteousness. The Word struggles to grow among us, because of the weeds that we and others have planted. James calls this the “rank growth of wickedness.”
Clearly James is building on the teachings of Jesus. Our Lord tells us we will know his followers by their fruit. “I am the vine (he says) and you are the branches. Abide in me and bear much fruit.” Jesus calls himself the “grain of wheat” that “falls to the earth and dies.” He sows the seeds of the Kingdom, and he compares us to various types of soil. He wants us to hope that we are the good soil, where God’s love can sprout and grow.
Jesus is important for James, as the teacher of the Kingdom and the Savior of the world. But the Father of Jesus is just as important, because he is the God of grace and the giver of every good and perfect gift. The critics of James, Martin Luther chief among them, fail to recognize how grace-centered his whole letter is. The “implanted word” and the growth it brings are God-given gifts from the “Father of lights.” Just like in Paul, so too in James, our faith must become “active in love.” It must transform us into different kinds of people.
In today’s lesson from Mark, we see a kind of argument that Jesus often has with his critics. Here as elsewhere, Jesus argues as a Jew among Jews. And he does so on the basis of the Torah and the prophets. When the scribes and the Pharisees see disciples eating without washing their hands, it causes a scandal among them. It’s not an issue of good hygiene, but rather of ritual purity. As God commands his People in Leviticus: “Be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy.”
In other words, we have been set apart for God’s purposes, and so should work to distinguish ourselves from the world. According to the Pharisees, the disciples of Jesus fail to observe the basic distinction between clean and unclean. They are neglecting the heart of a certain kind of priestly religion–one that is beautiful and powerful, one that can foster our spiritual growth.
And it is important to see that the response of Jesus does not reject the outward forms of religion. Rather, like other faithful Jews, Jesus seeks always to keep the purpose of the commandments in view. Jesus wants our religion to change our lives. Our God is a God of love and justice. And so, Jesus works to remove barriers that keep poor and exploited people from faithfully keeping the Torah. He is opening up a place for tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners in the Kingdom of God. He is opening up a place for anyone who has ever been excluded or mistreated or considered unclean.
As disciples of Jesus, we should be out in the world getting our hands dirty, finding God in the struggles of ordinary people. And so, “it is not what goes into the body that defiles a person, but what comes out.” Things like fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, and folly. By contrast, a pure heart yields a different kind of fruit—one filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Jesus is a kind of surgeon. His words cut us like a scalpel. He is cutting away the “rank growth of wickedness” from among us. He is cutting away our malice and greed. He is cutting away our lust for power, our dishonesty in daily life, our excessive pride. He is making room for the works of mercy and justice. He’s making room for ordinary people, like you and me. What we do with our bodies still matters, because our works reveal our hearts. For Jesus, receiving the gift of the Kingdom means making God’s ways our own. That’s what it means to follow him. That’s what it means to turn from the ways of sin and death–and to choose to live in him.
And so, “be doers of the Word, and not merely hearers.”
For “faith without works is dead.”
Amen.