Tuesday, 17th Week of Ordinary Time

James 2:14-26
Morning Prayer

So, is James picking a fight with Paul over the relationship of faith and action?  Many readers of this letter over the centuries have concluded exactly that.  Martin Luther couldn’t read James out of the New Testament.  But he did not include it among what he considered the “chief proper books.”  Today’s reading was the cause of his low opinion.  For Luther, the heart of the Good News was what he considered Paul’s teaching of justification by faith: that lost in our sin, no human work can earn God’s mercy.  But if we confess our trust in Jesus Christ who died for our sins, then we will be saved.

To be fair, Paul did not say that someone who professes their faith without that faith ever finding expression in action would be saved.  But it would be fair to say that some of those taught by Paul came to equate the freedom of the Gospel with freedom from moral obligation, to which the author of this letter was responding.  For today, that’s enough said on a theological topic that I fear has been beaten to death.  Let’s look again at the word “faith,” synonymous with “belief.”  I’ve said that in the New Testament; to “believe” in Jesus Christ often means to trust Jesus Christ, as opposed to agreeing with certain positions about Jesus.  My impression is that more often than not, we today use “faith” in that second sense much more than in the first, to our detriment.

Look closely at James’s example of Rahab, whom James reminds us was a prostitute.  As Israel is conquering the Promised Land, Rahab hides the Israelite spies in return for the Israelites sparing her and her family when Jericho falls.  But is Rahab’s faith a position?  “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us” (Joshua 2:9).  This woman who has been quite comfortable worshipping many gods is hardly in a position to understand the theology of monotheism.  She only knows that this particular God has a power greater than any she has worshipped.  And with as much understanding as she has, she embraces the God of Israel.  And keeping faith with Israel, she is spared by Israel and her trust vindicated.

Another reason Luther didn’t like James is that it did not “show forth Christ.”  Only twice in this letter does James mention Jesus.  But those who have the grace to trust that, indeed, “Grace happens,” however far they are from that grace, are close enough to Jesus for James.  The teaching will come soon enough.  But for those who visit us, they will be converted by grace and justice sooner than a doctrine.