Acts 15:12-22; James 1:1-12; St Matthew 13:54-58
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The observance of the Festival of St James today is a bit polemical. The Western Church, of which Lutheranism is most certainly a part - or, more accurately, the proper continuation of - has never historically known of a celebration for a certain, “St James, Brother of our Lord,” on October 23rd. The Eastern Church celebrates St James on this day, but when they use the term “brother” they mean something different than our American ears hear. They mean, “step-brother,” that is, James and his siblings are children of Joseph from a previous marriage, before he was betrothed to the Virgin Mary, the Bearer of God.
To be fair, traditionally the Western Church has meant something different by “brother,” too. The Greek term adelphoi, typically translated ‘brother,’ doesn’t always or only mean biological-blood brother. It can also mean close relative or kinsman. What we would call a cousin, perhaps. This definitional clarification is made in Western Christendom because, according to tradition, St Joseph and the Virgin Mary did not have biological children of their own after the birth of our Lord. St James, the Kinsman of our Lord, was just that. A cousin.
But there are as many Jameses in the New Testament as their are Marys. More in fact. Sorting them out, while holding to the simplest grammatical explanations, keeping in mind tradition and the view of our fathers in the faith, including Luther who believed St Mary remained a perpetual virgin, can be a bit dicey. We want to honor our fathers in the faith. We want to believe the right things. And we want to have clear scriptural evidence for our beliefs. These are all right and good.
So, why does this all matter? In a way it doesn’t. We don’t have a Pope commanding you to believe in the Semper Virgo, the Perpetual Virginity of St Mary. Neither is Scripture clear as to who St James, the Adelphoi of our Lord really is. In the end it is relegated to that theological category of adiaphoron, things neither commanded nor forbidden by Scripture. It is not essential for your salvation to hold certain pious opinions about the sex life of the Mother of God.
But it is absolutely essential for salvation to believe correctly concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
Sadly, however, it is this truth which the people of Nazareth rejected. He came to His hometown and He taught them in their synagogue so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s Son?” Familiarity breeds contempt. Or so the saying goes. And the household of Jesus was all too familiar. He grew up among them. Was known by them. But the Nazarenes would not accept Him.
The crowds couldn’t malign Him. His preaching, His miracles, His life, all in total alignment with Moses and the Prophets. He’s perfect. Maybe a little too perfect for them. The Law of God demands complete and utter perfection, perfect righteousness, in order to enter into eternal life. Who can withstand in the face of such scrutiny? We look for scapegoats. The Nazarenes had James and Joseph and Simon and Judah and their sisters. The household of the carpenter. The brethren of Jesus. They think He’s crazy. They don’t believe in Him, why should we?
As it was in Nazareth, so it is for you. No one ever says that they are offended by Jesus. They find all sorts of other reasons to be angry. The pastor is a jerk. The organist makes mistakes. The church is full of hypocrites. That denomination is too patriarchal and culturally backward. Man has easily taken offense since the time of Can who took offense that Abel’s sacrifice was accepted by God.
We don't like being spotted in our sin. We don’t like being called out in our misbelief. The Nazarenes hate what Jesus says and they cannot argue with it, so they just refuse to listen. They reject it out of hand. We do the same thing. When we come across those difficult passages of Scripture that run up against our preconceptions, against our own culturally informed notions of right and wrong, we find ways around them. Who says any form of sex outside of one man-one woman marriage is wrong? Who says women can’t be pastors? Who says I should go to church every Sunday and receive what is given there? Who says I should pray for my leaders and submit to their authority?
The Word of Jesus is not adiaphora. Not something we can take or leave. Believe or not. You can’t be a Christian and just believe whatever you want regarding God’s gifts of marriage and chastity, the God given vocations of men and women, the Word and Sacraments, the kingdom of the left, and a host of other things clearly taught from Sacred Scripture. I’m not going to lie: the Biblical teaching on these matters is polemical; the Word of Jesus is scandalous and even offensive. And why not? They all flow from the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man, which is a scandal to Jews and follow to Gentiles.
But you, dear Christian, do not take offense at these things. Where the Word of the Lord pushes hard against your fleshly desires, your worldly presumptions, your culturally influenced worldviews, repent. For the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ which crucifies your flesh is also that which is the power and wisdom of God unto salvation.
This is why the Word became flesh. Why He was born of His Virgin Mother and grew up in a household with sibling rivalries and dissension and animosity. Christ Jesus did not become a Man to please Himself, nor the sensitivities of others, but to please His Father. He became a Man in order to die for those who hate and betray and reject Him. God became a Man in order to make men His again.
Our Lord Jesus knows what a mess family life can be. How offenses are given and taken. How we hurt those we love the most. But this is precisely where His Gospel is at work, between sinners, among brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, within households sustained upon the foundation of confession and absolution, repentance and faith, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ and His Word.
Nazareth would not accept Him. Apparently even His own household, including St James, did not believe in Jesus until after the resurrection. After a special appearance of the crucified and risen Christ to him, St James was brought to faith (1 Cor 15:7). His brother never gave up on him. The Word of the Lord never returns to Him void, but always accomplishes the purpose for which He sends it. That is, it creates and sustains faith by the work of the Holy Spirit, in those who hear it, where and when it pleases God.
St James understood this as evidenced by his influential role at the Jerusalem Council recorded in Acts 15. He, along with Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and the rest of the House of Israel, did not quite understand yet how the Gentiles are being grafted into the vine stock of Israel and incorporated in the Household of Christ, His Church. It is St James, the Brother of our Lord, who cites Sacred Scripture in defense of the ingrafting of the Gentiles. He is James the Just.
Whatever their familial relationship in this life, St James and our Lord Jesus never shared an earthly father. But now, through faith in His Word, they share the same heavenly Father.
The Nazarenes were scandalized to call him “the brother of Jesus,” but in faithful obedience, he was happy to submit to His Brother and call himself a slave of Jesus Christ, His God and Lord.
The early church historian, Eusebius, recounts a record of his death in A+D 62:
The Pharisees came to James and said: “We entreat you, restrain the people: for they've gone astray in their opinions about Jesus, as if He were the Christ. We entreat you to persuade all who have come here for the day of the Passover, concerning Jesus. For we all listen to your persuasion; since we, as well as all the people, bear you testimony that you are just, and show partiality to none. Take your stand, then, upon the summit of the temple, that from that elevated spot you may be clearly seen, and your words may be plainly audible to all the people.”
To the scribes' and Pharisees' dismay, James boldly testified that Christ Himself sits in heaven, at the right hand of the Great Power, and shall come on the clouds of heaven.” The scribes and Pharisees then said to themselves, “We have not done well in procuring this testimony to Jesus. But let us go up and throw him down, that they may be afraid, and not believe him.” James was then thrown from the summit of the temple. Seeing that the fall did not kill him, the scribes and Pharisees then stoned him to death.
His Brother was tortured and crucified. He was beaten and stoned. St James bore a few splinters of the Cross of Christ in this life by submitting to the Word of the Lord. And so do you.
And so it is, dear Christians, that St James, the Brother of our Lord, joys to call you “brothers.” They say that blood is thicker than water. That may be true, except when it is the water of Holy Baptism, by which you are made a child of God, a co-heir with Jesus Christ, your Brother not only in the flesh, but also by adoption. For adopted children are true children. You are a sibling of the Son of Mary, the Son of God. You are a member of His household, the Church. His Father is your Father. Blessed are you in Christ Jesus, for you shall receive the crown of life.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The observance of the Festival of St James today is a bit polemical. The Western Church, of which Lutheranism is most certainly a part - or, more accurately, the proper continuation of - has never historically known of a celebration for a certain, “St James, Brother of our Lord,” on October 23rd. The Eastern Church celebrates St James on this day, but when they use the term “brother” they mean something different than our American ears hear. They mean, “step-brother,” that is, James and his siblings are children of Joseph from a previous marriage, before he was betrothed to the Virgin Mary, the Bearer of God.
To be fair, traditionally the Western Church has meant something different by “brother,” too. The Greek term adelphoi, typically translated ‘brother,’ doesn’t always or only mean biological-blood brother. It can also mean close relative or kinsman. What we would call a cousin, perhaps. This definitional clarification is made in Western Christendom because, according to tradition, St Joseph and the Virgin Mary did not have biological children of their own after the birth of our Lord. St James, the Kinsman of our Lord, was just that. A cousin.
But there are as many Jameses in the New Testament as their are Marys. More in fact. Sorting them out, while holding to the simplest grammatical explanations, keeping in mind tradition and the view of our fathers in the faith, including Luther who believed St Mary remained a perpetual virgin, can be a bit dicey. We want to honor our fathers in the faith. We want to believe the right things. And we want to have clear scriptural evidence for our beliefs. These are all right and good.
So, why does this all matter? In a way it doesn’t. We don’t have a Pope commanding you to believe in the Semper Virgo, the Perpetual Virginity of St Mary. Neither is Scripture clear as to who St James, the Adelphoi of our Lord really is. In the end it is relegated to that theological category of adiaphoron, things neither commanded nor forbidden by Scripture. It is not essential for your salvation to hold certain pious opinions about the sex life of the Mother of God.
But it is absolutely essential for salvation to believe correctly concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
Sadly, however, it is this truth which the people of Nazareth rejected. He came to His hometown and He taught them in their synagogue so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s Son?” Familiarity breeds contempt. Or so the saying goes. And the household of Jesus was all too familiar. He grew up among them. Was known by them. But the Nazarenes would not accept Him.
The crowds couldn’t malign Him. His preaching, His miracles, His life, all in total alignment with Moses and the Prophets. He’s perfect. Maybe a little too perfect for them. The Law of God demands complete and utter perfection, perfect righteousness, in order to enter into eternal life. Who can withstand in the face of such scrutiny? We look for scapegoats. The Nazarenes had James and Joseph and Simon and Judah and their sisters. The household of the carpenter. The brethren of Jesus. They think He’s crazy. They don’t believe in Him, why should we?
As it was in Nazareth, so it is for you. No one ever says that they are offended by Jesus. They find all sorts of other reasons to be angry. The pastor is a jerk. The organist makes mistakes. The church is full of hypocrites. That denomination is too patriarchal and culturally backward. Man has easily taken offense since the time of Can who took offense that Abel’s sacrifice was accepted by God.
We don't like being spotted in our sin. We don’t like being called out in our misbelief. The Nazarenes hate what Jesus says and they cannot argue with it, so they just refuse to listen. They reject it out of hand. We do the same thing. When we come across those difficult passages of Scripture that run up against our preconceptions, against our own culturally informed notions of right and wrong, we find ways around them. Who says any form of sex outside of one man-one woman marriage is wrong? Who says women can’t be pastors? Who says I should go to church every Sunday and receive what is given there? Who says I should pray for my leaders and submit to their authority?
The Word of Jesus is not adiaphora. Not something we can take or leave. Believe or not. You can’t be a Christian and just believe whatever you want regarding God’s gifts of marriage and chastity, the God given vocations of men and women, the Word and Sacraments, the kingdom of the left, and a host of other things clearly taught from Sacred Scripture. I’m not going to lie: the Biblical teaching on these matters is polemical; the Word of Jesus is scandalous and even offensive. And why not? They all flow from the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man, which is a scandal to Jews and follow to Gentiles.
But you, dear Christian, do not take offense at these things. Where the Word of the Lord pushes hard against your fleshly desires, your worldly presumptions, your culturally influenced worldviews, repent. For the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ which crucifies your flesh is also that which is the power and wisdom of God unto salvation.
This is why the Word became flesh. Why He was born of His Virgin Mother and grew up in a household with sibling rivalries and dissension and animosity. Christ Jesus did not become a Man to please Himself, nor the sensitivities of others, but to please His Father. He became a Man in order to die for those who hate and betray and reject Him. God became a Man in order to make men His again.
Our Lord Jesus knows what a mess family life can be. How offenses are given and taken. How we hurt those we love the most. But this is precisely where His Gospel is at work, between sinners, among brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, within households sustained upon the foundation of confession and absolution, repentance and faith, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ and His Word.
Nazareth would not accept Him. Apparently even His own household, including St James, did not believe in Jesus until after the resurrection. After a special appearance of the crucified and risen Christ to him, St James was brought to faith (1 Cor 15:7). His brother never gave up on him. The Word of the Lord never returns to Him void, but always accomplishes the purpose for which He sends it. That is, it creates and sustains faith by the work of the Holy Spirit, in those who hear it, where and when it pleases God.
St James understood this as evidenced by his influential role at the Jerusalem Council recorded in Acts 15. He, along with Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and the rest of the House of Israel, did not quite understand yet how the Gentiles are being grafted into the vine stock of Israel and incorporated in the Household of Christ, His Church. It is St James, the Brother of our Lord, who cites Sacred Scripture in defense of the ingrafting of the Gentiles. He is James the Just.
Whatever their familial relationship in this life, St James and our Lord Jesus never shared an earthly father. But now, through faith in His Word, they share the same heavenly Father.
The Nazarenes were scandalized to call him “the brother of Jesus,” but in faithful obedience, he was happy to submit to His Brother and call himself a slave of Jesus Christ, His God and Lord.
The early church historian, Eusebius, recounts a record of his death in A+D 62:
The Pharisees came to James and said: “We entreat you, restrain the people: for they've gone astray in their opinions about Jesus, as if He were the Christ. We entreat you to persuade all who have come here for the day of the Passover, concerning Jesus. For we all listen to your persuasion; since we, as well as all the people, bear you testimony that you are just, and show partiality to none. Take your stand, then, upon the summit of the temple, that from that elevated spot you may be clearly seen, and your words may be plainly audible to all the people.”
To the scribes' and Pharisees' dismay, James boldly testified that Christ Himself sits in heaven, at the right hand of the Great Power, and shall come on the clouds of heaven.” The scribes and Pharisees then said to themselves, “We have not done well in procuring this testimony to Jesus. But let us go up and throw him down, that they may be afraid, and not believe him.” James was then thrown from the summit of the temple. Seeing that the fall did not kill him, the scribes and Pharisees then stoned him to death.
His Brother was tortured and crucified. He was beaten and stoned. St James bore a few splinters of the Cross of Christ in this life by submitting to the Word of the Lord. And so do you.
And so it is, dear Christians, that St James, the Brother of our Lord, joys to call you “brothers.” They say that blood is thicker than water. That may be true, except when it is the water of Holy Baptism, by which you are made a child of God, a co-heir with Jesus Christ, your Brother not only in the flesh, but also by adoption. For adopted children are true children. You are a sibling of the Son of Mary, the Son of God. You are a member of His household, the Church. His Father is your Father. Blessed are you in Christ Jesus, for you shall receive the crown of life.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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