Sermon manuscript:
July 25 is the day that has been set aside in the church
calendar to commemorate James the Elder or James the Greater. Calling him the
elder or greater differentiates him from James the Younger or James the Lesser.
There are two men named James in the New Testament who are rather important.
The James who is commemorated today is one of the twelve apostles. The other
James is known as the brother of Jesus. He ends up becoming the bishop of the
congregation in Jerusalem. This other James is also the author of the book of
James. But today we are focusing on James the Greater.
Let’s begin by briefly reviewing what we know about James.
James was one of the twelve. He was also part of that inner circle among the
twelve who were with Jesus on a few occasions where the other nine were not.
The other members of this inner circle were John, his brother, and Peter, his
cousin. Peter, James, and John were all called to be apostles at the same time
as we heard several weeks ago. They were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. When
Jesus ushered the fish into Peter’s nets so that they began to break, it was
James and John whom Peter called out to in order to help him. After that all
three of them dropped their nets and followed Jesus.
James and his brother, John, were sons of a man named
Zebedee. They also got the nickname of being sons of thunder. It is believed
that they got this nickname because they were exceedingly earnest and zealous.
One time when they came upon a village that did not receive Jesus they asked
him if they should call down fire upon it. Also in our reading today they ask
Jesus if they can sit at his right and his left—a rather cheeky thing to do,
which we will speak more of in a minute. Obviously these two were not wilting
daisies.
In our first reading today, from the book of Acts, you heard
about how James died. James was the first of the twelve who was martyred. He was
executed by King Herod. This might have been as soon as only a couple years
after Pentecost. Jesus had asked James whether he was able to drink the cup
that Jesus drank, and to be baptized with the baptism Jesus was baptized with.
So it happened. James died because he testified that this world is evil, God is
good, and Jesus is the Savior of sinners. For disrupting the party, which all
the Herodians seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed, he was put to death.
And yet, even though he has died, he lives. Whoever lives
and believes in Jesus never dies. Whenever the Christian church commemorates
the saints it is different than when the world remembers someone. For the
world, when someone dies, that’s it. Fiery James, faithful unto death, is alive
with his soul with Jesus. His body awaits the great Day of the Lord. Whatever
fame or recognition he might have from men is unimportant. He has received his
reward from God. There is nothing better that any creature could hope for than
to hear these words from the Creator: “Well done, good and faithful servant!
Enter into the joy of your master.”
Now let’s turn to our Gospel reading where we heard about
this interaction between Jesus and the brothers James and John.
Mark tells us that James and John came to Jesus with an
unusual request. Let me quickly note that Matthew adds a significant detail. Matthew
tells us that James and John came to Jesus by sending their mother—which is
what the art on the cover or our bulletin depicts. Sending your mother as an
ambassador only makes the situation more unusual when they say: “Teacher, we
want you to do whatever we ask.” Whenever a conversation begins that way,
you can be sure that something unusual is about to happen.
“Make it so that we sit at your right and your left in
your glory,” they say. Something we might expect is that Jesus would not be
pleased with such an idea. The world is always hungry for glory and honor. The
Bible teaches that this honor and glory belongs to God. We are told over and
over again in the Scriptures that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the
humble. Here James and John are asking to be seated at the best spots.
Jesus does not rebuke them, however. Jesus had a fine sense
for what people were actually after. He must have sensed that James and John
were not thinking in a worldly way. Jesus asks them if they are able to drink
the cup that he is going to drink and be baptized with the baptism Jesus is
going to be baptized with. They answer, “We can.”
The way that Jesus then responds shows that he is not like
us. Proud men are fond of asking rhetorical questions of those they deem
unworthy. Proud men ask others whether they think they can do their job. Proud
men believe that only they can do their job. Everybody else is unqualified or
inexperienced. So if proud men ask whether someone can do their job and the
other says, “Yes, I can,” then proud men say, “Ho, ho, ho! You think so do you?
You’d better have a second thought coming!”
If there were ever a situation where this lording it over
others seems to be appropriate, it might be this situation. When Jesus speaks
of this cup and this baptism he is speaking about his suffering and death. By
his selfless love, Jesus was going to drink the cup of suffering and be
baptized in blood. He would not be put to death because he was a criminal and
evil doer, but precisely because he loved God and strove for what is good.
Jesus’s suffering and death would redeem all people as justice is carried out
upon him for the sins that you and I have committed. When James and John say
that they can do what Jesus does, it seems like the more accurate answer for
Jesus to give would be, “No, you can’t.”
But Jesus is an unusual person. When there are differences
among us, we always want those differences to remain so that we look good. If
we are better looking than someone else, we want it to stay that way. If we
have more money than somebody else, we want it to stay that way. If we are more
morally upright, we want it to stay that way. With Jesus, even though he is
vastly superior in every respect to everyone else, he does not use this difference
to glorify himself, to magnify how terrible everyone is compared to him. He
uses his immense power to lift others up so that they become like him. He
doesn’t laugh at how others don’t measure up. He wants others to be better. If
it were possible, he would even have others be better than himself.
So Jesus says to James and John, “You’re right. You will
drink the cup that I’m going to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I’m
going to be baptized with.” He wonderfully does not domineer over these
disciples, who probably don’t know what they are saying. It’s like he’s looking
on them as a kindly father might deal with his young son. The father knows that
the son has a long way to go before he can do what the father does, but he
wants to help his son, not humiliate him. He wants to encourage him. So he
tells the son that he’s going to be just as good as he is, if not better.
Here James and John were wanting to follow in the footsteps
of their master, Jesus. Here is a greatness and a glory that is good to strive
after. Striving to have your name written in the history books, or to have
everyone wish that they were you, is sinful pride. Luther called pride the
queen of sins. It was sinful pride that came before the fall into sin. They
wanted to be like God. This is the kind of pride that angers God so that he
becomes an iron wall. But striving to become more like Jesus is no sin. This
kind of glory is beneficial to others, because the goal is to make other people
better—even better than yourself. It is not the one who has a lot or who is
receiving a lot who is great. It is the one who gives who is great.
But if this endeavor is genuine and Christian, it will
always be a kind of glory that is utterly hidden and even repulsive to the
world. Jesus died in shame. He was bruised, covered in spit, and mercilessly
mocked. This is what the world always does when their works, that they are so
stinking proud of, are pointed out as evil. That would be the way that the
apostle James died too. People thought that he was judgmental and insubordinate
to the Jewish authorities. I’m sure he made no secret of what he thought of
Herod’s abominations. He was too religious, too zealous. Perhaps you noticed in
the reading that his arrest and execution pleased the people. They were glad that he got what was coming to him. The
people didn’t like James.
Do not romanticize the cross that Jesus gives us to carry.
The cross is ugly and offensive to the world and to our reason. It appears to
be unnecessary and fruitless—like someone is just throwing his or her life
away. Christian suffering is not just when our money, our business, or even our
lives are taken away. These are things that people might be willing to bear
because there is a kind of glory that our reason can recognize as being great
in that. No, Christian suffering includes even having our good name taken away.
In this we follow Jesus. Nobody was better than Jesus, but
what did people say of him? The Jews thought that he was a dangerous heretic,
the worst of the worst, destroying Moses’s Laws and leading people into hell.
To this day the orthodox Jews see Jesus as the worst of the worst. The Romans
thought that he was a total nutjob. He claimed that he was a king. He claimed
to be important. When he was hanging on the cross they came up with some pretty
funny jokes about that. Even Jesus’s own disciples, by and large, abandoned
him. They thought that he must have been an imposter when he said that he was the
Christ, because there he was—condemned and dying. Only those who have eyes to
see and ears to hear can perceive the glory of God in such things.
But if this is the glory that you would like to strive after,
then blessed are you! If you want to drink this cup and be baptized with this
baptism, then you should be encouraged, just like Jesus encourages James and
John here. Having the ambition of loving more, serving more, suffering more
gladly, blessing those who curse you, loving your enemies—these are the best of
things. These are the things that the Son of God did. God loved his Son and
everything that Jesus did. Every moment of Jesus’s life was precious to him as
he loved and loved and loved even to the end. You may be sure that God is well
pleased with you, as his good and faithful servant, when you are following in the
footsteps of Jesus.
And when we follow in the
footsteps of Jesus we don’t need to be too worried about falling into pride. The
cross will see to that. When the other disciples heard about James’ and John’s
request they were indignant. “Who do they think they are?” they wondered. But
Jesus cleared that up pretty quickly. Worldly people are always wanting to be
the best and sit at the best seats and have everybody wish that they could be
as good as they are. “That’s not how it should be among you,” Jesus says.
“Instead,” he says, “whoever
wants to be great among you will be your servant, and whoever wants to be first
among you will be a slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be
served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Here we
do not have a race to the top, where we are stepping on whomever we have to in
order to get there. This is a race to the bottom if you will. Who can serve
more? Who can put others ahead of themselves? That one is the great one.
And so the apostle James was made great. He walked in the
good works that God had prepared beforehand for him to walk in. He did not
despise the cross and seek to be rid of it. He was not ashamed of the name of
Jesus or of the Gospel. He was faithful unto death and has received the crown
of everlasting life. He is an example for us to follow. God approves of his
Son, so you should strive to drink the cup he drank, and to be baptized with
the baptism with which he was baptized.
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