221023 Sermon for St. James, brother of our Lord

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The name “James” was common among the Jews during New Testament times. This means that there is more than one “James” in the New Testament. In fact, there are three “Jameses.” Let us briefly go through them so that we know which James we are talking about today.

The James we know the least about is sometimes referred to as “James the less.” This James was one of the 12 apostles. He is the son of Alpheus. That is about all that we know about him.

There was another man named James who was also one of the 12 apostles. He is sometimes called “James the greater.” We know quite a bit more about this James. This James was the brother of the apostle John. He was part of what some people have called “the inner circle” of the apostles. On some occasions Jesus took along only Peter, James, and John. For example, these were the only three apostles at the mount of transfiguration. This James was the first of the 12 apostles to die. He was killed by King Herod Agrippa I. When the Gospels speak of James, they are almost always referring to this James, the brother of John, the son of Zebedee.

The James whose feast day we are observing today is only mentioned in the Gospels. In fact, you heard his name mentioned in our Gospel reading today. The people of Jesus’s hometown ask, “Isn’t this Jesus the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother named Mary? Aren’t his brothers named James, Joseph,” and so on? This third James in the New Testament is called the brother of our Lord Jesus. From our Gospel reading today we can gather that Jesus had a somewhat large family. Four brothers are named, and there must have been at least two sisters.

What does it mean that Jesus has brothers and sisters? Matthew and Luke tell us in their Gospels that Mary conceived and became pregnant by the Holy Spirit before Joseph and she ever came together. Mary was a virgin. So one explanation for these brothers and sisters would be that they were born after Jesus in the natural way through the union of Mary and Joseph. In a sense they would be half-siblings—the same mother, but not having God as their father in the same way that Jesus has God as his Father.

There are a couple other possible explanations. Some have hypothesized (without any real evidence) that Joseph was a widower before he married Mary. From this previous marriage he had children. Then the siblings that are mentioned would be step-siblings, no blood relation at all. They would be born of Joseph and some unnamed woman who died before Joseph and Mary were married.

Another possible explanation is that these siblings are actually cousins. Supposedly sometimes the words, brother and sister in Greek, can mean “cousin.” Both of these possibilities seem more speculative than the explanation that they were Jesus’s half-siblings.

Let’s get back to who James was. When James and Jesus’s other brothers are mentioned those couple times in the Gospels it is not in a very flattering way. On one occasion Mary and Jesus’s brothers seem embarrassed by Jesus. They think he has lost his mind and they want to take him away. On another occasion Jesus’s brothers seem impatient with how he is doing things. If Jesus is who he says he is, then they want him to get on with it. Notably, there is no mention of Jesus’s siblings being at his cross, although Mary is there. But maybe we shouldn’t be too hard on them for that, since none of the 12 apostles were there either except for the apostle John. The impression that the Gospels give with its couple of references makes James seem somewhat unfriendly and somewhat unimportant.

This, however, changes quite dramatically with Jesus’s resurrection from the dead. After Jesus rose from the dead he appeared to James. Paul tells us this. Evidently when Jesus came to his brother, James, this brought about his conversion. It also must have inspired great zeal in him. He ends up being the bishop, or overseer, of the Christian congregation in Jerusalem. This is a position of great significance and influence. Paul calls James a pillar of the church along with Peter and John. Our first reading today from the book of Acts tells of how James’s words carried the day at the council of Jerusalem. Our second reading was from the epistle of James. The author of that book of the Bible is this same James, the brother of Jesus.

So it is good for you to remember that there are three Jameses in the New Testament, two of whom are more prominent. James, the apostle, the brother of the apostle John, the son of Zebedee, is one of them. The Gospels mention him quite frequently. But then there is James, the brother of Jesus, whom we are considering today. He is only mentioned a couple times in the Gospels, and that not very flatteringly. But then, after Jesus rose from the dead, he was converted. He became very influential and important in the early church as the bishop of Jerusalem.

James eventually was martyred. That means that he died for being a Christian. It is thought that this took place about 62 A.D. The Jewish historian, Josephus, says that the Jewish leaders took advantage of a time when there was no Roman governor in Judea. They had a quick trial, found James guilty, and sentenced him to death. The exact manner of death is not known with complete certainty. He might have been stoned—rocks being thrown at him until he died from the injuries. He might have been thrown off the top of the temple. It’s possible that he was thrown from the top of the temple, did not die from that, and then was stoned until he died.

So what can we learn from the example of James, the brother of our Lord? The most important lesson comes from observing God’s grace in his life. It appears that James did not believe in his brother until Jesus appeared to him after he rose from the dead. Let us remember that the apostles and the women, also, did not believe in him until they saw him after he rose. But James seems not to have been a follower of Jesus before he was crucified. He grew up in the same house as Jesus with the same parents, yet he did not believe until, finally, he did.

There is a lesson for us here. Christians cannot be manufactured. There is no sure-fire way to make your children Christians. We should always try to foster the Word of God and prayer and be examples of faithfulness in our homes. While we cannot manufacture Christians, we certainly can manufacture unbelief. Unbelief comes naturally, and so all that is needed for that is hypocrisy and neglect. But even in good homes with good spiritual conditions (like Joseph and Mary’s home must have been), faith can fail to take root, or it can be scorched by the sun, or it can be crowded out by other cares and concerns.

But then, like James, people can also be converted again. I’m sure Mary and Jesus would have preferred it if James had remained believing. Unbelief is the breaking of the first commandment, the greatest commandment. But the time wasn’t right it seems. The right time in the divine story of God’s dealing with the man James, was that he shouldn’t come to faith in Jesus until later.

Each one of us has a similar divine story of God’s dealing with us when it comes to faith. We are all fighting against the old Adam and the devil. We grow weak and weary. May God make it so that we are strong—that is always best—but it also happens that we stumble and fall, and may God pick us back up again to fight another day. God be praised for doing so! But sometimes people don’t get back up. Or they don’t get back up for a long time. The example of James, the brother of our Lord, the eventual bishop of Jerusalem, shows us that God converts unbelievers who have been unbelievers for quite some time. It is not as though people who have been unbelieving cannot be converted.

This does not happen by random chance, though. It always happens through God’s own means. James, Jesus’s brother, was not converted by chance. He was converted the same way that any of us are converted: The Word of God came to him. He was brought to repentance for his sins, and he believed that the crucified and risen Lord Jesus was his Savior. Of course the messenger in James’s case was the Word himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, but that same Lord Jesus Christ is at work in the Word of God that speaks to us as well as the Word of God that we speak to others.

Last week we heard how the Scriptures are God-breathed. Since God breathed them out they also powerful and effective. That same passage says that we should be ready with the Word of God when it is convenient and when it is inconvenient. We should be patient. We should teach. That Word of God works as God wants it to work. It is the Word of God alone that creates faith. The Holy Spirit in the inspired Word creates faith.

So let us take stock of ourselves and be honest with ourselves. How many of us have people in our lives whose unbelief troubles us? Wouldn’t Mary have been troubled by the unbelief of her children? So also there are bound to be several people here today who are troubled by their children’s unbelief. Many of these same people might believe that they did everything they could for their children’s spiritual wellbeing. The kids were dropped off for Sunday School. The kids were dropped off for Vacation Bible School. The kids were dropped off for Confirmation. The kids were dropped off for youth group. Who could ask for anything more?

But let us take stock of ourselves and be honest with ourselves. Was our home full of hypocrisy? Was our home devoid of the Word of God, the Catechism, and prayer? Did we work against the truthfulness of God’s Word by not following it, pursuing every other goal imaginable, making sure our kids were fully vested in activities—in sports and school and so on so that they would get a good job? And we were pretty successful in that, were we not? The kids, by and large, have good jobs. According to how most people think, that’s what really matters.

I know lots of people who are troubled by their children’s unbelief, but I don’t know many people who are willing to go to their children and confess their sins. There is a hope that people will somehow, someway get converted by chance. We don’t want to help. We don’t want to change. We don’t want to admit that we’ve done wrong. But answer me this: If we can’t admit that we’ve done wrong, how can we expect anybody else—including our children—to admit that they’ve done wrong?

The example of James shows us that it is never too late so long as we are still alive on this earth. If we are still alive, then we are still in the time of grace. Jesus says, “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent Jesus. Night is coming when no one can work.” Jesus is the light of the world.

You know that. You are therefore equipped. Jesus is in the Word of God that you have heard, which works faith. You can bring that Word of God also to others. But this should be done in humility—one sinner to another. Then there is hope because the Scriptures are inspired and powerful.

James was converted. You may be converted. The people you love may be converted. But this is always done the same way. It is by hearing the Word, taking it to heart, and believing in Jesus.