James

You have forgotten me, it seems. Ignored my teachings. Tried to cover me up. I guess it is to be expected, on some level.

Let me reintroduce myself. I am James. Sometimes known as James the Lesser. I don’t know why this name has come to me. I was the leader of the Jerusalem church. I held great sway. One of my letters made it into your bible. James the Less, indeed. Maybe it is because James the Greater, also known as James the brother of John, the sons of Zebedee were such a large presence.

James, son of Zebedee. What a guy. Zebedee means thunder, and James was the son of thunder. LOUD. He was always near Jesus. He was there at the transfiguration at the start of Jesus’ ministry and there falling asleep in the garden toward the end. He was the first of the 12 to be martyred. He is the patron saint of Spain. He made waves wherever he went. He was a loud extrovert, very much counter to my introverted nature of a stayed scholar and writer.

Maybe it was because I was the second brother in my family. James the Younger is a more fitting name. It’s what Mark calls me in his account in Chapter 15 verse 40, naming my mother Mary, mother of James the younger.

They also call me James the Just. Clement of Alexandria related, “This James, whom the people of old called the Just because of his outstanding virtue, was the first, as the record tells us, to be elected to the episcopal throne of the Jerusalem church.”[1] I thought I was a wise yet practical bishop of Jerusalem. I wrote my letter during my tenure as bishop there.

My other name is James, son of Alphaeus. You can find my calling in Mark’s Gospel, Chapter 3 verse 17. Also, in Matthew’s list of the 12 in Chapter 10 verse 3.[2] “Alphaeus” means “changing,” because that’s not my father’s name.[3] They changed it, just like they, whoever they are… changed my identity. Paul names me correctly in Galatians 1:19 writing, “James, the brother of Jesus.” Paul got it right. I am second son of Mary. My father’s name was changed from Joseph. My older brother was Jesus.[4]

It is shocking to many. The clues are there in our scripture. Many insist on explaining my family away. I will gently point out how every Christmas you read from Luke’s account in Chapter 2, verse 7, “And she gave birth to her first born son…” Not only. First born son. I was the second.

I think it stems from a lack of theological imagination. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” John puts it. I like how Eugene Peterson translates that line in his translation of the bible called, The Message, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” Of course, God would have brothers and sisters. And a mom and step-dad. And cousins, and aunts, and neighbors, and bullies and best friends. Whatever you have in your life, Jesus did, too. That’s good news.

We didn’t know him as God. That came much later, sadly for me. My mom and dad would talk about his birth and the dreams, shepherds, and foreign astrologers; but it’s like the carpet after a while. You don’t notice it. Jesus was the best brother though.

He was hyper-present. You just can’t fake being present.[5] He was always paying attention. He was generous in his attention. He didn’t let rumor or reputation get in the way. He truly saw you and offered love and grace in return. My brothers and I always tried to tease him or get under his skin, but we never got anywhere with it. Jesus would never react. Or when he did, it was with a story or with a question that got to the heart of the matter. He was my brother before he was my rabbi, and my teacher before he was my God. It took me a long time to see his divinity. He was always very religious. Very studious. Always reading our holy books: the law, the prophets, and the writings. Reading what other rabbis wrote.

He was a bit of a practical joker, too. Not in a humiliating way, never that. More in a gentle tease. He was always up to mischief. There was that glint in his eye. His mouth was always on the brink of a smile.

I should have seen it when our brother Levi fell from a tree. We were out playing, and Levi fell from upper boughs of the tree. His arm was unnaturally bent. I ran to get my mom and dad, but when we returned, Jesus was helping him up and Levi was okay. I thought it was my imagination. So did Levi. He told me afterwards that there was the shock of falling, and then the agony of his arm and then he heard his name there was Jesus and everything felt fine. Levi felt fine, and that was that. Only later, after witnessing so many healings did we figure out he did the same to Levi.

Jesus went off to school and excelled. He became a rabbi. He was away from home all this time, returning a few times. You with college students know how this goes. They come home to eat, do laundry, and head back to school after sleeping most of the time away.

Jesus gave his first sermon at our hometown synagogue and caused quite a stir.[6] The crowd wanted to throw him off a cliff, but he just walked away. We grew concerned. We went to see him teach again not long after that and we couldn’t get to him because of the crowds. Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” And he said, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”[7]

My mom cried for a month after that. We felt disowned. So, I show up to give him a piece of my mind, only sit through a sermon and wow. I mean… My life was changed, right then and there. How he taught. Not just what, but how he taught. Wow. I was floored.

We talked afterwards and he said he was sorry he caused harm. He didn’t try to explain his intention, he just apologized and asked forgiveness. His sincerity always got to me. That presence just caused me to realize my own emotions too and I remember who he was. I said I was sorry, too. I know he’d never hurt us, that he was speaking to make a point. In our worry, we reacted poorly.

In a high-trust relationship, you can say the wrong thing, and people will still get your meaning. In a low-trust relationship, you can be very measured, even precise, and they’ll still misinterpret you.[8] From then on, I decided to have a high-trust relationship with my brother. I became one of his 12 disciples. I walked with him everywhere.

I wrote a letter as bishop of Jerusalem after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into heaven. I wanted to give a practical guide to matters of faith and I thought back to the first sermon I heard from my brother, the one that we were so offended by at first inspired the line, “Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.”[9]

So many times, we profess one thing and do another. So many people want to feel like they are good people by giving lip service to values, but never really live them out. This way of life, taught by Jesus, is a 24/7/365 deal. Religion is not a spectator sport. Not just an hour a week. Pure faith in God always results in action. This is the right religion that honors God, “to care for orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself unstained by the world.”[10]

That’s a major theme of Jesus and my letter. The ways of the world are very reactionary. You hit me, I hit you. Sometimes we act like everything is fine, even when we’re dying inside. We only act like blessings are good things, forgetting that when Jacob was blessed, he walked away with a limp. He also received a new name, “Israel” which means, “Struggle with God.” Jesus wrestled with God and with the tradition trying to wring out meaning on how to live here and now. He struggled with the religious of our day, trying to align the words they said with the way they lived.

The world tells you that the good life is free from harm. We know this isn’t true. Whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy because you know that the testing of faith produces endurance.[11] Growth causes pain. Growth causes change. Things that don’t grow are dead. Just as faith without works is dead.

If you believe something to be true, you can’t really help but to live it out. Otherwise, you just deceive yourself. It is like a man who called himself the most peaceful, generous man in his town. He lived in the biggest villa and would daily take work from people and give unjust wages. If someone complained or asked for a raise, he would hit them with a stick. The workers who were willing to hit others with a stick were the ones given a living wage. And thus, the whole town was kept in bondage to a violent miser who saw himself as generous.

Sadly, the parable is often how folks view God. And Jesus. My brother said that there is no sin that is unforgiveable except a sin against the Holy Spirit.[12] I think casting God who was pleased to dwell in Jesus as a violent miser, easily offended, and stingy with grace is one of the most unforgiveable sins ever. Those who preach such a message are those with a stick hitting others. You can forget me. You can miscast me. You can name me as a step-brother or cousin or whatever you need me to be… I’m not the point. Jesus is. I am concerned that his image is getting lost and tarnished. Turned into a man with a stick when he is the only teacher of his day to say to love our enemies, pray for them and do good to those who harm us.[13]

Telling stories where Jesus will return in vengeance and casting folks into eternal punishment. That makes no sense. If you can’t earn your way into heaven with your good deeds, but you can earn hell with your bad deeds; abandon that religion. It’s a con game you can’t win. You’ll just end up being one of the people hitting others with sticks than a follower of a generous and gracious God. It’s the exact opposite thing my brother taught.

I know how people got that impression. He did have some strong words. Context is king. Context matters. When you come across the hard words of my brother, look who he was speaking to: it’s the religious who have their minds made up about who God loves. Jesus speaks gently to the outcast, the sinner, and the marginalized. He allowed women to take leadership roles. It’s why he appeared to Mary Magdalene first, who was a very educated and well-off patron of my brother’s ministry, not what tradition has often called her. He trusted Mary Magdalene to get the word out. Women were the first to preach about the resurrection in case there is ever any doubt about the role of women in the future.

Some have given into the ways of the world that devalue women. We’re often content to skate along the surface and deny the counter-cultural nature of this deep tradition God has gifted us with through my brother.

God is still speaking, still active in our lives. God is not some distant creator who set things in motion and walked away… God is with us. We miss that, just like I missed who my brother was until his resurrection. I missed it because I was so focused on myself and my desires and all that was bouncing around in my head.

When I would become nervous as a child, Jesus would often say to me, “Dance like David.” You have a similar phrase, “Dance like no one is watching.” It means to be present and not consumed by anyone’s expectation. Take joy in the movement for it is pleasing to God. Most people won’t notice because they’re too busy with whatever is going inside their heads. Some will take courage and join you in the dance. And those who get embarrassed or talk poorly of your dance are those who are feeling insecure. I have found this to be true time and time again. Where there is envy and selfish ambition there will be also disorder and wickedness of every kind.[14] The wisdom my brother and my God gives is peaceable, gentle, full of mercy and good fruits without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.[15]

It’s almost like… if you could imagine this… it would be like joining a group who professes that what they have is good news, but they never smile, laugh, dance, or make a joyful noise. They just politely sit there and go home, never living out what they’ve heard or having any opinion other than when something is changed and they don’t like it.

Take courage, church. You are the body of Christ. You are my brother’s body in the world. You are doing so many things he would have done, and greater than those because his time was cut way too short by those who were feeling threatened by what he was teaching. They misunderstood him and missed God in their midst. They put up defenses. They dealt in pettiness and partiality.[16] They couldn’t let go of their assumptions, or doctrinal positions, or their envy and selfish ambition made him a reflection of their own pettiness. You’ll never satisfy the endless critics, so don’t let them take up residence in your head. Put your sticks down, if only for your own sake, for we often can be our own worst enemy.

Instead, focus on living out the Good News you have received. Sins aren’t the last word; forgiveness is. God is not petty; God is love. God does not tempt you; God heals you. God is not far away; God is in this place, has called us friends, and has adopted us into his family. Thanks be to our God. Amen.

Works Cited

[1] Bruce Chilton, Jacob Neusner, The Brother of Jesus: James the Just and his mission p.33-34 “It is unlikely that he restricts his reference to him because he is soon to quote from Hegesippus’ account … Another tradition transmitted by Clement made James the Just, Cephas, and John the recipients of secret knowledge.”

[2] Alphaeus is mentioned 5 times in the NT, Mark 2:14, 3:18, Matt 10:3, Luke 6:15, and Acts 1:13, The Greek to English Concordance page 273.

[3] https://www.behindthename.com/name/alphaeus

[4] Three books among many that really blew my mind about this possibility: The Brother of Jesus and the Lost Teachings of Christianity by Jeffery Butz, 2005. James, Brother of Jesus and the Jerusalem Church by Alan Saxby, 2015. Just James: The brother of Jesus in History and Tradition by John Painter, 2004.

[5] Amy Cuddy, Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges.

[6] See Luke 4:16-30

[7] Luke 8:19-20

[8] Stephen M.R. Covey, The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything.

[9] James 1:22

[10] James 1:27

[11] James 1:2

[12] Matthew 12:31

[13] According to Jewish scholar, Amy Jill Levine in this video: https://youtu.be/1PDyISl7TGc

[14] James 3:16

[15] James 3:17-18

[16] James warns against partiality twice in his letter in 2:1-13 and 4:11-12.

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