September 2, 2012
Pentecost 14
James 1:17-27
Mark 7:1-8;14-15
(prayer)
Firstly, a little history.
In 1872, the Toronto Typographical Union was on strike, trying to get their work week limited to 58 hours. Laws criminalizing union activity had already been abolished in Great Britain, but they were still on the books in Canada. Twenty four of the Typographical Union leaders were imprisoned under these laws. Starting with a parade on April 15, 1872, other unions defiantly marched in support.
Over the next several months, more demonstrations were held, including a memorable gathering in Ottawa on September 3rd of that year, where Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald addressed the crowd promising to repeal the anti-union laws, which ended up happening the following June with the passage of the Trade Union Act.
The Toronto Trades and Labour Council held commemorative celebrations for workers rights each spring. On July 22, 1882, an American Labour leader, Peter McGuire came to speak at a labour festival in Toronto. He was so impressed that, on return to the US, he organized a similar event for September 5th in New York. These events continued annually both north and south of the border.
In 1894, both Canadian Prime Minister John Thompson and US President Grover Cleveland both established the first Monday in September as national holidays.
Labour Day was born.
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This weekend, we are invited to celebrate the value of doing things. To appreciate the impact and output of labours and the benefits we experience because of the labours of others.
The beginning of September can be a busy time, with lots to do. Summer (and whatever times of rest and rejuvenation it has been able to provide) has come to a close. The church is set to begin a new season of programs and activities.
Perhaps the busyness of September is best felt by those with school-aged children in their lives. Supplies and fall clothing are on many shopping lists and almost everyone with young families, the alarm clocks will need to be strictly set for Tuesday.
However, we slice it … this is a busy time of year for many people. September is a month when many of us have a lot to do; and our actions count and will make a difference.
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The letter of James in the New Testament is kind of special. The author identifies himself as “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”. The Apostle Paul (who is directly responsible for at least seven of the New Testament letter-books), in Galations, refers to an early Christian leader named James whom he calls “the brother of the Lord”. By the second century, this person was often called “James, the Just”.
Of course determining the exact authorship of much of the Bible is a largely speculative endeavour, but there are a number of scholars who have concluded that the Letter of James has origins with the first generation of Christian believers, even if the final version of the letter didn’t take full shape until the late first century.
A central theme in the Letter of James is the value of work: specially the just activities that result from faith.
Faith is a gift from God and we are called to respond appropriately to that gift. As we heard in the first verse of today’s reading (verse 17): Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.
If all that we see and know and experience - all that we touch, feel, possess, use – comes from God, our actions are to similarly reflect the same generosity.
James describes two types of generosity: (1) a generosity of the Spirit, which is shown in an emotional discipline: the value of listening and a slowness to anger; and (2) a generosity of effort, shown in how care is provided to those who need it.
For James, these two must go together. Faith is not just an activity of the mind – something to be simply learned and thought about and discussed. Faith also needs to come alive through our activities in community; in how others are treated and in a mutual respect born in the belief that we are all gifted by God.
James speaks of the word of God having been implanted within us and becoming part of us and all we say and do. We are the rich soil where the unconditional, steadfast, eternal love of God can take root and bear fruit in this world.
The central message of the Letter of James: Our actions matter!
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Today’s gospel reading from Mark, chapter seven is an interesting debate about the actions of Jesus’ followers.
Jesus’ group of disciples (a word that literally means students) were a diverse bunch. Some came from very strict religious upbringings, others less so. What drew them together was a spiritual yearning (hunger) that they were finding being fed in Jesus’ company.
According to today’s passage, some religious leaders and experts took notice that some of Jesus’ followers had not properly washed their hands according to the strict expectations of the faith.
Many, many aspects of normal day-to-day living resulted in a person being considered ritually unclean to some degree or another. Within Jewish tradition were many remedies for such situations.
[We can notice how the gospel writer pauses in the narrative to explain these traditions for the non-Jewish readers of the gospel.]
Although, there is no specific requirement in the Hebrew Bible for people to wash hands before regular day-to-day meals, clearly for the strictest observers of the Torah, this was an expectation. N’tilat Yadayim (‘washing of hands’ before [and often after] meals) is normative in modern Orthodox Judaism.
Many of the specific actions and rituals of religious life take shape and grow over time – some things are done, not because they are explicitly required in the text, but because the practice and traditions over the centuries have made it normal.
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To the religious leaders, the actions of Jesus’ disciples indicated a lack of faith.
To Jesus, the narrow focus on a tradition (of what could be argued was of human origin) was a distraction from faithfulness, as well.
Consuming a bit of the day’s dirt along with one’s daily bread will not make them a bad person. But…Jesus says, how they behave, what they say, how they live is a much better indicator of how ingrained a person’s faith is.
There is nothing outside a person that (by going in) can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.
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The gospel of Mark challenges us to consider what it means to respond to God’s generous love with lives of faithfulness. As Jesus implies in this passage, our call to faithful living invites an examination of what is essential and nonessential as we strive to live in ways that are in agreement with our core beliefs about God’s love.
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Next Sunday, we will read on a bit in the letter of James where the text will say: faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
In James chapter two, we can read a rhetorical challenge: I will show you my faith by my works (v18c); [You] show me your faith, without works (v18b). James doesn’t believe that it can be done. Faith without works is dead (v20b).
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[An interesting historical note, during the protestant reformation of the 16th century, Martin Luther’s main thesis was that a person did not need the church or any person to intercede between him/herself and God. There were traditions and practices within the western, Roman-based church that encouraged people to offer financial tributes or certain ritualistic actions in order to ‘get right with God’. Luther and the other protestors of the time focused on faith and scripture alone. One can rightly imagine that the book of James was a bit of an inconvenience for Luther with all of its work-based theology. If Luther had had his way, James never would have been included in the New Testament, but because of actions taken at the major church councils of the fourth century, he had to deal with it.
Luther had a low view of the Old Testament book of Esther and of the New Testament books of Hebrews, Jude, Revelation and of course James. He called the Letter of James "an epistle of straw," finding little in it that pointed to Christ and His saving work. He also had harsh words for the Revelation of John, saying that he could "in no way detect that the Holy Spirit produced it." In his translation of the New Testament, Luther moved Hebrews and James out of the usual order, to join Jude and the Revelation at the end, and differentiated these from the other books which he considered "the true and certain chief books of the New Testament. The four which follow have from ancient times had a different reputation." (from Wikipedia).]
In his defence, Martin Luther was living in a time where the established church (that had dictated dogma for centuries) did seem to abuse the notion of ‘faith through works’.
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I think that as modern people of faith, as 21st century followers of Jesus, we do well to accept the challenge of finding connections between what we believe and say about God and the actions we take each day. I believe that the more we allow the gift of God’s loving Word to take root within us, the more natural this can become. But matching our works to our faith will always take a strong effort.
And we won’t always get it right. Not all our works are fruitful. We do well to own our mistakes, to appreciate our learning along the way.
And we do well to own our faith!
We are called to be doers of the word and not just hearers.
We are called to not be just a people who gather on a Sunday morning to listen to God’s word and offer worship and praise for an hour, we are called to go and make a difference for the other 167 hours of the week.
As much as we are invited to come and share in a meal of unity, we are called to take the nourishment we enjoy out into the world so that all may be fed.
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Letting God’s love in Jesus influence our daily lives does invite us to take the risks that love demands.
With our faith and hope and trust in God, we are not alone and we can venture out into the mystery of this day and beyond.
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If we believe that God acts in our lives with generosity and love,
what will our response be to this perfect gift?
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Let us pray:
O God, generous giver of life, shape our lives this day and all days as opportunities to live out your love. In Jesus we pray, Amen.
***Offering***
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