The Feast of St. James

St. James the Just, the Brother of Our Lord

Sermon for the 4th Sunday After Easter

By Bp. Joseph Boyd (Ancient Church of the West) 

Introduction  

Today is the fourth Sunday after New Calendar Easter, and Pascha Sunday according to the Old Calendar that the majority of Orthodox Churches around the world still use. We declare with our brethren in the Eastern Churches today, “Christ is Risen! Truly, He is Risen!”  

It is the day after the Feast of St. James in the West (May 1st, celebrated on October 23rd in the East), which we celebrate in memory of St. James, the elder step-brother of our Lord. He is remembered as the first liturgist, who gave us the "Liturgy of St. James of Jerusalem," the most ancient liturgy in Christendom and the foundation of Christian worship in all Ancient Churches today. He also gave us the “Proto-Evangelium of St. James,” which is an account of the life of St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary, providing much-needed context for how the Church understood the home life of Jesus in His original context. St. James is the author our Epistle Reading today, giving us insight into what the Church should look like, a perfect harmony between “Faith” and “Works,” categories which are often split into a dichotomy in the Western mind. As the only Scripture that mentions the words so important to so much of Protestantism - “faith,” “works,” and “alone” - his perspective that “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only,” (James 2:24) is a perpetual thorn in the side of Luther’s doctrinal system.  St. James is one of the most important primary witnesses to Christ in Christian history, as one who believed in Him as the Messiah, even after having grown up with Him as a child! 

The Gospel Reading 

On this Sunday in our Anglican Patrimony, it is customary to go back and examine the long speech of the Gospel of St. John 13-17. Jesus gave this long monologue directly after the Last Supper and right before He began His Passion. In it, He prepares His Apostles to function without His physical presence, but instead, cooperate with the Holy Spirit that He sends after the Ascension. 

In John 16:5, Jesus says - “Now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” 

In this passage, Christ addresses the administration of the Church that we still know in the current situation, a moving and guiding of the Holy Spirit within groups of people who are in “One Accord”. When the Holy Spirit descends at Pentecost, now just a few Sundays away, we see that Christ sends the Spirit from the Father upon His Disciples gathered in one accord, and this is the First Synod of the Church. Throughout history, whenever there is strife or division in the Church, God has spoken by the Holy Fathers in council, giving us Orthodox doctrine, correct liturgical and devotional practices, and direction for the administration of the Holy Sacraments. Through this principle of conciliarity, often called “Sobornost” in Orthodoxy, the Creed was given to the Church, which states truths that are present in the Bible but may be interpreted in different ways, thus insuring the correctness of the Church’s beliefs regarding the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Sacraments of the Church. These beliefs, which form the core of the Christian identity even for Protestants who reject conciliarity, are the very definition of “Orthodoxy.” This is why nothing can be added to or taken away from the Church’s Creed without blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and why the West’s perversion of the Creed in the “Filioque” clause is so harmful to Church unity. 

The Epistle Reading 

What does a Church look like when it is administered by Spirit-led Christians? The description in our Epistle Reading this Morning gives absolute clarity about what this kind of Church looks like, written by St. James the Elder, the First Bishop of Jerusalem, and elder step-brother of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. St. James was the Bishop of Jerusalem and the head of the Early Church until his martyrdom in 70AD. While Roman Catholics would contend that St. Peter was given exclusive precedence of the episcopacy, a Proto-Pope, what we actually see it that the Early Church understood his confession of faith to be the foundation of the Church, not him personally. “You are a pebble, but upon this rock (the confession of Faith that Christ was the Messiah in Matthew 16:16-18) I will build my Church.” The primacy of St. James proves that the Apostolic Succession was entrusted to all of the Apostles, that all Apostles operated upon the “Faith Once Delivered” (Jude 1:3), and that all bishops are equal. So, in St. James, we see that the prototype for the Church is a local community of baptized believers, united in the “apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42), under the administration of a single bishop, who “rightly divides the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) and upholds the Creed of St. Peter - “Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God!” (Matthew 16:16) 

A Spirit-Filled Church: St. James 1:1-27 

"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. 

"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. 

"Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. 

"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 

"Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 

"But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." 

St. James’ Core Thesis 

The “good gift” that comes down from the Father, the Holy Spirit, is evidenced in our lives in patience, stability, gratefulness, resisting temptation, and being swift to hear (learn and submit), slow to speak, and slow to wrath. Man’s wrath does not accomplish God’s work. We should be doers, not just hearers. A man who swears, gossips, and hurts others with his tongue is not manifesting the presence of the Holy Spirit. Anyone who thinks they are a Christian while failing to show self-control and virtue is fooling himself. His Christianity is a fraud, used to control others, not true Faith, which is a submission to God. The easiest way to tell if someone is truly following Christ is to see what they are doing - if they take care of the helpless, give of themselves, and are keeping themselves clean of the immorality, violence, lust, and power of the world. 

While St. James does not use the Pauline term “fruit of the Spirit,” it is clear that this is what he means, as well as tying in St. John’s point that “he who continues to sin does not know God.” All three of these great Patriarchs of the Faith - St. James, St. John and St. Paul - all agree that Christianity works its way out of one’s whole being, manifesting in good works and the transformation of social relationships into something more than can be contained or explained by the natural world - the Faith of individual believers melds together an entire community, which, in Baptism and Holy Eucharist, becomes the “Body of Christ.” This Body is primarily discerned by what it DOES, not just what it believes. 

The Martyrdom of St. James According to Eusebius' Church History

"James, the brother of the Lord, succeeded to the government of the Church in conjunction with the apostles. He has been called the Just by all from the time of our Saviour to the present day; for there were many that bore the name of James. He was holy from his mother's womb; and he drank no wine nor strong drink, nor did he eat flesh. No razor came upon his head; he did not anoint himself with oil, and he did not use the bath. He alone was permitted to enter into the holy place; for he wore not woolen but linen garments. And he was in the habit of entering alone into the temple, and was frequently found upon his knees begging forgiveness for the people, so that his knees became hard like those of a camel, in consequence of his constantly bending them in his worship of God, and asking forgiveness for the people. Because of his exceeding great justice he was called the Just, and Oblias, which signifies in Greek, Bulwark of the people' and Justice,' in accordance with what the prophets declare concerning him. 

"Now some of the seven sects, which existed among the people and which have been mentioned by me in the Memoirs, asked him, 'What is the gate of Jesus?' and he replied that 'he was the Saviour. On account of these words some believed that Jesus is the Christ.' But the sects mentioned above did not believe either in a resurrection or in one's coming to give to every man according to his works. But as many as believed did so on account of James. Therefore when many even of the rulers believed, there was a commotion among the Jews and Scribes and Pharisees, who said that there was danger that the whole people would be looking for Jesus as the Christ. Coming therefore in a body to James they said, 'We entreat thee, restrain the people; for they are gone astray in regard to Jesus, as if he were the Christ. We entreat thee to persuade all that have come to the feast of the Passover concerning Jesus; for we all have confidence in thee. For we bear thee witness, as do all the people, that thou art just, and dost not respect persons. Do thou therefore persuade the multitude not to be led astray concerning Jesus. For the whole people, and all of us also, have confidence in thee. Stand therefore upon the pinnacle of the temple, that from that high position thou mayest be clearly seen, and that thy words may be readily heard by all the people. For all the tribes, with the Gentiles also, are come together on account of the Passover.'

"The aforesaid Scribes and Pharisees therefore placed James upon the pinnacle of the temple, and cried out to him and said: 'Thou just one, in whom we ought all to have confidence, forasmuch as the people are led astray after Jesus, the crucified one, declare to us, what is the gate of Jesus.' And he answered with a loud voice, 'Why do ye ask me concerning Jesus, the Son of Man? He himself sitteth in heaven at the right hand of the great Power, and is about to come upon the clouds of heaven.' And when many were fully convinced and gloried in the testimony of James, and said, 'Hosanna to the Son of David,' these same Scribes and Pharisees said again to one another, 'We have done badly in supplying such testimony to Jesus. But let us go up and throw him down, in order that they may be afraid to believe him.' And they cried out, saying, 'Oh! oh! the just man is also in error.’ And they fulfilled the Scripture written in Isaiah, 'Let us take away the just man, because he is troublesome to us: therefore they shall eat the fruit of their doings.'

"So they went up and threw down the just man, and said to each other, 'Let us stone James the Just.' And they began to stone him, for he was not killed by the fall; but he turned and knelt down and said, 'I entreat thee, Lord God our Father. forgive them, for they know not what they do.' And while they were thus stoning him one of the priests of the sons of Rechab, the son of the Rechabites, who are mentioned by Jeremiah the prophet, cried out, saying, 'Cease, what do ye? The just one prayeth for you.'

"And one of them, who was a fuller, took the club with which he beat out clothes and struck the just man on the head. And thus he suffered martyrdom. And they buried him on the spot, by the temple, and his monument still remains by the temple. He became a true witness, both to Jews and Greeks, that Jesus is the Christ. And immediately Vespasian besieged them.

"James was so admirable a man and so celebrated among all for his justice, that the more sensible even of the Jews were of the opinion that this was the cause of the siege of Jerusalem, which happened to them immediately after his martyrdom for no other reason than their daring act against him. Josephus, at least, has not hesitated to testify this in his writings, where he says, 'These things happened to the Jews to avenge James the Just, who was a brother of Jesus, that is called the Christ. For the Jews slew him, although he was a most just man.' These things are recorded in regard to James, who is said to be the author of the first of the so-called catholic epistles. But it is to be observed that it is disputed; at least, not many of the ancients have mentioned it, as is the case likewise with the epistle that bears the name of Jude, which is also one of the seven so-called catholic epistles. Nevertheless we know that these also, with the rest, have been read publicly in very many churches." (Copied from the Ante-Nicene Fathers, edited by Philip Schaff, abridged by the author) 

Summary 

This Sunday, in the Gospel Reading, we see how necessary the descent of the Holy Spirit is in the life of the Church, and that we cannot exist in Christ, have fellowship with one another, or receive ongoing direction from God, without the ongoing ministry of and interaction with the Holy Spirit. At this juncture, let us take time to meditate on the necessity of Pentecost, and prepare our hearts for a fresh experience with the Holy Spirit. Also, In this way, the Gospel Reading today teaches us the error of “Sola Christus” (the Lutheran idea that we are saved “by Christ alone”) - we are saved because of the Holy Spirit in our midst, Who constantly works to reveal Christ as the Son of God, and Who actively takes our prayers and worship through the God the Son to God the Father. Next week, we will examine St. James Chapter 2, which undermines more of the errors of Protestantism, showing by “Sola Scripture” that “Sola Fide” is not biblical and does not reflect the pure teachings of the Church from the beginning! 

The Collect 

ALMIGHTY GOD, grant that, as thine holy Apostle Saint James, who, knowing the Lord in His childhood didst proclaim Him to be the Christ, and in following after the younger, the elder didst show forth great humility; so we, forsaking all carnal pride and worldly glory, may be evermore ready to follow Thy holy commandments; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who livest and reignest with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.