Thanks be to God? Do you see God in this reading? Because I
have to admit that when I first looked at the text I’d been assigned to preach on
tonight, the happiest thought that came to me was that at least I wasn’t being
asked to tell you to cut body parts off.
But we have to find God in this reading from James, because the people
we minister to are relying on us to help them point to and name the action of
God in their lives and if we can’t do that with sacred scripture, we’re in
trouble.
Maybe
your instinct is to get your bible out and keep reading, hoping that there’s
something more comfortable later on. And
that’s a good instinct, and there is: read a few more verses and you’ll find
the heavenly comfort and reward for the poor that God provides. But to skip the hard verses isn’t an option
the lectionary leaves us with and it’s right not to, because to skip the hard
parts is not an option in so many people’s lives.
Maybe you
see an angry God; as you hear these words, your mind’s eye pictures a great
prophetic denunciation, or Jesus cleansing the temple. There are real injustices that cry to heaven
for vengeance named here and visible still in our world and the wrath of God is still real. But does it help? Does it form you in virtue to act out of fear
of the wrath of God?
Look deeper,
and see Jesus: he’s quiet, subtle, not drawing attention to himself. He’s the righteous one, who offers no resistance,
who walks willingly condemned to be murdered on the cross, and who does this
for us. It’s in his quiet, in his passive passion, that the love of God for us
is revealed. If we can see that whenever we feel mired in injustice, hatred,
dissension, then we’ll be able to see where the sun will rise to end all
darkness.
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