James 2:14-26 “Barren Faith”

“Hey Pastor, you made a mistake! It is Mother’s Day and you are supposed to be talking about one of the famous women of the Bible! You know, Ruth, Mary, Sarah–one of those!” Well, actually who was James’ mother? He is the brother of Jesus, so his mom is none other than Mother Mary. The Holy family is about the best you can get in church! In many of our sister churches of the Catholic and Orthodox streams, icons of Mary the Holy Mother are being crowned today. We do not have a statue of Mary in the church, or any statues for that matter. So, we crown all of the mothers that are with us today, and those who have gone before!

The interesting thing about Mother Mary that you might not hear about in the other churches is that she had her own ministry after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Yes, she stayed in Jerusalem for a time thereafter; we can read this in Acts 1. After this, she is moved by John the Beloved Disciple to a house he builds for her in Ephesus. It is here that she helps young Timothy minister to the church.

So, in many ways, we see that Mary is not just the biological mother of James in Jerusalem but also the surrogate or hanai mother of John and Timothy. This is a great reminder that mothering is not just a matter of biology but about transmitting the love of God through the motherly role in society.

In my own life, I had an Aunt Ginny in Massachusetts that never had any children of her own. The story goes that when I was very fussy, Aunt Ginny was the only one who could just instantly stop me from crying. She would just give me a hug and everything was better again. I also had an Aunt Mimi who was a great great aunt who never had children of her own but loved on ALL of relatives. She was amazing–lived to be 104 and was only about four feet tall. Also my Aunt in Germany, Tante Ursula never had children, but she took me in as if I were a son.

If we look at verse 20 of today’s scripture, we have a strange word being used here to describe faith that has no works. James says that it is “barren.” The word in the Greek is “aergos,” meaning unworkable. This word would refer to a plot of ground that could never bear any kind of fruit no matter how much you worked or indeed a woman that would be unable to ever experience labor in childbirth.

But, we know through faith that all things are workable. God, after all, can do anything God wants. This reminds me again of my own mother when she wanted to do something, nothing or nobody could dissuade her. I recall once she went to the used furniture store and came home with a piano. It was in fact a baby grand that was delivered in a big truck. It had been in a seedy lounge bar since the days of covered wagons I think. It was half covered with glass mirrored tiles. Some of the tiles had fallen off. My mother was going to save the antique Mehlin piano. By the way, the keys were real ivory.

Everyone in the family, father and kids alike were sure that the piano was unworkable. It was a disaster. Strings were missing. The felt on the hammers was gone. The hammers themselves had grooves in them. My mother got to work on it. Only my mother had faith. She got to work on it. She carefully removed the mirrored tiles. Sanded, stained, and polished the wood. She polished the ivories. She hired a piano tuner to restring and rebuild what he could. She made the unworkable workable. In the end it bore fruit.

I still remember the day the piano was moved into the living room, to a place of honor. My mother got out an old piece of sheet music from the bench. It was Beethoven’s “Fuer Elise.” We had no idea our mother could play the piano. We kids all started dancing around the room to the beautiful music. It was one of those happy moments from childhood one just cannot forget. The piano was not barren at all. It was not dead. It just needed work.

Faith and works always go together. They are inseparable. If you do not have faith in what you are doing, then the work will not get done. The question that James raises as to whether we should have faith or works answers itself when in verse 22 James uses the word “synergy.” I am afraid that our English translation is missing that word in the NRSV, but it is actually there in the original Greek. “You see that faith was ‘active along with’. . . .” is actually the term “synergy.”

“And fatih was brought to completion by the works.” The term ‘completion’ is “telios” in the Greek in reference to the coming Kingdom of God. This means in the end when we stand before the throne of Christ and he opens the Book of Life it will not read that we believed but that we also lived a life that showed our faith. This reference is found in Revelation 20:12, “and the dead were judged by their works. . . .”

The great Reformer Martin Luther did not really like this part of James. That is why he wanted the book removed from biblical canon. He saw that the Catholic church in that day was saying that you could be saved by paying a priest to pray for your soul, buying indulgences or even outright absolution. His point that there is really nothing on this planet that you can do that can save your soul except accept the grace of God. Only God through Christ can save you. Let me be clear that this point is absolutely true. Nothing you do can save your soul. This is but by the grace of God.

However, one day you will find yourself standing before Jesus because you have believed, and the Lord is going to open the Book of your life and start looking up what your faith has led you to do in this world.

Jesus just may ask, “You said you had faith, but your faith made no difference to your daily life or to the lives of others. . . .”

When Jesus came to earth as the Son of God, he simply did not just drop the faith on us then leave. No, he healed the sick. He fed the hungry. He turned the tables for social justice. Then, He told us to follow in his path and pick up his Cross and be ready to sacrifice.

You see, what James is trying to get across is a new idea in so far as religion is concerned back in the day, and maybe still today. Up unto this point religion was about what you were not supposed to do. You were not supposed to work on the Sabbath. You were not supposed to commit adultery. You were not supposed to covet your neighbor’s ox. It really can be seen as a faith without works. Just believe and don’t do anything wrong.

Now, we see that in this new religion faith has works. There is a new synergy. WE have things that we are supposed to do that are based on “righteousness” or “justification.” I also need to point out that the Greek that is being translated here in two different words is really the same word in the Greek: “dikia.” “Righteousness” is the proper translation throughout. Yes, we are called to lead “righteous” lives that include sincere ministry. We are supposed to be following the example of Christ. WE are supposed to be teaching and preaching, feeding and healing, and making a difference in the lives of others. This really is a brand new idea for the day.

Let us look at Matthew 25:42-46. “. . . .Truly I say unto you as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not unto me.” “and they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Again a new idea for the faith is expressed by Jesus. Each one of us is a child of God that needs to be ministered to in righteous favor of God. We help the other person in need because we see Jesus in that person, something godly at least. Our new faith in Christ means we respond. We have this much work to do–to make others see that Christ is also in us!

In Jesus Christ we see faith and works embodied as the Son of God. His miracles are the righteous works we need today. Now, I know that some churches say that we do not need miracles today because we have faith. I cannot think that way. Of course, we need miracles. We need to see God’s works in the world today. How much our faith is affirmed when we pray and then see lives healed. This is the synergy of faith and works.

Amen