“Word for Today” – Luke 4 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
About a month ago, I received my first ever dental crown. Unbeknownst to me, I had recently chipped one of my teeth, and my dentist noticed my periodontal problem during a routine cleaning. Unfortunately, before he placed a crown on my chipped tooth, he first had to do some drilling. Following a couple of injections of Novocain, he assured me that I need not worry. I would feel only “a little discomfort” in my mouth. If by “a little discomfort” he meant searing shots of pain, I suppose he was correct. Apparently, Novocain doesn’t work quite as well on me as he had hoped. He even gave me an extra injection, but to no avail. The pain continued. Thankfully, the procedure didn’t take long.
Although the pain I experienced that day in the dentist’s chair was certainly uncomfortable, at least it wasn’t utterly unbearable. Perhaps what was most disheartening about my experience is that I was hoping for one thing, but got another. I was expecting only “discomfort.” What I got was actual pain.
In our reading for today from Luke 4, Jesus, who is now an adult, returns to his hometown of Nazareth. As a pious first century Jew, Jesus attends synagogue on the Sabbath where he has the privilege of sharing Scripture reading and the message for the day. He reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (verses 18-19)
Luke then gives us an important note following Jesus’ reading: “Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down” (verse 20). In this day, it was customary to proffer and authoritative teaching while sitting down. Indeed, we still have vestiges of this practice in the Roman Catholic Church today. When the pope makes an official announcement, he does so ex cathedra, a Latin phrase meaning “from the chair.” Thus, when a teacher sat down in this day, everyone was to listen closely because he was getting ready to say something important. That is why “the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Jesus” (verse 20). For everyone knew that an important proclamation was on Jesus’ lips. And indeed it was. Jesus announces, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (verse 21). With these words, Jesus declares himself to be the fulfillment of Isaiah 61.
At least at first, everyone is delighted with his declaration: “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips” (verse 22). But just seven verses later, we read that the people “got up, drove him out of town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was build, in order to throw him down the cliff” (verse 29). Interestingly, the Mishnah Sanhedrin, a compendium of ancient rabbinical teaching, explains that pushing someone over a cliff is the first step in stoning him to death. Thus, the intention of these people is clear: they want to kill Jesus.
But how can this be? How can this crowd go from “speaking well of Jesus” to desiring to stone him within the scope of a mere seven verses? Jesus gives us this answer: “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have beard that you did in Capernaum’” (verse 23). Apparently, the residents of Nazareth only thought well of Jesus because they thought that he could magically solve their problems. As soon as Jesus refuses to engage their superstitious penchant for miracles, the people turn on him. Thus, we find that the people’s expectations of Jesus and their actual experience of him do not match up. People were expecting Jesus to heal them of their sicknesses. When Jesus instead explains that these words from Isaiah do not mean free healings for all but instead that he is the very Messiah of God, the people are stirred into a fury and try to kill him.
Not much has changed since the first century. People’s expectations of Jesus still do not always match up with the reality of his stature as God’s Messiah. People are fine as long as Jesus remains in his safe and inoffensive position as a great teacher or a moral example or a highly enlightened individual. But Jesus is much more than these. He is the Messiah.
So today, ask yourself: What are my expectations of Jesus? Are they biblical or are they of my own making? Do I lean on Jesus as a crutch to solve my problems or do I trust in him as my Savior to ransom my soul? Whatever your expectations, remember that what Jesus actually gives is always greater, better, and more needed than what we would or could ever expect. As the apostle Paul writes, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21). Jesus doesn’t meet our expectations, he shatters them. Praise be to God!
“Word for Today” – Luke 3 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
In December of 1122, Pope Calixtus II convened the First Lateran Council, the ninth in a series of so-called ecumenical councils in the West. At issue was the relationship between the church and its laypeople and what privileges laypeople could exercise within the church as well as the relationship between the church and state and what authority the state could exercise over the church. As pressing as those issues may have been at the time, however, the First Lateran Council is most famously remembered for the declaration of its twenty-first canon: “We absolutely forbid priests, deacons, subdeacons, and monks to have concubines or to contract marriage. We decree in accordance with the definitions of the sacred canons, that marriages already contracted by such persons must be dissolved, and that the persons be condemned to do penance.” Thus began the practice of the clerical celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church.
Of course, official canonical law doesn’t always translate into actual practice, even among the popes who authorize and enforce such law. Subsequent to the First Lateran Council’s imposition of celibacy on clergy, several popes still managed to father children. Pope Alexander VI, who was pope from 1492-1503, was widely known as a philanderer and fathered four children by his mistress. Then there was Pope Julius III, pontiff from 1550-1555, who was rumored to have had an ongoing affair with his teenage adopted nephew.
Such scandals, as indicated by the sordid side of church history, are nothing new to our day and age. Indeed, there were many similar scandals among other popes, secular rulers, and even first century biblical characters. Even first century biblical characters like Jesus.
Jesus’ origin was certainly a source of much calumny among his detractors. In our reading for today from Luke 3, the doctor tips us off to the controversy which surrounded Jesus’ birth: “He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph” (verse 23). But there were rumors to the contrary.
In Mark 6, Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth to teach in the synagogue. After demonstrating himself to be a brilliant teacher, the people around him ask:
Where did this man get these things? What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us? (Mark 6:2-3)
In this society, it was standard practice to trace someone’s family origin through their father, not their mother. But in this instance, they trace Jesus’ lineage through his mother, Mary. Why? Because there were rumors afoot as to the true identity Jesus’ father. And rumor had it that it wasn’t Joseph. That is why, immediately following their questioning of Jesus’ origin, Mark says, “And they took offense at him” (Mark 6:3). They took offense at his shady pedigree.
We, as believers in Christ, know Jesus’ true origin. True enough, he is not the natural son of Joseph, but he is the only Son of God. Interestingly, right before Luke delineates Jesus’ earthly family tree in verse 23-37 and calls him the “son, so it was thought, of Joseph” (verse 23), he proudly proclaims Jesus’ true divine origins:
When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (verses 21-22)
Jesus may have not been the son of Joseph, but he was most definitely the Son of God.
As Christians, whatever our earthly roots, be they wholesome or scandalous, boring or broken, we too have a heavenly family tree – a heavenly family tree into which God has adopted us as his children. As Saint John writes, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are” (1 John 3:1)! Through our baptisms, God has said to us, “You are my child, whom I love. In light of Christ’s cross, I am well pleased.” So today, give thanks not only for your earthly relatives, but for your brothers and sisters from different mothers. For these are your brothers and sisters in Christ.
“Word for Today” – Luke 2 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
In 1993, F.H. Rauscher, G.L. Shaw, and K.N. Ky, three researchers from the University of California, published an article in Nature magazine titled “Music and Spatial Task Performance.” In it, these researchers found that children who listened to a sonata by Mozart had significantly increased spatial intelligence scores. That is, they were better able visualize spatial patterns and mentally manipulate them to solve problems.
In their experiment, Rauscher and his colleagues administered one of three standardized tests to children after they had listened to a sonata by Mozart, a piece of repetitive relaxation music, and a time of simple silence. The researchers found that the participants scored 8 to 9 IQ points higher after listening to Mozart over and against the relaxation music or the silence. The results of this study popularly became known as “the Mozart effect” and claims like, “Mozart makes you smarter” and, “Mozart helps your kids grow” spread like wildfire.
Although the findings and significance of this study have been severely misrepresented and overblown, I can’t help but think that maybe John the Baptist and Jesus listened to some really good music growing up after reading Luke 2.
Our reading for today is one of the most beloved in all Scriptures. An inn, a manger, shepherds, and angels mean that we can be nowhere else but Christmas. And yet, as charming as the story of Jesus’ birth may be, it’s the story of Jesus’ growth that really captivated me when I read this familiar chapter once again.
Luke 1 ends with these words concerning Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist: “And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel” (Luke 1:80). Interestingly, John’s growth spurt comes on the heels of a song sung to him by his father Zechariah:
You, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace. (Luke 1:76-79)
Then, with a masterful parallelism only Luke can muster, we read these words in Luke 2 concerning John the Baptist’s cousin Jesus: “The child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him” (verse 40). When does Jesus experience his growth spurt? After a good song, of course. When Jesus is at the temple to be dedicated to the Lord according to the Old Testament law, a man named Simeon sings these words to him:
Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. (verse 29-32)
Both John and Jesus, it seems, experienced the Mozart effect before there was even a Mozart. Music inaugurates their ministries.
The Christian church has long celebrated the value of a good song. Not so much because we believe it carries some mystical power in and of itself to make us grow smarter, but because a good song with good lyrics about Jesus can help us grow in our faith. Words like “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound” and “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty” and, in a nod to our reading from Luke 2, “Silent night, holy night” buoy our trust in God like few other things can. They help us grow and become strong in our faith. So today, sing a song to Jesus. It doesn’t even have to be a piece by Mozart. After all, when it comes to strengthening our faith in Jesus, any faithful song is a marvelous choice.
“Word for Today” – Luke 1 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
“Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” So once said Benjamin Franklin. And Benjamin Franklin certainly lived up to his sobering, yet pithy, cynicism. For he lived in the shadow of eighteenth century Rationalism, trumpeted by the likes of gifted authors such as Voltaire, who wrote: “Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.” Doubting everything, it seems, was en vogue in Franklin’s day.
Of course, not much has changed. Rationalism has given way to post-modernism which has turned doubt into a near deity, calling on people to doubt even themselves and embrace what amounts to a near philosophical turpitude. Thus, as we begin reading through to gospel of Luke in the “Word for Today,” the doctor’s opening words in Luke 1 may perhaps strike us as fanciful and even absurd:
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. (verses 1-4)
“You may know the certainty of the things you have been taught?” Come on! Certainty is absurd! But Luke is serious about certainty.
Luke 1:1-4 has been called the best Greek sentence in the whole New Testament. His vocabulary is lofty and his syntax is complex. Moreover, Luke uses certain rhetorical devices, common to his day, to lead his readers to trust his integrity and credentials. A couple of phrases deserve our special attention.
First, Luke says that he writes his gospel as a record of events “just as they were handed down to us” (verse 2). The Greek word for “handed down” is paradidomi, a technical term for delivering authoritative information, much like you might receive from a lawyer in a certified letter today. Thus, Luke is certifying his gospel’s veracity.
Second, Luke says that he has “carefully investigated everything from the beginning” (verse 3). In other words, Luke has done his homework concerning what he is getting ready to write. He has scoured sources and consulted eyewitnesses. If he were writing today, his gospel would surely contain a nearly endless parade of footnotes. For what he writes is a scholarly account of Jesus’ life.
Third, Luke engages in a rhetorical sleight of hand in his opening exordium. If you notice, Luke nowhere mentions in these verses that he is writing about Jesus. He only cryptically says that his is “an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us” (verse 1). Contrast this with Mark’s gospel, which begins unapologetically: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). Luke’s tactic is intentional. By first establishing his credentials as a careful historian and author, Luke is leading his readers to trust him just as we would trust a biographer or a scholar. This way, we will not dismiss his record of Jesus’ work and teaching out of hand as an ahistorical flight of miraculous fancy. In other words, Luke seeks first to lead us to certainty about him so that he can lead us to certainty about Jesus.
So perhaps Franklin’s statement should be amended: “Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death, taxes…and Luke’s gospel.” And I bet if you continued searching the Scriptures you might even find that more of its books are certain. Indeed, you might even find that all of its books are certain. For they all reveal to us the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of heaven and earth and of you and me. And there’s no one more certain than him. In fact, I’m so certain of him, I’m betting my very eternity on him. But I’m not worried, for even in an uncertain world, my Jesus is still a certain bet. Is he your certain bet?
“Word for Today” – Jude – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
In the early 1970’s, this nation became embroiled in what is perhaps its most enduring national scandal: the Watergate scandal. On June 17, 1972, five men broke into the Watergate Hotel, which at that time served as the offices for the Democratic National Convention. They were convicted on burglary and wiretapping charges and were soon revealed to have close ties to President Nixon. As more and more information was disseminated, it became evident that this break in was linked directly to the president. And so the press became vociferous in its search for the truth behind the scandal, which led to many tense and awkward moments with Nixon’s press secretary, Ron Ziegler, who loyally tried to defend the President. In one exchange with the White House Press Corps, after Ziegler was caught in a bald-faced lie, he issued a modified statement, retracting a previous statement, by saying, “This is the operative statement. The others are inoperative.”
If only it was really that simple. “These statements are inoperative. Please ignore them.” But it’s not really that simple. For there are not just “operative” and “inoperative” statements, there are truths and there are lies. And lies can be disastrous, diseasing, and damning things.
In our reading for today from the book of Jude, the brother of Jesus warns us against the dangers of lies and the false teachers who tell them:
Certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home – these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. (verses 4-7)
Certain men of Jude’s day were denying the Lordship of Christ. And the lies that these men were teaching were far worse than the lies told by the White House during the Watergate scandal. For these lies were not merely matters of politics, they were matters of salvation.
Jude continues by giving three examples of the kinds of judgments which await these false teachers, each successive judgment becoming more intense. First, he recalls that the Israelites were “destroyed” because they did not believe. The Greek word for “destroy” is apollumi, meaning “to damn.” This, then, was God’s hellish judgment on these wicked Israelites. Indeed, Jude says exactly that when he then speaks of the rebellious angels who are being held in hell for their final judgment on the Last Day. But it is Jude’s final example that is perhaps most striking: the judgment on these false teachers will be the same as that of Sodom and Gomorrah as they will “suffer the punishment of eternal fire.” Interestingly, like the fires of hell, the fires of Sodom and Gomorrah were thought by the ancient Jews to be eternal. The first century Jewish historian Philo writes of these fires: “Unprecedented destruction…fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah in the ruins, and ashes, and sulfur, and smoke, and dusky flame which still is sent up from the ground as of a fire smoldering beneath” (Philo, Life of Moses, II:56). Apparently, the fires of Sodom and Gomorrah were still smoldering from some 2,000 years earlier even in the first century. This is the intensity of the judgment that awaits those who teach falsely.
How are we to guard ourselves against such false and destructive teaching? Jude answers, “Contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (verse 3). The Greek word for “contend” is epagonizomai, from whence we get our English word “agony.” Jude challenges us to fight so valiantly and vigilantly for the true doctrines of our faith that we agonize over orthodoxy. We should be determined to allow not even the slightest lie to creep in. And we should honestly address truth and falsehood in terms more straightforward than “operative” and “inoperative.”
Do you heed Jude’s call? Do you carefully distinguish truth from falsehood? Do you agonize over the true doctrines of our precious faith? I hope you do. Because this truth isn’t just the truth about a politician, it’s the truth about God. And that’s truth that we should all be deeply interested in…and excited about.
“Word for Today” – James 5 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
One of my favorite movie lines of all time comes from 1995’s “Tommy Boy,” starring the late Chris Farley. Farley plays a clumsy, dimwitted, but lovable college student named Thomas R. Callahan III, a.k.a. “Tommy Boy,” who returns home to work at his father’s auto parts plant. Upon his arrival, Tommy’s father reveals to him that he is newly engaged and that Tommy will soon have a stepbrother named Paul. The first time Paul meets Tommy, he tries to coldly introduce himself to Tommy with a handshake, but Tommy will have none of it. Tommy exclaims, “Brothers don’t shake hands, brothers gotta hug!” and embraces Paul with a suffocating bear hug.
The ties of brotherhood were created to be strong. Brothers express their affection for each other with heartfelt hugs and sincere sacrifices, not hollow handshakes and polite pleasantries.
The apostle James understands the ties of brotherhood well. In fact, he refers to his readers as “brothers” no fewer than fifteen times over the course of his little letter. Indeed, his whole epistle is addressed to his Jewish brothers in Christ who are “scattered among the nations” (James 1:1), that is, except for one section. And that section comes at the beginning of our reading for today from James 5.
Whereas James customarily opens each section of his letter by speaking to his brothers, he does not do so here. Instead, he opens chapter 5:
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you. (verses 1-6)
As I read these words, I can almost see James wagging his finger at these wealthy aristocrats: “Now listen here, you affluent snobs! You may be rich, but you’re not my brothers! No, you’re wayward, hateful sinners! And you’re really going to get it from God in the end! He’s going to slaughter you in judgment!”
Now why would James level such harsh condemnation against the wealthy of his day? Is James some kind of bumbling, backwater indigent who has something against rich people because he’s poor? Hardly. James has nothing against wealth itself, but the way in which these people use their wealth. They hoard it. They fail to pay their workers. They live for their own self-indulgence. They even murder the innocent. James declares that such wickedness will not go unpunished by God.
It’s not as if those in James’ band of brothers are without sin. James warns his readers against temptation to sin (1:13-15), favoritism (2:1-4), action-less faith (2:14-17), and malicious talk (3:9-12). James’ brothers surely fall short of God’s standards, but they are still his brothers – his brothers in Christ. And that makes all the difference. For no matter what differences, grievances, and concerns he may have with them, they still share the foundation of Christ on which they can stand together.
Finally, James’ hope is that even the rich people whom he roundly condemns might join him in Christian brotherhood. As James writes at the end of his book, “My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins” (verses 19-20). By condemning the sins of these rich oppressors, James hopes to lead these who have wandered from the truth to repentance so that their sins might be covered and they might become his brothers in Christ.
So today, which brother or sister in Christ can you thank God for? Is there anyone who has strayed from the brotherhood of faith whom you can seek to gently restore? For having restoring a brother in Christ means seeing another sinner forgiven. And a forgiven sinner is a joy that deserves a hug. So hug a brother or sister in Christ today. It’s only appropriate.
“Word for Today” – James 4 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
“Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.” I was seven years old and learning my books of the Bible in Sunday School. Some sections of the Bible’s book list were easy: “Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.” I could handle the gospels. But the so-called “minor prophets,” tucked away at the end of the Old Testament, were brutal to memorize. I thought I never would be able to remember all of them much less be able to remember all of them in order so that I could get one of those coveted Sunday School gold stars. But I kept walking around the house repeating to myself: “Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah…Obadiah…What comes after Obadiah?!”
Even though it took me a while, I am proud to say that I wrote the listing of minor prophets at the beginning of this blog from memory. I may have had a difficult time memorizing these books, but once I did, I never forgot them.
In our reading for today from James 4, the apostle chastises his readers for their wicked ways:
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? (verses 4-5)
The grammar of verse 5 is quite interesting. The NIV takes this verse to mean that our fallen human spirits envy others, engaging in sinful behavior. The ESV translates this verse, “God yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us,” meaning that God is jealous for our spirits, not wanting them to belong to Satan. Either way, James’ message is clear: We ought to flee from wickedness, be it the wickedness of envy or otherwise, and flee toward the arms of God who jealously guards our spirits.
How are we to flee from wickedness and flee toward God? James gives us the answer in the following verses:
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (verses 7-10)
Notice that James rapidly fires verbs at his readers in a staccato fashion: “Submit, Resist, Come Near, Wash, Purify, Grieve, Mourn, Wail, Change, Humble.” Ten verbs in the scope of four verses.
Although memorizing this list of verbs may seem about as appealing as memorizing the final twelve books of the Old Testament, can I appeal to you to commit these ten verbs to memory? For they are invaluable when striving against the allures of sin. Submit to God’s perfect will rather than following your own broken will. Resist Satan’s temptations. Come near to God and rest in his true joy rather than the cheap thrills of sin. Wash and purify your soul in Jesus’ blood of forgiveness. Grieve, mourn, wail, and change when you do fall prey to sin – for you will fall prey to sin – and you will then need this language of repentance. Finally, even as you do resist sin, do not become haughty in your own righteousness; rather, remain humble, relying on God’s righteousness. For his righteousness is your one and only hope. This is James’ guidance in the face of sin’s enticements.
Lest we despair over our inability to memorize this list of ten verbs much less live them, let us not forget how James sets up his verb list: “God gives us more grace” (verse 6). It is grace that undergirds and empowers these verbs. Without God’s grace to fuel our actions and forgive us for our rebellion, these verbs stand as impossible ideals. With God’s grace, however, these verbs guide us in our Christian lives. I hope these verbs will guide you today…and every day.
“Word for Today” – James 3 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
When Melody and I first started flirting, we were, in typically cautious fashion, very careful about how much romantic interest we showed in each other. After all, neither one of us wanted to “play our hand,” so to speak, only to find out that the other one wasn’t interested. But then the holidays arrived. And I decided it was time to put all my cards on the table. I decided it was time to take a chance on love. And so, during our first Christmas together, I bought Melody a Christmas gift to end all Christmas gifts. I bought Melody a cute little jack russell and dachshund mix puppy, complete with a bow tied around his neck. I even named him for her. I gave him the name Satchel.
Did I mention that Satchel was a jack Russell and dachshund mix puppy – a very needy jack Russell and dachshund mix puppy who always wanted to play and who never wanted to be alone? When Melody would go to work in the morning, Satchel, who was kenneled, would begin to bark. And he would continue to bark…and bark…and bark…and bark. He would bark until his voice was horse in the afternoon. He would bark so much that one day Melody’s neighbors said to her, “Your dog must really miss you. He barks all day.” At least they put their complaint charitably.
I’m sure you’ve heard the old cliché, “His bark is worse than his bite.” In Satchel’s case, this was most certainly true. For he was a kind hearted dog who, as far as I could tell, would never have bitten anyone. But his whiny bark would give even the most stalwart dog lover a headache. Melody kept Satchel for six months before he found his new home with a friend of ours.
“His bark is worse than his bite.” As true as that may be in the case of many dogs, James tells us that it’s not always true in the case of many people. In our reading for today from James 3, the apostle writes, “The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell” (verses 5-6). James reminds us that, when it comes to our words, it’s not that our bark is worse than our bite, it’s that our bark is our bite. That is, we can use the bark of our words to bite other people’s hearts, souls, and reputations. We can slander them with our gossip. We can scare them with our threats. We can hurt them with our haranguing. Our bark is our bite.
James writes concerning the “bark” of our words: “If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check” (verse 2). The apostle concludes that if we could just perfectly control our tongues, the rest of our bodies would follow suit and we would live sin free lives. Of course, none of us live sin free lives. The implication, then, is that we all have some work to do on what we say and how we control our tongues. And it is with this in mind that I would ask you to do a little introspection. Is there anyone whom you have “barked at” with your words and you now need to make amends with them? Is there anyone who has bit you with their words that you now need to forgive? Whether an apology or forgiveness is in order, do not let the bark of cruel words rule your heart.
In order to learn how to speak properly and reverently, we need only to look as far as Jesus. For, as the prophet Isaiah says, Jesus will “judge the needy with righteousness, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked” (Isaiah 11:4). Jesus’ mouth is a mouth of only righteousness, not of wickedness, only of truth, never of lies. His mouth comforts the righteous and condemns the wicked. And this should be what our mouths do as well. Our mouths should parrot Jesus’ mouth. Thus, the best way we can keep our mouths in check is to listen to Jesus’ mouth and then simply say what he says. I hope that you have and I hope that you will.
“Word for Today” – James 2 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
One of my favorite current series of commercials is for DirecTV. These commercials feature board members for Cable Corp Inc., a fictional high powered cable company, sitting around a posh board room table trying to figure out ways to compete with DirecTV whose products, prices, and services are apparently killing their business. In one commercial, a board member is bemoaning that customers love DirecTV because they can watch movies in “full 1080p,” to which another board member responds, “Yes, but they can’t watch movies in 1,000,080p.” The rest of the board, completely confused because Cable Corp Inc. doesn’t broadcast in 1,000,080p, asks him to explain. In his mind, it’s quite simple: Cable Corp Inc. doesn’t broadcast in 1,000,080p and DirecTV doesn’t broadcast in 1,000,080p. The two companies, then, are on equal footing. Thus, he responds to his board members’ inquiry: “Oops! Look like someone’s just leveled the playing field!”
The humor of this commercial, of course, lies in the fact that although this flamboyant board member can talk about competing with DirecTV, he takes absolutely no action toward real and meaningful competition. And this, essentially, is James’ argument concerning faith and works in our reading for today from James 2:
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (verses 14-17)
To paraphrase, James says, “You can boast about the ‘features’ your faith has all you want. You can even try to ‘level the playing field,’ as it were, by making excuses as to why others’ faith results in action while yours remains stagnate. But if your faith helps no one, you’re merely fooling yourself. For your faith is meant not only to justify you before God apart from works (cf. Ephesians 2:8-9), your faith is meant to help others because it results in works.”
James then continues by offering two examples of persons whose faith resulted in works. The first one, especially to a first century Jewish mind like James’, would have been a no-brainer: Abraham. As James notes, Abraham was “called God’s friend” (verse 23), was the very patriarch of the Jewish nation, and was well known for his many yeoman-like feats of faith. He was a paragon of what it looked like for faith in God to result in action toward others.
But James isn’t done yet. He has another example up his sleeve: that of Rahab. Rahab? Granted, she is remembered for helping the Israelites in the book of Joshua as they sought to conquer Jericho, but she is also a Gentile rather than a Jew and she worked in the “world’s oldest profession.” Putting Rahab next to Abraham as an example of faith being put into action hardly seems fair. For the two are scores apart in their level of piety, Rahab being much lower on the scale. Why would James do such a thing?
Finally, it is faith, not their works, which made both of these people a part of God’s Kingdom. Indeed, their faith is the only thing which Abraham and Rahab seem to have in common. But their faith did indeed result in some sort of action, even if Abraham’s actions are remembered as much more numerous and much more precious than are Rahab’s. And that’s fine. For James’ point is not the amount of action that a person’s faith results in, but that a person’s faith does indeed result in some sort of righteous action.
In James’ mind, it is fruitless and futile to compare our actions of faith to another’s actions of faith. We don’t need to try to “level the playing field.” Instead, we need simply to press ahead, content with the actions that God himself has prepared for us, as Paul says: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). God has works of faith for each one of us. There’s no need to compare ourselves to others and try to outdo one another.
So today, what work of faith does God have for you? Comforting a mourner? Caring for someone who’s sick? Assisting an elder? The possibilities are endless. My prayer for you today is that you cheerfully put your faith into action. For this not only pleases God, it helps others. And we can all use a little help.
“Word for Today” – James 1 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
I am not a fisherman. Or, I should say, I am not a skilled fisherman. I do, however, enjoy fishing from time to time. There is just something about a line in the water and a lazy morning that refreshes and refills my soul in a way that little else can.
In college, one of my favorite places to go fishing was in Lee County, Texas on a friend’s property that had a bass tank on it. My buddy and I would wake up early – at least by college student standards – hop in his truck, and travel the dirt back roads to the secluded spot. The fishing was always great. Fish after fish, bite after bite, the experience was never disappointing.
Because we hardly ever kept the fish we caught, the fish we hooked were often ones that had been hooked before. More often than not, we would reel in a fish only to discover one, two, or even three hooks in his throat, swallowed from his previous run ins with fishing lures. And yet, he kept on biting. “Shouldn’t the fish have learned by now?” I would wonder to myself. “Hasn’t he learned how to recognize a hook? Doesn’t he know that the wiggly worm being dangled in front of his face is merely a trap set by a fisherman with nefarious intent?” Alas, the fish never seemed to learn. And so we kept on hooking him.
In our reading for today from James 1, James says that, like a bass in a tank enticed by a worm, we swim through our lives enticed by our sinful desires. James writes of our temptations:
When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. (verses 13-15)
The Greek word for “enticed” at the end of verse 14 is deleazo, a word borrowed from the world of angling meaning “to lure” or “to bait.” Like a fish with a worm, we persistently and repeatedly swim toward our own sinful desires, never bothering to notice or discern that those desires have Satan’s hook lodged in them.
How do we avoid being hooked by such sinfulness? James offers two thoughts. First, we should be slow to speak. James writes, “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires” (verses 19-20). Our careless and thoughtless words are often Satan’s hook to reel us into a life of wickedness. Therefore, James warns, gage your words carefully. Speak only as Jesus would speak. Second, we should be quick to help. James continues, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (verses 22, 27). Helping widows and others in need, James says, has a funny way of steering us clear from evil because we are so busy with charitable acts that we don’t have any time for evil acts.
Be slow to speak and quick to help. This is James’ practical guidance to avoid Satan’s hooks of sin. And this is guidance we can put into practice today. What hooks of sin tempt you? What word from Jesus can you carefully and deliberately speak which would steer you clear from what tempts you? And who can you help in Jesus’ name so that you are not left alone, tempted by your sinful desires? Satan’s hooks need not hook us! For, instead of being harangued by Satan’s hooks, we can be healed by our Savior’s heart. And that’s no illusive lure, that’s a perfect promise.
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