... and one of them, an expert in the law, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” [Jesus] said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:35-40 NRSVue
On this All Souls Day who do we remember with affection and respect as exemplars of Christian faith? Are they the people who just talked about their convictions, or those who lived them?
Earlier this year a group of us at Trenton United Church studied the Psalms, that worship treasury which is literally and figuratively at the heart of scripture. Our conversations led me to start reading the psalm for the day outlined by the Common Lectionary. This table of scripture lessons is used by many congregations on Sunday mornings but there are readings for each day of the week as well.
Along with the psalm each day there are other readings from the older and newer testaments and this week there were two from the book called James. Martin Luther didn't have much use for this epistle calling it a "book of straw". It doesn't mention Jesus and the emphasis on works rather than justification by faith was problematic for Luther who was never reluctant to express his opinions.
As the years have gone by I have come to appreciate James more and more. It is important as a corrective to the temptation to turn the gospel into a "me and Jesus" experience which doesn't issue in compassionate action on behalf of the vulnerable and impoverished.
James alone is not the gospel but it complements the invitation to live as those who have been transformed by the Living Christ. James also reflects the parable of Jesus which we call the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Jesus also responded to a question about the greatest commandment by including
While this passage is not an All Souls reading, here are the verses. See what you think.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith without works is barren?
Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness’, and he was called the friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
James 2:14-24 NRSVue
The Good Samaritan -- Vincent Van Gogh
3 comments:
I think if one is truly "saved by faith" , one will want to do good works....
That makes too much sense Judy.
Well, if salvation does not bring about transformation, or "regeneration by the Holy Spirit", it may not be worth much. (So my old Salvation Army doctrinal teaching sometimes comes back to me with a force...the S's on the collar pf the uniform mean "Saved to serve" .... not "sugar and spice", as I used to tease my dad))
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