Sermon: Feast of St. James the Elder - 2021

25 July 2021

Text: Mark 10:35-45 (Acts 11:27-12:5, Rom 8:28-39)

 In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

 When young people are polled about what they want out of life, a large number of them want to be famous.  And the world of social media has certainly encouraged this by creating an environment of friends, likes, and followers.  People dream of making a living by being a “content producer” or “influencer.”  We may be tempted to think this is something new, but we see it in the Scriptures – even in the Gospel reading for this feast day of St. James the Elder.

 James and his brother John were among the first to follow Jesus.  They were fishermen.  Their colleague Peter became the leader of the apostles. The three of them, Peter, James, and John, were our Lord’s “inner circle” among the twelve, and saw Him transfigured on the mountain. 

 Our Gospel does not paint a very flattering picture of St. James and his brother John.  They come to Jesus asking to be placed on His right hand and His left in His glory.  In other words, they are bucking for the top spots among Jesus’ followers.  And in fact, Matthew’s account gives us an even more embarrassing detail: their mother comes with them to talk to Jesus about getting the top jobs.  Can you imagine?  Grown men bring their mother to Jesus to ask for positions of prominence. 

 This desire for worldly accolades is not something unique to our own day and age.  It is as old as sin itself.  And this is the Gospel reading to celebrate St. James.  It’s clear that the Scriptures were not cleaned up or edited to paint a rosy picture about our Lord’s disciples, nor does the kingdom of God work like the world.

 For indeed, James and John were prominent among the disciples.  John would write the fourth Gospel, three epistles, and the final book of Scripture.  And James would achieve glory in a different way: by being among the first to be killed by the government for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel.

 And this is why our Lord said to James and John – within earshot of their ambitious mother: “You do not know what you are asking.  Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”  Jesus was referring to His crucifixion.  James and John reply, “We are able.”  Like St. Peter, their ambition blinds them to what it means to be great in the kingdom of God.  There is no fame and fortune, no admiration from the world, no moneybags and fine houses, no palaces and soft clothing, no gourmet foods and limousines for the disciples of Jesus.  Rather, for John, there was exile to a hostile island by order of Caesar.  For Peter there was a crucifixion likewise ordered by the Roman government.  For James, a sword ordered by King Herod. 

 Historically speaking, to be a Christian makes one an enemy of the state – at some points in history more than others.  To be a Christian puts one at odds with the world, with high society, with those in power, and with the very people whom the world admires and rewards with fame.

 When the other disciples heard about James and John – and Mrs. Zebedee – seeking favors from Jesus, they were “indignant.”  Our Lord used this incident as a teaching moment: “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.  But it shall not be so among you.  But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

 So to be great in God’s kingdom is to be a slave – both to other people and to God.  This is the opposite of what the world seeks after.  Each and every one of you sitting here in this sanctuary is called to slavery, to be a servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to serve your neighbor.  You are called to carry out your vocation in the kingdom, whatever it is.  But you are not called to be praised in this world, to be famous, and to have people serve you.

St. James learned what Jesus meant when he saw this “baptism” that our Lord was referring to, when He saw His Master being crucified.  And this martyrdom is what awaited James as well.  Like Christians throughout the ages, James’s faithfulness was tested by the government, which demanded his loyalty to them to be placed above his loyalty to Christ.  In his own desire for fame and the approval of the world, the phony king Herod Agrippa “pleased the Jews” by laying “violent hands on some who belonged to the church” – including St. James. 

The spot where James was beheaded is today a church named for St. James.  His head is buried under the altar, where the sacrament was, and is, celebrated, and where Christ has come to His disciples of every age for centuries.  That, dear friends, is what it means to be great in the kingdom of God.

In the eyes of the world, it seems strange that Christians don’t just do as we are told by kings and presidents and secretaries general.  We are hated by the world precisely because we don’t care what they think.  We don’t worship fame and fortune and the possibility of wearing soft clothing and living in a palace.  And when the powers that be threaten us with the sword, we still won’t serve them nor bow down to them.  And that is why we are enemies of the state.  That is why St. James was beheaded.  That is why Christians around the world continue to be persecuted, whether in a soft form (for the time being) in the west, or by imprisonment and beheading in other less civilized countries. 

We are slaves of Christ, not slaves of the state.  “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” asks St. Paul (who himself, along with St. Peter, would die as a martyr at the hands of the Roman government).  “Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?”  And even though we are seen by our enemies as sheep to be slaughtered, being killed at every turn, “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”  And though kings and presidents and secretaries general can separate our heads from our bodies, “neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 We Christians do not seek fame and fortune and likes and followers.  We seek to be faithful and to serve our Lord, whether that means a long and peaceful life, or a concentration camp, a sword, or a cross.  We look to Jesus, whose own sacrificial death on the cross is our ransom from sin and death, whose service to us models our own service of Him and of our neighbor.  And we, like James, grow in our faith, so as to disregard, and even scorn the world’s fame and approval in exchange for the “love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 And we honor our Lord by honoring St. James, by our constant presence at the altar, in this life and in eternity, worshiping our Lord instead of this world, being faithful subjects of our King even if it comes at the expense of being faithful citizens of a monstrous government that puts people to the sword for political favor.  We follow Jesus knowing that the cup on this altar may well lead to the cup that our Lord Himself drank.  We are the people of the cross, the “ransomed number.”  We are slaves of Christ.  And if that means a sword, so be it.

 O Lord, for James we praise You
Who fell to Herod’s sword;
He drank the cup of suff’ring
And thus fulfilled Your word.
Lord, curb our vain impatience
For glory and for fame,
Equip us for such suff’rings
As glorify Your name.

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.