It’s a sad fluke of history when we forget the prominent people who shaped their times. It’s even sadder when the Church has succumbed to this failing. But that such a fate should fall on such a first-rank figure of the Apostolic Church is even more worthy of lamentation.
James, the stepbrother of Jesus, was not an apostle. Yet, he became the first pastor and bishop of our mother Church in Jerusalem. People knew James as someone who lived an especially holy life, who prayed and interceded for others. He presided over the first Church council. He wrote the book of James. And in 62 AD, he was martyred for the faith.
Who was this man? Who was–not John, Peter, or Paul–but James called the Just, of Jerusalem? Who was this man, whom Galatians called, “James, the brother of the Lord”? And how sad it is that we have all but forgotten this man.
The New Testament gives us several glimpses of James. Taken together, they help us to understand who He was. After Jesus arose from the dead, He first showed Himself to James and then to the Apostles (1 Corinthians 15:7). As the Church began to grow in Jerusalem, James became the leading figure of the Jerusalem Church.
After an angel had freed Peter from prison, Peter asked to report his escape “to James and the brothers.” Several years later, in 49 AD, at the Council of Jerusalem, James led the Church with an unwavering hand to decide how to treat and live with the new Gentile converts. James said, “It is my judgment…,” and then he went on to describe how to live and love the Gentiles in mostly an ethnically Jewish Church (Acts 15:13-21).
Yet, James did more than stand up and encourage the Church not to burden the Gentile Christians. He also reminded them that Gentiles were also grafted into a Vine that has been here since Abraham and Moses, and even before. By doing so, James made sure the Church was faithful to the past, to the truths that endure into eternity, yet applied them in their current context.
Years later, when the Apostle Paul visited Jerusalem, he went to see “James, and all the elders [that is, the pastors, who] were present” (Acts 21:18). When Paul spoke of an earlier visit to Jerusalem, he spoke of how “James, Peter, and John” had given him the “right hand of fellowship.” From the way that Paul ordered his list of names, he shows that he gave precedence to James. Indeed, the New Testament connects James with the Jerusalem Church more than any other person.
So, that’s the James of Jerusalem, James the Just, who was the first bishop of the first New Testament Church. Yet, what may seem even stranger is that James didn’t believe Jesus was the Messiah for much of his life. I suppose James was too close to Jesus, his younger stepbrother (by Church tradition [Epiphanius]), having seen much of Him throughout the years with family.
Indeed, it is as Jesus says: “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his household” (Matthew 13:57). And so as James saw Jesus grow up, he probably saw Him as strange and eccentric. James would never see Jesus do anything wrong–but what was His obsession with always confronting people about their sins?
James knew Jesus’ miracles were for real. And, from what we know, James never accused Jesus of being a charlatan. James could not deny Jesus’ miracles; yet, he still didn’t have faith in Him. How can he, Jesus is His stepbrother? Jesus can’t be all that. Jesus can’t be the Messiah. That’s why James gave Jesus no respect. After all, He was just his stepbrother.
That was the Jesus James knew until Jesus arose from the grave. After that, then James knew that what Jesus had spoken of for many years was true. Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days” (John 2:19). Jesus was referring to Himself. Yes, it seemed ridiculous, but the resurrection proved it all. Jesus arose from the dead on the third day. Jesus is the Messiah and savior prophesied from of old!
What James experienced is also true for us. We are not neutral when it comes to Jesus. We also are disinclined to believe what we think is but a foolish story. But like James, God the Holy Spirit has also pierced you with His truths to change a heart to believe in the One who is Himself Truth–Jesus Christ!
Like James, what is it about Jesus against which your sinful flesh keeps rebelling? Could it be that you would be more comfortable with a Lord who keeps Himself cozy in heaven? Is that a more spiritual Savior to you? Yet, Jesus refuses to give up His humanity: His flesh, His bones, and His blood. In human frailty and weakness, only a real, flesh-and-blood Jesus can speak your forgiveness and salvation from the Cross. How fully physical Jesus is, not simply spiritual!
Yes, like James, Jesus also baffles us. In John chapter 6, Jesus said that unless someone eats His flesh and drinks His blood, he has no life. The people then thought Jesus was losing it. But then Jesus makes sure that no one misunderstands Him. He changes words, so no one would be in doubt.
In the Greek, Jesus changed from generic eating (fagomai) to chewing (trogo). Jesus said, “The one who chews my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him” (John 6:56). Then, the crowd of several thousand left Jesus. They all thought He had gone insane.
Yes, even today, Jesus, your flesh-and-blood brother, still confronts you. He tells you to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Will you be like the crowds 2,000 years ago? Will you be like most churches in North America? Will you also reject this crazy, insane-sounding truth from Jesus? Or will you walk by faith and believe what Jesus tells you, even if your fallen mind remains baffled and perplexed?
Like James, what is it about Jesus against which you sinful flesh keeps rebelling? Is it that you would prefer to see some real proof, some evidence, of God’s generous giving? Would you prefer to have a God who rewards you here for being His disciple? After all, the cross is all right for Jesus. He had to endure that to save me. But honestly, I’d like to have my cake, but eat it, as well. I’d prefer to be a rich and comfortable here, but also receive my crown of glory in eternity. But what does God, through James, tell us? He urges us to rejoice in our suffering and exalt in our lowliness.
Jesus, our God, is a man. He died. He became a man to die for those who hated, betrayed, and rejected Him. He became a man to save even His stepbrother, James, who, at first, refused to believe in Him.
Our Lord showed Himself to James after He rose from the dead. Jesus forgave him. And James believed. From that work of God, James continued to grow in the faith. He wrote an epistle, where he spurned false faith, where someone could boast of his faith, but then live a life that denied that faith.
James said, if you have faith, praise be to God! But don’t spend your time boasting about your faith. Listen to the Gospel. You are washed in the cleansing blood of Christ. You are absolved in the Name of Christ. You have fellowship–communion–in Christ, eating and drinking His body and blood once given into death for you and now, given to you in bread and wine. That’s the faith that saves you.
Living in such faith, then forget about yourself and serve your neighbor in love. James encouraged such love for the Gentile converts, even while he struggled with living out that reality. He preached and taught such a love consistent with the Faith once delivered to the saints.
God does not save you, and keep saving you, in some theoretical, abstract world. God grafts you in, just as James taught at the Jerusalem council, with all the saints who came before us. That’s why we have saint days, in which we remember the lives of the saints, our true family, our brothers and sisters in Christ.
That’s the life of a Christian. That’s the life of a forgiven sinner, of living by faith–and the works produced by such faith–even for the first bishop of our mother Church in Jerusalem. We live the life of faith, rooted in Christ’s righteousness and forgiveness, because sin still infects us all. But the grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ permeates not just the Church, but also each Christian, even you.
Jesus did not turn His back on Nazareth or Jerusalem, even when they turned their backs on Him. That’s why St. James of Nazareth, and then of Jerusalem, was also saved. James found forgiveness and grace from his brother, Jesus, whom he had earlier rejected.
Because Jesus did not turn His back on us, we also are honored to call Christ “Brother.” We also can His Father, “our Father.” For by faith, enlivened and made real in us through Word and Sacrament, we are all sons of the Father and brothers of our Lord. Indeed, we are all forgiven in Christ. Amen.
