Sermon:  “Gentleness Born of Wisdom”

Text: James 3:13-4:10

25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

September 20, 2009

Scripture introduction.  Our second reading this morning is from the New Testament book of James, traditionally thought to have been written by James the brother of Jesus, who was an early leader in the Jerusalem church.  As one commentator has written, the book of James is not so much hard to understand as it is hard to follow in our lives.[1]  James sees a basic opposition between the ways of the world and the ways of God.  In that sense James is not very far from the emphasis that we just heard in our first reading, from Psalm 1, which describes the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked.  As we hear the admonitions of Psalm 1 and of James, we may yearn for a third or a fourth way.  But these texts offer us only two—the right way and the wrong way. 

On the other hand, we should not assume that James considers everything in the world to be bad.  James expresses no desire to depart from this earth and dwell in heaven, but rather is telling us how to be more content as we live in this life.  Thus, when James asserts that to be friends with the world is to be an enemy of God, he is exaggerating his point for emphasis.[2]  What he really means is that we cannot have divided loyalties.  The Old Testament prophets analogized the covenant between God and ancient Israel as a marriage covenant.  James cautions us not to be adulterers toward God—unfaithful to our covenant vows.  We cannot straddle the line—one foot in God’s realm and the other foot in the world.  James calls us away from double-mindedness and toward a clear focus on God, on God’s moral law, and on right behavior toward our fellow humans.

Sermon.  When our son Lee was young, one of his favorite places to go was “Chuck E. Cheese.”  The pizza was desperately ordinary, but there were many amusements for the children.  Of all the games, Lee seemed to return most often to what I will call the “basher game.”  There was a table with a dozen or more fist-sized holes in it.  At what appeared to be random intervals, yellow heads—plastic cylinders with rounded tops and faces painted on them—would pop up through the holes and then, after staying up for a moment, would go back down beneath the surface of the table.  Sometimes several were visible at once; other times only one.  Tethered to the side of the table was a cushioned mallet.  The object of the game was to use the mallet to bash as many of the yellow heads as possible before the game timed out.  I noticed that sometimes Lee would be ready to bash one yellow head, when another one would pop up even closer.  If he hesitated even a moment while he considered which one to hit, both of them might go down; and then he would miss getting any points during that interval.  The best strategy for winning the game was to focus your attention on one target, and bash it, before moving on to the next target.  If you were at all “double-minded,” undecided about your focus, you would miss many opportunities for scoring.

That’s the image that came to my mind as I considered this passage from James, which cautions against double-mindedness.  That’s actually straight from the Greek—dipsychos—di (two) - psychos (minds).  James urges persons with that problem to cleanse their hands and purify their hearts.  He wants us to be single-minded.  We are double-minded persons when we are not fully committed to either of two directions.  When we can’t ever fully decide which of the yellow targets we want to bash, we wind up not bashing any.  James is preaching to us that we cannot be effective disciples of Jesus if we aren’t sure of our priorities. 

Sometimes when I have been double-minded in my own life, at the time I flattered myself that I was simply being open-minded.  But double-minded and open-minded are very different things.  Despite his strong rhetorical language, James is not opposed to open-mindedness:  remember that in verse 17 he characterizes divine wisdom as “pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, . . . [and] without a trace of partiality.”  An open-minded person considers a wide range of facts and opinions before making a decision, but once the decision is made, that person is committed to it.  If we think that James’ language is harsh, we should consider similar statements from Jesus—for example, that “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”[3]

James emphasizes the importance of being fully committed to the wisdom that comes from above because he has seen clearly what happens when we accept the wisdom of the world—or are so double-minded that our indecision allows us to be swept along by the wisdom of the world.  James understands jealously and envy to be at the heart of our problems.  According to the wisdom of the world, there is not enough good stuff to go around; and we must get as much as we can in order to have power and prestige and personal worth.[4]  If we follow the world’s wisdom, conflict is unavoidable because the basic assumption is one of scarcity.  If you have something and I do not, then I will attempt to take what you have and you will erect barriers and defend yourself against me.  As James wrote in verse 16, “[W]here there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.”  In chapter 4, verse 2, he is even more direct:  We “covet something and cannot obtain it; so [we] engage in disputes and conflicts.”  In its deepest sense, the wisdom of the world denies God’s power and intention to take care of us.  It tells us that we are on our own and must make our own way.  It does not have faith or trust in God.

In contrast, the wisdom from above is “willing to yield” because persons who practice heavenly wisdom know that God is the source of all good things and that God has provided enough good things—on this earth—for our happiness and well-being.  Note that heavenly wisdom assumes abundance, rather than scarcity.  It’s actually very practical.  If those who have many of the world’s goods operate from an assumption that there is plenty to go around, they will be willing to share with those who have little.  These persons, in James’ words, are “full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.”  So, far from being a hater of the world, James actually has very high expectations of the world and of God’s loving providence for all the world’s creatures.

As Luke Timothy Johnson has written, in urging upon us Christians a single-minded commitment to living a life imbued with heavenly wisdom, James is calling for nothing less than our full conversion—from persons who are undecided and uncommitted to those who are focused and active.[5]  James recognizes the difficulty of living up to this ideal all the time, so he gives us a few pointers on how to do it.  First of all, he writes, “submit yourselves . . . to God. . . . Draw near to God, and [God] will draw near to you.”  I take it from this that we should not wait for God to speak to us in a thundering voice from heaven or to overwhelm us with divine power.  While God has loved us from the beginning, God expects some movement from us.  We should take a step toward God—whatever that means for us—and then God will step toward us.  I want to add a thought that James did not write, but which I believe to be true:  God’s steps are much larger than ours.  Our small step is matched by God’s great step; after taking any action based on faith, we will sense God’s presence, knowing in a new way that, indeed, God has drawn near.  We take our small steps in prayer but also in actions that display wisdom from above.  The cycle becomes stronger with each repetition.  God draws nearer with each right-minded action; and when God is near, it is much easier for us to take the next action, living single-mindedly according to heavenly wisdom.

Equally important in the other direction is James’ challenge, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  (It’s the opposite of the character who proudly proclaimed, “I can resist anything but temptation!”[6])  One day at a time, one temptation at a time, take a step away from the devil—make a decision based on heavenly wisdom—and the devil will take giant steps away from you.

Tomorrow is the day that the United Nations General Assembly has designated as the International Day of Peace.  What does one do on the International Day of Peace?  Certainly we can’t celebrate world peace because it is still a long way off.  But we can hope for peace, long for peace, and recognize the importance of peace.  We might even begin asking ourselves what can be done to bring about more peace.  As I think about all the conflict in the world, I ask myself what the world would be like if we followed the teaching of James—fully committing ourselves to heavenly wisdom and to operating out of an assumption of abundance.  Somewhere I have read that already—right now—there is enough food in the world to feed everyone.  The problem is that the food is not getting to the people who need it.  Could that be because someone somewhere has an assumption of scarcity and is hoarding it?  The wisdom of the world tells us that we must hold what we have—land, food, money, energy—against those who might want to take it.  For the United States, this requires billions of dollars spent on military endeavors.  Imagine what a health care system we could have if we did not fear our international neighbors, if we could reduce our military expenditures.  Abundance, not scarcity. 

Of course there is evil in the world, and we must protect ourselves against it.  I don’t suggest for a moment that we should unilaterally disarm.  But we should be just as energetic working for peace as we are in building our military.  I am not afraid of diplomatic engagement with North Korea or Iran or Hamas.  We cannot persuade people that we have interests in common if we are not even able to talk to them.  For all the faults and flaws of the United Nations, at least it is a place where international conflicts can be negotiated.  Nor by urging cooperation am I suggesting that we scrap our economic system, which is based on competition.  The marketplace is efficient and useful, but it is not an end in itself—another god to be worshipped.  Rather, the marketplace is a tool that should be employed.  As with any tool, it is good for some things but not for all things.  We should not be afraid to regulate the market’s natural excesses or to use other tools when they are more appropriate.

As James wrote to the church almost 2000 years ago, “where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.  And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.”

While James’ letter was written to the church, within the letter he rightly addresses us individually.  For if, in the words of the song, we pray, “Lord, let there be peace on earth,” we must add, “and let it begin with me.”[7]  May each of us pursue peace[8] single-mindedly, with the wisdom that comes from above.