Proper 19, Year B | James 3:1-12
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
September 15, 2024
the Rev. Jonathan Hanneman
To watch the full service, please visit this page.
“Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.” – James 1:22[1]
I keep running into one particular question lately: how can those who claim to be Christians speak about other people[2] so harshly—even cruelly? I’m not sure it’s possible to give an adequate answer. My quick response is that in general, people just kind of suck. That’s why faithful repentance is such an important part of the Christian life. When those most committed to following Jesus fail constantly, what can we expect from someone who claims to trust Jesus yet refuses to change their life? Even so, it remains a troubling question. Why do people act how they do? Why do we say the things we say? Why do we so frequently continue to sin “in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone”?[3] And why is it so especially easy to do so with our words?
I wonder if that isn’t something we could trace all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Theologians have a history of focusing our attention on the famous piece of fruit, but the first real damage or harm that comes to any person in the story is when Adam blames Eve for his choice to eat. Eve then blames the serpent, and we’ve all just bought into that initial family tradition ever since.
It fits with our Gospel reading from two weeks ago. Jesus told us, “there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile….For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”[4] Based on that, swallowing the apple or quince or persimmon or whatever it was couldn’t possibly have ushered sin into the world. But what came out of Adam’s mouth most certainly laid the foundation for the same walls and barriers to peace that we continue to erect among ourselves today.
People like to pretend that words aren’t harmful. And taken individually, I suppose they aren’t. But put them into a sentence or a phrase, and they become a method for us to deliver intent, and intent most certainly comes from within. When confronted with destructive intent in their own message, people often shift responsibility[5] to the listener, responding that the other person is too sensitive or doesn’t know how to take a joke. But how does that actually line up with what Jesus told us? “Nothing outside a person…going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.” Sensitive recipient or not, apart from genuine misunderstanding, the words coming out of the mouth reveal the intent, and the intent displays the state of the speaker’s heart.
So in some ways, our words, harmful though they may be, aren’t the root problem; they’re a symptom of something more pervasive—something systemic and, honestly, far more dangerous. They’re essentially little pieces of fruit developing out of who we truly are—hard evidence of what’s going on within. Like the deceit and slander Jesus explicitly mentions, the negative or harmful words that come out of our mouths expose the pride and contempt rooted in our hearts. Taking a closer look, and pushing into Jesus’ description of these things as the same kind of “evil” we discussed a few weeks ago,[6] we can see that these words, tiny embodiments of the heart’s malice, actually function as forms of oppression—ways we intimidate or try to manipulate those who would hear us, a means of dominating or even taking control of our fellow humans through shame or fear. Words like these allow the worst aspects of our own pride and sense of superiority to begin manifesting themselves in open reality, spreading seeds of hatred throughout the physical world we all inhabit.
No wonder James is so careful to warn us about our tongues! The same Sunday Jesus discussed defilement coming from within, James told us, “let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.”[7] How much of what comes out of our mouths is rooted in anger, in what he immediately describes as “sordidness and rank growth of wickedness”?[8] How can we expect oppression, something so contrary to expressions of love, to truly move us or anyone else to align with God’s character?
It goes back to the theme of our epistle: family resemblance. Are our lives rooted in the lived reality of who God is? While similar traits often run in families, total strangers sometimes look remarkably similar—I’ve run into my own face three or four times over the years. So when that happens, how do we tell the difference between true family—those who would be genuine Children of God—and doppelgangers? What value is there in simply looking like God if we’ve never learned to reflect God’s actions? How beneficial are the kindest of acts when accompanied by a mouth spewing venom?
James’ examples reveal a good bit of wisdom. No one can trust a spring that inconsistently spouts either pure or contaminated water. Or what good is a pecan tree that grows acorns? Imagine the kind of damage pepper plants might do if they randomly returned to their ancient nature as a form of nightshade!
Have you ever actually witnessed God erupting with anger? Has anyone heard God reaming someone out or demeaning and insulting them or mocking the weak? God is love, and love always seeks to uplift. As we heard yesterday at Jon Hill’s funeral, “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, [is faithful in] all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”[9] God gives—constantly and continually gives—not just to certain favorites but to all, short and tall, rich and poor, good and bad.
So as you go through the week, consider the reflection you display to the people around you. Who do you look like? More importantly, who do you act like? Or more specifically to our passage, who do you sound like? Do your actions, choices, and words open peoples’ eyes to “the Father of lights,”[10] or do they cause others to cringe or back away into shadows? Do you, as an Image of God, mirror God appropriately, or is there some distortion in how you’ve been representing your family? God is far less concerned with where you’ve been than where you’re heading. When you do find yourself falling short, don’t give up; rise up—as many times as you need to.
I can’t tell you how or why people who claim to be Christians sometimes speak about other people with harsh and cruel tongues. Only they can give you that answer, and only they can amend their own ways. However, I can tell you a better way to live: turn and learn and grow and go. Turn from your fear and failings and anger. Learn from our Lord how to walk in truth. Grow in kindness and mercy and peace. And then go into the world spreading God’s message of love.
“Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.”
[1] All Bible quotations are from the NRSV unless otherwise noted.
[2] Especially other Christians
[3] Book of Common Prayer 1979, pg. 331
[4] Mark 7:15, 21-23
[5] Aka “blame”
[6] https://www.slouchingdog.com/sermons/year-b-august-25-2024-proper16
[7] James 1:19-20
[8] James 1:21
[9] I Corinthians 13:4-7 | My amendment to the translation
[10] James 1:17