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James the Apostle |
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As today we celebrate the feast of James the Apostle, let’s remind ourselves first about our patron, then let’s reflect briefly on the importance of his legacy to us, modern Christians.
James, son of Zebedee was the brother of John the Apostle . He is also called James the Greater to distinguish him from James, son of Alphaeus, who is known as James the Less. James is described as one of the first disciples who followed Jesus. The Synoptic Gospels state that James and John were with their father by the seashore when Jesus called them to follow him (Mat 4.21-22; Mk 1.19-20) According to the Gospel of Mark, James and John were called the “Sons of Thunder” (Mk 3:17). James was one of only three apostles whom Jesus selected to bear witness to his Transfiguration. The Acts of the Apostles records that Agrippa I executed James by sword (Acts 12.1-2). In addition, in the canon of the New Testament, we have the Letter of James attributed if not to James, certainly to his tradition. James was a leader of the church in Jerusalem and his letter provides his followers and disciples with a number of practical instructions. It is clear from this letter that James represented a rather different view to Paul the Apostle. For example, while Paul praises first and foremost faith in Jesus as the Saviour, and claims ‘justification’ by faith, James defends the value of works, as ‘faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead’ (2.17). Later in history, Martin Luther was not greatly impressed with James’ theology, while building his theology on faith alone (sola fide). On the contrary, the Roman Catholic Church promoted a sanctuary in Spain, Santiago de Compostella, where supposedly James preached the Gospel before returning to Jerusalem. Santiago de Compostella is one of the greatest Catholic shrines in the world. As you may see, theology and politics, or struggle for power, often go together.
How can we, modern and critical Christians approach James’ legacy? First, his type of Christianity lost the confrontation with Paul’s ideal of a new faith. Followers of James, whom we may call ‘Jewish-Christians’, observed a number of Laws and rituals from the Torah, still proclaiming that Jesus was the Saviour. Today, this type of Christianity does not exist, nobody, even the most fundamental of Christians, will claim that we should circumcise new born boys or that we should gather in our churches on Saturday. This type of Christianity is lost, for good and bad, in the past. But still liturgy reminds us every year on the 25th of July about James, the Apostle.
I believe that we should still commemorate James and reflect on his or his followers, Epistle as it reminds us about a very important feature of early Christian communities, their diversity, which was a challenge and brought serious problems to the early Church. Among early Christians, there were those men and women, very dedicated to their faith, who like James wished to remain faithful to the tradition of their forefathers while proclaiming Jesus as the Saviour. But also in the same Christianity there was a room for Paul, who unlike James, never saw the historical Jesus, but still claimed that he knew who Jesus really was. While James and his followers aimed to look at their religious Jewish tradition in the light of Jesus’ teaching, Paul was rather interested in forming new ideas about Christian life and devotion. Paul was passionate about the life according to Spirit, a Christian life dedicated to spiritual values, he wanted to attract new believers from the ‘outside’ world. James, meanwhile, wanted to reorganize and reaffirm the values of his religion in order that the old and new faith could together still nourish people’s imaginations, and stimulate acts and deeds of true religiosity.
If I may use bold lines to show the difference, Paul encouraged his followers to see Christianity not as a cult, religion and worship focused on scarifies in the Jerusalem temple. Paul encouraged his disciples to view their relationship with God as a intimate dependence on the might of the Spirit. Yet, Paul’s Christian opponents saw his effort as extreme, as a betrayal of ‘the traditional order’.
Where is my place in this confrontation? Some of us are inclined to be closer to the Pauline tradition other may wish to follow James’ steps. Of course, this does not require that we reintroduce, for example, old rituals to our worship or change the day of the main service, but moving a font from one place to another can sound as a revolution, a step too far, as excess of liberty.
Today’s feast encourages us to think of our own religious identity. But if after your reflection you come to the conclusion, that neither Paul, nor James match your own stance; then do not be worried. There are still Apostles such as John and Thomas, Mark, Matthew and Luke, there is Mary Magdalene, even Nicodemous to inspire our faith. When you are still not satisfied with the offer, then maybe you may join me with my personal admiration to a woman portrayed by John’s Gospel, who never was called an Apostle, or Saint and does not have her day as a liturgical feast. It is the anonymous Samaritan woman. Her faith in Jesus, her life of transformation, her witness to her encounter with the Saviour influenced many people from her village and even more readers of the Gospel. On this day of St James, the Apostle, let’s give thanks to God for the diversity of the early Church and let’s learn to respect diversity in our own Christian community.
Revd Dr Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski
St John the Divine, Richmond, Surrey, UK
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