I’d like to focus, for just a month, on the book of James, or rather Jakob – the original name. It is buried deep within our New Testament, but only because it is added to what is known as the catholic letters including Jude. Oddly, and to my surprise, it is also listed as potentially one of the earliest written New Testament letters. Given what we have said about the lens we might use to critique the Gospel message of late, I am certainly interested to see if, when looking at ‘early letters, especially those potentially written before the Gospels themselves’, we might see a different perspective about Jesus. Did the Gospels portray Jesus in a specific way, developed and sanitised, which may not have been so present in the earliest of descriptions?
Author?
It might be trivial to associate this book with James from Jesus’ inner circle, the disciples; but, recall there were two disciples named James: the son of Zebedee, or the son of Alphaeus. And what of James, the father of Jude, or James the younger, mentioned in Mark’s Gospel (15:40), or even Jesus’ half-brother? Let’s also be clear – well as best as we can – James was the half-brother of Jesus as his father was Joseph. James was Joseph’s child (p246) before he later got betrothed to Mary.
There are two other interesting points which might help resolve this dilemma of authorship. Firstly, James (of Z), that fisherman from Capernaum who was a member of the inner inner circle of 3 (recall Simon, James and John) was killed under the orders of King Herod Agrippa 1 in 44 CE – as noted in Acts 12:2. Was he the first of the disciples (who was an apostle having seen Jesus) to be martyred? [Stephen was said to have died in 34AD] Secondly, James, the half brother of Jesus, was noted within the writings of Josephus as a member of the church within Jerusalem. Eusebius cites a reference to Josephus’ second tome, in saying “These things happened to the Jews to avenge James the Just, who was a brother of Jesus, that is called the Christ.” James would not deny Jesus, so he was launched off the Temple, but amazingly survived the fall. He was then set upon with stones and clubs, leading to his death.
Any concerns?
A few.
If it was James, Jesus’ half brother, then possibly we have something from the leader of Jerusalem’s Messianic Jews during an unsavoury period where they were marginalised by other Jewish groups, and the Roman rulers of the ‘peace’. This could be something even from the late 40s CE, which gives us an amazingly early snapshot of the machinations of the early ‘church’. As we will see, it entwines the teachings of Jesus with short pithy statements, which is something accepted from Jewish wisdom writing. But how come a Galilean fisherman had such a great grasp of Greek grammar? This might also suggest a much later formation of this letter, even to after the Roman razing of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE. Moreover, James’ letter is not commented upon by scholars of the early church until into the 3rd C CE; so it could even be written much later by someone else, circa 85 CE. James remained the leader of the Jerusalem church until his death around A.D. 62. There is an account of his death according to Hegesippus, which is quoted in Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, vol. II, ch. 23 (A.D. 323). But the author does not mention the disputes between traditional Jews and Messianic Jews (those that see Jesus as the Messiah). It isn’t part of any collection of letters until the end of the 2nd C CE – then again the Gospels weren’t bundled into a composite four-pack until around 180 CE. Even later there was scandal, when Martin Luther called this book an ‘epistle of straw’ as it went complete against the teachings of Paul. This all stems upon whether your faith in Christ is evident by what you do, or your belief.
Chapter 1
So, this book has a theme of the radical teaching of Jesus – think ‘Sermon on the Mount’ – with a New Testament version of Proverbs. It might have been ideal for today’s social media. 😉 There isn’t much of a prologue or introduction when compared to writers of that time, Paul. “Hi, it’s James here, writing to all Jews“.
There then follows a series of statements about troubles coming their way, when they are lacking wisdom, and when they doubt – all seemingly answered by having faith in God alone. He mentions (v9) that the poor and the rich are on opposing sides of a battle, but that the battle is seemingly futile. For money can disappear so quickly, and what are we left with then? We all will face trouble, says James, but just have faith in our generous, unchanging, God, is his response. There is a description of God who shines a constant light and not a shifting shadow (v17). I can imagine how the shadow of a cloud as it moves across the ground can change what we see.
Those who endure temptation will be blessed by God. I am wondering of their reaction, the response, of these words from the audience when it was read out. We might hear of a similar statement today: God will bless you in times of your trouble. How do you respond to that?
Then from v19 onwards we read, in essence, to be quick to listen, slow to speak and then slow to anger. Now this is advice for the modern day, surely? We might not see this on social medium (X?) But how might it have been received by the many zealots frequenting the dark corners of Jerusalem? Those who sought the destruction of the Roman dominion power, by any means. Jesus wanted to overthrow such power, but through peaceful response, even preceding the crucifixion.
Lastly, as we approach the end of this Chapter, we are told to be do-ers. “Pure & genuine religion … means caring of orphans and widows in distress, …and refusing to let the world corrupt you” (v27).
After all these short statements of what we need to do, how could we summarise this Chapter?
Life can be pretty bad sometimes. God doesn’t change. Have Faith, but then do something with it.
Don’t hole up, all comfortable inside: take a gander at our world – and show love.
I really enjoyed the dialogue