James 5: (1-12) 13-20—James calls for intolerance of wickedness and a return to God for the avoidance of evil. This lesson continues where last Sunday’s Epistle has stopped. James urges his readers to turn to God and away from wickedness. Among the evils we are to avoid are judging others, boasting, and injustice to the poor.
“In fulfillment of God’s purposes…” That’s how the opening verses of James have described the purposive nature of God’s “generous acts of giving” and God’s “every perfect gift.”
Confidence in the power of prayer
At the beginning of the letter the author has counseled that if we lack anything that belongs to wisdom, the correct response is to turn to God in prayer, knowing that God will respond “generously and ungrudgingly” (James 1:5). That confidence is now reasserted in these final words to the community. But now the power of prayer holds out some rather telling content and promise. The author speaks of its power to “save” the sick, to “raise them up,” and to occasion the “forgiveness of sins” (James 5:5). In effect the assertion is that in the community’s exercise of prayer the very promise and power of the resurrection remain not just some future hope but now impinge on, recreate, and sustain a living and active community of faith.
It takes a village
In case it has slipped our notice, the author emphasizes it once again — such an exercise of prayer is not either by or for persons in isolation. We might imagine that such counsel jumps over the centuries in being particularly relevant to our own contemporary world. Ours is a very individualist oriented culture. Self-help books proliferate on our bookshelves. And even our so-called “social media” is often structured or utilized primarily to focused on exalting individual identities and chalking up the greatest number of “friends” on our tally sheets (friends for whom the greatest insult might be that in a fit of pique I might “un-friend” them at any moment).
But James knows a wisdom that is communal, especially in its faithful exercise of prayer. Twice he charges that confession should be “to one another,” and that we should pray “for one another,” if we have any expectation that the promised healing is to take place (James 5.16). Such prayer exercised within and on behalf of the community has power — James says it is “effective.” It is effective because it is exercised within the context of a community endowed with God’s gifts in creation, and because it belongs to ones who have been forgiven and empowered by the implanted word of promise in Christ Jesus. In James’ language it is the prayer of ones who are “righteous.”[2]
For the Hope of Eternal life in Christ—Almighty, everlasting God, whose Son has assured forgiveness of sins
and deliverance from eternal death, strengthen us by Your Holy Spirit that our
faith in Christ increase daily and we hold fast to the hope that we shall not
die but fall asleep and on the last day be raised to eternal life; through
Jesus Christ our Lord.[3] – 23
September 2021
[1] “The Crucifixion” Schnorr Von Carolsfeld
woodcuts © WELS permission granted for personal and congregational use
[2] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-26-2/commentary-on-james-513-20-4
[3] Collect for the Hope of Eternal Life, Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis
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