A Lively Faith

My Dear Friends,

Our section (James 2:14-26) of the Letter this week caused quite a stir, historically. Not early on, but during the sixteenth century, Martin Luther placed the letter, among others, at the end of his New Testament translation, calling it an epistle of straw. Luther questioned the authority of the text since he could not integrate the text with his take on Paul’s notion of justification. James was relegated precisely due to our passage today and the assertion: “faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (Jas 2:17). Or perhaps we might prefer James’ blunt manner, “Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless?” (Jas 2:20). Bishop James goes on to relate how Abraham and Rahab lived out their faith through good works.

First, we may say and agree that faith saves. Works do not save, but faith does. And faith is a gift from God that the believer receives. Yet, as soon as we receive the gift of faith, we are participating in our own redemption. We are engaged. And James would say that is a “work” - a deed that involves our will (or our heart), which shows that we are open to be transformed by God’s grace. That cooperation itself is a gift from God. (Check out Joint Declaration on Justification to see how Lutherans and Catholics have come to agree!)

Second, we must say that faith alone does not save. So many words have been written contending over that one little word alone. Not present in Roman 3:38 or 5:1 or other similar passages, Luther sought to insist on the idea. But the deeper read of Romans, and Paul generally, attests to the need to receive faith. Not faith alone, but faith received as a gift is what saves. And what makes it received is the way we live it in our lives. Because we also recognize that faith can die in us, wither away, and become like a dead vine on the doorstep of our hearts.

So, we return to one of the primary threads of James. Our primary calling is to live the Gospel in the world, really to become living Gospels, living testaments to the gift of faith. If we are not living it out, then it is not living in us and our spiritual lives are dead. The way to rekindle faith is first to seek out the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to do a deep cleaning, and then to receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, the great medicine of immortality which has the power to reanimate the gift of faith first given at Baptism. The Sacraments are our pathway to return. 

Weekly Mass is a great privilege, a wonderful opportunity for worship. God commands us to worship weekly because it is for our good. God mandates our attendance so we can gather, worship and be fed, leaving refreshed to live out the Gospel in the world. Church is an oasis; a place of refreshment God knows we need to make it through the week. Otherwise, we will die in the desert of the world. Faith withers when not nourished.

Now, once we have received the gift of faith, it is up to us to continue to cooperate with God’s grace and manifest our faith in action. And that is partially what James writes against, a couch-potato faith or a complacent faith. So, our main question this week is: How can I better engage my heart in this journey of faith?

In Christ,

Fr. Joel Wilson