22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, B August 29, 2021
Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
Last week concluded our month long focus on the Eucharist and the sacraments in general. As encounters with God himself, these liturgical events are essential to our religion; crucial in getting us to heaven. Nonetheless, our religion is not summed up by just being in the Church building. Indeed, even the sacraments themselves point us outwards – Holy Orders, Marriage, and Confirmation are each there to equip Catholics for love and service to their neighbor.
There’s a reason for this. When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus gave two answers: Love God above all and love your neighbor as yourself. These two commandments are inseparable. So, if we’re going to honor the Eucharist… if we’re going to love God in an authentic way, we also have to love our neighbors. I think perhaps that is why, the week after we finish John chapter 6, the Church and God’s providence give us the letter of St. James for the second reading.
For 5 weeks, including today, we will hear from the very practical letter of St. James as the second reading, learning from it what it means to love our neighbor. So, we’re starting another series of connected homilies focused on that letter, hoping to help us put it into practice.
Now, there are a few different Jameses in the bible: the two Apostles: James the greater and James the lesser. There is also James, the brother of the Lord – probably a cousin – who most likely wrote this letter. It’s possible that he is the same person as James the lesser, but we’re not sure. Either way, he was the bishop of Jerusalem, so he’s writing as a pastor concerned for his people, giving practical guidance and correction to them.
James starts with God. All good comes from God. He is beyond change – no alteration or shadow. This is comforting because it means God never stops loving us or desiring what is good for us. It is this foundation of unbreakable love that enables and encourages us to be steadfast and consistent in loving each other, despite our weaknesses. God “gave birth” to us in the Truth, the truth that is Jesus Christ. So, the first thing we must do is “welcome the word that has been planted in [us]” because it “is able to save [our] souls.” It makes us capable of divine love. As always, study scripture and receive the sacraments… but then what? “Be doers of the word and not hearers only.” James gives us two examples this week: care for widows and orphans and keep yourself unstained by the world.
It is fundamentally scriptural that those who can provide for themselves ought to do so. Especially in ancient times, however, widows and orphans had a difficult time doing this because the economy was based largely on physical labor and because neither of these groups had much social standing. All the way back to Moses and his people in the desert, God has commanded that we take a special interest to provide for widows and orphans. This is why James singles them out.
Unfortunately, these readings leave out some verses in the middle that echo this teaching. In the Gospel, after the pharisees challenge Jesus about not washing their hands, he fires back with an example of their hypocrisy. He specifically names this practice where the pharisees would declare their property to be dedicated to the temple and then use that as an excuse to not spend their wealth in taking care of their aging parents. Of course they still got to use their own wealth, they just considered it’s overall use as “dedicated.” That’s why he says “You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
In other places, it’s clear that Jesus values donations to the temple and even the apparent “waste” of expensive things to honor him, but this cannot excuse neglecting the poor, the widow, and the orphan.
What of keeping ourselves “unstained” by the world? What James means by the “world” is the fallenness of the world. He’s talking about a worldly way of living: sin, selfishness, perversion. Elsewhere in the letter, James makes it clear that we should expect to face trials and struggles and temptations, but that God never does it out of cruelty. He also always provides a way for us to avoid sinning. That way might involve a lot of suffering or even death, but sin and being “stained” by the world are never necessary. Suffering to avoid sin – especially sins against our neighbor, is one way to love them.
Jesus teaches us that this worldly stain is not something external to us. Handwashing is good, but that’s not what affects the purity of our souls. What matters is what we do. It was human sin that broke the world in the first place; it is human sin that leaves a worldly “stain” on us. Let’s consider more closely some of the things Jesus then lists here.
“Evil thoughts” are not just the random bad thoughts that pop into your head, but the thoughts you hold onto. He’s talking about evil planning and deliberation. An uninvited evil thought is a temptation. An evil thought we hang onto is a sin. Impulsive thoughts of revenge are one thing, daydreaming how to get revenge is another.
“Unchastity” is a blanket term for every kind of perversion: basically any sexual activity that isn’t between a married man and woman. Jesus lists adultery separately because it’s even worse in that it betrays a sacred vow in addition to being perverse.
“Folly” is not just being silly or funny. It means making decisions without being prudent. Knowingly doing things that are unwise, dangerous, or harmful is a sin against the gift of reason God gave us.
“Blasphemy” is not just to profane God, but to denigrate the image of God in other people. Trash talking, gossip, slander, and insults can all fall under this category. The rest of the list are obvious violations of the Ten Commandments, but you should see what they all have in common: They are primarily about how we treat others – the love of neighbor.
God, the Father of Lights, who is love, is beyond change and evil and suffering. Yet he chose to give himself a human nature, which could change and suffer, to show us the reality of his eternal love. He overran his own laws to give us himself in the Eucharist. In return, he asks two things of us – turn from sin to accept his loving mercy, and love your neighbors. Love by providing for those in need, and love by avoiding the stain of hurting them by your sins, even if it hurts you to avoid it.