Richard Davenport
September 15, 2024 – Proper 19
James 3:1-12
I’ve been spending some time recently recalling some of the influential teachers in my life. I have fond memories of numerous teachers, but even those who I remember only vaguely I’m sure had an impact in one way or another. Being just one student in the endless parade of faces that move through the classes, year after year, it’s hard for any teacher to build a strong and lasting relationship with many.
Still, as I think back on it, there were a number of teachers who I can say, without a doubt, made a positive impact on my life. I don’t keep in touch with many of them anymore, but I still remember them fondly. Without some of those teachers, I’m not sure where I would be in life.
What a difference a teacher can make, just by talking. You can tell when teachers are excited about what they teach and that excitement is infectious. Even students who really have no interest in the subject matter can find themselves caught up in the discussion because for someone to be that excited about the subject, there must be something really interesting in it. These sorts of things may never become a student’s favorite subject, but those kinds of classes and experiences leave a lasting impression.
Sadly, everything that can be good about the profession can also be bad. Especially in places where the qualifications for teaching aren’t as rigorous, people can easily take on the job just as a way to earn a paycheck, minimum effort, minimum engagement, minimum interest. Students learn little because the teachers don’t care. Interest wanes and often little is gained from the time spent in class. If the students are already interested in the subject or are just disciplined enough to do the work with a high level of quality, they may still learn something, but it won’t be because the teacher helped them much.
What’s worse is when a teacher actively tears students down. Insults and cruelty can do tremendous harm, not just to kids but adults as well. Having someone who’s supposedly an expert, tell you you’re stupid, you’ll never get it, you’ll never amount to anything, can destroy your life, or at least take a very long time to overcome.
Everything a teacher does is amplified when talking about parents. All of the good and all of the bad has an even greater impact when parents are involved. Their praise builds up higher and their insults do even greater damage. Being a parent is a huge responsibility, because nearly everything you say is picked up by your children, for better or for worse.
It’s amazing what words can do in a person’s life. Anyone who scoffs at Jesus’s statement that calling your brother an idiot is murder has never paid attention to the kind of damage words can do. When parents tell you they don’t love you and your peers say they don’t want you, it doesn’t take much to get you to think you may as well be dead. Of course, the damage never just stays with that one person. The anger and depression gets passed along to those around you, whether they had anything to do with it or not.
James’s letter deals with the problems of speech. Though the tongue can’t physically hurt anyone, it can do more damage than just about anything else. The English author, Edward Bulwer-Lytton was the one who coined the famous phrase, “the pen is mightier than the sword.” He is writing something in the 1800’s that God has known all along. James warns us in his epistle. Jesus points it out in his Sermon on the Mount, where he refers back to the Fifth Commandment. Of course, that also should remind us of the Eighth and Second Commandments.
The other popular saying, “actions speak louder than words,” isn’t really touting the power of actions as it is warning against flippant speech. If you have the means to help someone but all you offer are well wishes, then it appears that you don’t actually care after all. James spoke about this in the last chapter when he says, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” Failing to help someone in need when you have the means to do so is bad enough, but then to compound it with your hypocrisy is to heap further shame on yourself.
We all say things without thinking or that slip out in the heat of the moment. We say things that carry meaning we don’t intend at all. We say things based on faulty conclusions or because something pushed us just over the line of what we could handle that day. Whether intended or not, the damage is done. A few words bring anger, sadness, anxiety, confusion, and darkness. There’s no one alive who hasn’t seen what can come from a few unfortunate words.
Those who argue that mankind is inherently good, that we’re all, deep down, good and caring people, has never thought very much about words. I have people in my life that I love very much, yet, that love doesn’t always stop me from saying cruel things, callous things, selfish things, mean and insulting things. Why would a loving person do those kinds of things? If I claim to love someone, why don’t my words reflect that?
You might argue that words like that can be unintentional, spoken before we have a chance to think, but that just further proves the point James is making. Your tongue isn’t entirely under your control. There’s something wrong with it, just like there’s something wrong with the rest of you. Your tongue says cruel and selfish things, giving voice to something evil deep down inside, something that cares only for its own wellbeing and pleasure and cares nothing for who else might get hurt.
Our words prove what lies within each of us. Even if we try hard to keep our own selfishness in check it still finds ways of leaking out. We injure those we love the most, sometimes in ways that we can’t repair no matter how hard we try. In some respects we’d be better off just going through life without saying anything, but then we would lose our most precious way of expressing our love for others. We’d lose the ability to make people laugh. We wouldn’t be able to offer words of comfort or encouragement.
One of the interesting things to consider when we think about what Jesus came to do is that he came to forgive us, cleanse us, and restores us. Jesus knows the damage that words can do to. He has heard all of the insults, all of the callousness, all of the whispered threats. Jesus has heard his dear friend say he doesn’t even know him. He hears everything we say to him as well. He hears how we call him a liar by saying he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, how we say his rules are onerous and there to make us miserable. He hears how we say he doesn’t love us or care about us, how he just wants to watch us suffer because he doesn’t do things in the manner we think best.
He has heard it all and he speaks a different word, one that forgives us for everything we’ve said to him. His words work differently. He never says anything unintentionally. He is always in control of everything he says and does. So, when he says he loves you, he means precisely that. When he says he forgives you, he understands what that means for him. When he tells you he has given his life for yours, that he has paid all of your debts, he means that too.
God’s words don’t come from pride or scorn, malice, ambition, or anything besides pure and perfect love. Christ packages up all of our evil words, drawing them all out as he hangs on the cross and then, as he gives up his spirit, the evil all falls silent. He rises again and speaks words of power and authority. St. Paul reminds us that, in the end, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. What does the risen Christ do with his authority? He doesn’t speak of vengeance or vindictiveness. He doesn’t express rage or hatred. He offers forgiveness. He speaks of reconciliation. He shares words of love. His words don’t see his own gain, but rather the healing of others.
As a pastor, I act as the priest of the congregation, the go between. In your baptisms, you have been cleansed and made fit to go into God’s presence without fear. It is simply my responsibility to do that on behalf of the congregation as a whole. But I am not God. I’m not even more holy than any of you. As I model the life of a Christian, I wear the black of a sinner, a sinner whose sins have been covered by the white robe of Christ’s righteousness. The one element that remains is the collar, signifying the words I speak. Not words I made up or words I speak on my own authority. Those wouldn’t be any better than anything else someone might say. No, when I tell people, “Your sins are forgiven,” it is because those words come from Christ himself and carry all of his authority and all of his love. When I pour water over your head and inform you that you have been joined to God’s family, that the Triune God has put his name upon you, it is because he has already made that promise and it continues to be true. When he invites you to his table to receive the bread of heaven that grants eternal life and the blood of the covenant that forgives all your sins, it because he has already declared that these things are true and that, as part of his family, you are invited.
God’s Word created you. God’s Word declares you forgiven and righteous. God’s Word declares his continuing love for you. God’s Word invites you to share eternity with him. Where our words constantly get us into trouble and bring others down by spreading evil, God speaks purity and grace. We listen to his words and trust what he says. We see him speaking to us, not condemnation, but redemption. We speak those words to others because they lose none of their potency. They are true no matter who speaks them and no matter who hears them. They are true because they come from God.
When Jesus asks if the disciples wish to leave him after hearing something particularly difficult, Peter responds, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” The same words he has given to us, words of forgiveness, peace, and life. He has repurposed us, restored our tongues to sing his praises and to proclaim his love, to be his messengers to the world. We are given the one message that can cut through the chaos, anger, and noise of the world and bring peace to mind, body, and soul, that can bring restoration and life.