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Doesn’t work the righteousness of God.  Said James, the brother of Jesus.  The brother of Jesus: a man who grew up with Jesus as his brother.  Imagine growing up with Jesus as your brother.   Would it be easy?  Your mother hid secrets in her heart about her firstborn son, your elder brother. He stays behind in the temple because he believes it to be his father’s house and sends the family into a worried frenzy.  In Mark’s gospel the brothers of Jesus seek to do an intervention, thinking he’d gone mad.  In John’s gospel one of the brothers of Jesus sarcastically urges him to go to Jerusalem where all the would-be prophets make a name for themselves.   So perhaps by personal experience James understood that the anger of man doesn’t work the righteousness of God.   Do we?
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How did we, the friends of the friend of sinners get to this place?  Jesus was known as the friend of sinners.  He took a lot of guff for being the friend of sinners.  These “sinners” were a social class, not simply a theological category.  They were people on the outside of Israel’s accepted circle for a host of reasons. They were not mobsters or murderers or notorious offenders.  (You notice that “tax collectors” and “prostitutes” were often given a distinct designation alongside “sinners” in the gospels.)   Jesus so identified with “sinners” as to bring upon himself the judgment of the religiously self-righteous.  He expects us to be the friend of sinners, which means our righteousness has to exceed that of the Pharisees; it has to be a righteousness of pure sermon-on-the-mount love, not a righteousness that depends on harsh condemnations and judgment of others–the “business as usual” approach to sinners.  We need to get our gentle back.
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Seems to be a preoccupation of religion these days.  Let me show you how wrong the world is about sin, righteousness, and judgment.  Let me show you how wrong the world is about abortion and gay marriage,  and evolution and climate change and on and on and on it goes…..    The three-fold preoccupation of much religious discourse it seems: what is the worst of sin, the pinnacle of righteousness, the certainty of judgment?  If we can only be clear on these, we will be right, orthodox, faithful.   When the Spirit comes, surely he will show the world how wrong it is.   How wrong they are.  But will it turn out as we expect?
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