Faith without works
The readings for today really challenge us. In the first reading James tells us that we must have works to go along with our faith. One of my favorite lines in all of scripture is when James says, “If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?”
What a great line. Unfortunately, even after all these years, it still applies. How many of us do exactly that? Do we give lip service to charity, but then cross the street to avoid the homeless person on the corner? When we see someone at the intersection asking for money, do we dig into our wallets or do we frantically try to get the car window rolled up before he or she gets to us? Are we asking God to help that person, or are we asking God to turn the light green?
This reading is one of the major different between Catholics and our protestant brothers and sisters. When Martin Luther broke from the Catholic Church, he removed several books from the Bible. James was one of the books he took out, primarily because of this passage.
He believed that faith was all that was needed for salvation. Since James didn’t agree, he was out of Luther’s Bible. He argued that we couldn’t “buy” our way into heaven by good works. And he was right. We can’t. But, if we have faith. if we believe what Jesus taught, then we have to help those less fortunate than us. We have to do good works. We just can’t help it.
So, if that’s true, why do we avoid that homeless person? Why don’t we do more?
I don’t know. I guess sometimes we forget how good God has been to us. Maybe we’re having a bad day. Maybe we’ve let the pressure of the modern world cloud our thinking, causing us not to care as much as we should.
In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow Him. Part of carrying that cross is helping those less fortunate than us. But, we must do it because we love God, not because we think we have to in order to get into heaven. We read in the responsorial Psalm, “Blessed the man who greatly delights in the Lord’s commands.” The Lord has commanded us to love one another. “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.”
God has shown us His unconditional love. We can’t possibly repay that. Whatever we do is so inadequate compared to His gifts to us that it almost seems foolish to even try. But, we do what we can. Why? Because God loves us and we love Him.
At Christmas time my kids always joke about the gifts that they used to buy Jan and me at the Santa shop in school. They would take their own money and buy a special gift. Having four kids go through our school, I have a lot of letter openers and picture frames that say “dad” on them. Were those gifts comparable to what we had given them? No, not in monetary value. But I wouldn’t trade a single one of them for a brand new car. Why, because they were given with love.
I like to think that that’s the way God looks at our meager gifts, too.
What a great line. Unfortunately, even after all these years, it still applies. How many of us do exactly that? Do we give lip service to charity, but then cross the street to avoid the homeless person on the corner? When we see someone at the intersection asking for money, do we dig into our wallets or do we frantically try to get the car window rolled up before he or she gets to us? Are we asking God to help that person, or are we asking God to turn the light green?
This reading is one of the major different between Catholics and our protestant brothers and sisters. When Martin Luther broke from the Catholic Church, he removed several books from the Bible. James was one of the books he took out, primarily because of this passage.
He believed that faith was all that was needed for salvation. Since James didn’t agree, he was out of Luther’s Bible. He argued that we couldn’t “buy” our way into heaven by good works. And he was right. We can’t. But, if we have faith. if we believe what Jesus taught, then we have to help those less fortunate than us. We have to do good works. We just can’t help it.
So, if that’s true, why do we avoid that homeless person? Why don’t we do more?
I don’t know. I guess sometimes we forget how good God has been to us. Maybe we’re having a bad day. Maybe we’ve let the pressure of the modern world cloud our thinking, causing us not to care as much as we should.
In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow Him. Part of carrying that cross is helping those less fortunate than us. But, we must do it because we love God, not because we think we have to in order to get into heaven. We read in the responsorial Psalm, “Blessed the man who greatly delights in the Lord’s commands.” The Lord has commanded us to love one another. “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.”
God has shown us His unconditional love. We can’t possibly repay that. Whatever we do is so inadequate compared to His gifts to us that it almost seems foolish to even try. But, we do what we can. Why? Because God loves us and we love Him.
At Christmas time my kids always joke about the gifts that they used to buy Jan and me at the Santa shop in school. They would take their own money and buy a special gift. Having four kids go through our school, I have a lot of letter openers and picture frames that say “dad” on them. Were those gifts comparable to what we had given them? No, not in monetary value. But I wouldn’t trade a single one of them for a brand new car. Why, because they were given with love.
I like to think that that’s the way God looks at our meager gifts, too.
posted by Mike at 10:05 PM
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