Book of James - Part 5
November 6, 2022Pastor Patrick continued this series on the Book of James. A video of the message is here. Our Conversation Starter for this week is here (more of a recap).
Let's look at the bottomline admonitions in Patrick's message from a Torah point of view. It should be no surprise that the Torah deals with each:
Don't Complain. Particularly in Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, all talking about the Exodus and the time in the wilderness, the Torah makes quite clear that God hates complaining. I'm convinced had He known about all the complaining that was about to come His way He'd have put "Do not Complain" in the Ten Commandments. On more than one occassion, God wanted to destroy the entire Israelite nation over complaing. Fortunately, Moses talked Him off the ledge. BTW, my favorite synonym is murmur. If Prager were here, he'd point out that complaining is often about ingratitude (certainly true of the wilderness Israelites, ex. Numbers 11:4-10, Numbers 14:26-30, Exodus 16:7-10, Deuteronomy 1:26-27), and without gratitude, happiness is hard to come by.
Don't Boast (Be Humble). The greatest prophet (spokesman of God) of the Old Testament is Moses, and he is known in Judaism as the most humble man to have lived. Moses cautions us to be humble in Deuteronomy 8:17-18, "You may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.' But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today."
Don't Gossip. Check out Leviticus 19:16. "You shall not go up and down as a slanderer (tale-bearer) among your people." Lashon hara (literally "evil tongue") is the term for talking about other people whether true or false, and is what is being prohibited here. There are 14 positive laws and 17 negative laws about gossip or slander (out of 613 total). It's pretty serious. And in case you missed it, it doesn't matter if the tale being carried is true or false. Just because it's true doesn't mean you should say it. It's interesting to note that there may be something higher than truth. And P.S., as Patrick mentioned, James will return to the slander issues in 4:11
Don't Criticize. It's hard to look up references for "criticize" without getting something about judging. And as soon as you get into judging, the oft-quoted "don't judge lest you be judged" line appears. I'm going to work around that as best as I can, but if you're interested in my thoughts on that judgment quote, they're here. I think the important point is to refrain from criticism that is an attempt to bring down the person and is not to make something better. The latter, rebuking your neighbor to help him, is noted in the verse just before "love your neighbor as yourself." Leviticus 19:17b, "Directly rebuke your neighbor, so that you will not incur guilt on account of him." In other words, correct his sin lest you aid-and-abet his sin and therefore become a sinner as well. Take a mundane example: if you don't tell your friend his zipper is down and thereby it goes uncorrected, now you share in the guilt of any embarassment.
Do Affirm. I like this line, "Striving to affirm others puts us in the practice of looking at them positively – that is, looking for evidence of God's work in them." [Crabtree, Sam, Practicing Affirmation, p. 73]. Afterall, we are all in God's image, so find that part in each of us.
I take to the notion that small things can do great harm or good. Patrick pointed out James' references to a rudder and a spark, small things that make huge impacts. James was, of course, describing the tongue. It's powerful. Other small powerful things in the Torah include Moses' basket (ark) on the Nile - which didn't even have a rudder, a simple staff by which Moses called upon God's miracles, and a common bush that was not consumed by fire.
Bonus 1 Collective Guilt
Is there such a thing as Collective Guilt, Collective Sin? Can everyone in a society be held accountable for the sins of the society, including those, however many, who did not support or participate in the sins? Was it wrong for the Allies of WW2 to bomb German cities knowing that innocent people would be killed? Likewise, was it wrong to drop the two A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki knowing that innocents would die?
The Torah clearly says yes, there can be collective guilt. The clearest story depicting this is of Sodom and Gommorah. Abraham argues with God about how many righteous people must be in Sodom before He spares the city (Genesis 18:16-33). The number ends up being ten, not zero. In the descriptions of the sacrifices in Leviticus, it's clear than some sacrifices are to atone "for all," clearly suggesting community responsibility.
And doesn't that make sense at some level? If we as individuals do not push back against wrongs being committed by our government, for instance, are we not "aiding and abetting" those wrongs. If we see a crime in progress and do nothing to stop it, are we not partly responsible for its commission? If collective guilt were not a thing, we could easily and simply feel no responsibility to get involved. But no, we are ALL responsible for seeing that our society does not go down the tubes.
Now that I think of it, this may be another application of the admonition to reprove your fellow man (see above re. Leviticus 19:17b). We must help each other stay in line.
Bonus 2 "Holy Land"
I just discovered/realized this and had to throw it in... The term "Holy Land" never appears in the Bible. It's always: promised land, or the land that was promsied, or the like. This is in keeping with the Biblical notion that nothing is intrinsically holy. It is the presence of God or of humans behaving holy (God-like) that makes anything holy.
Even "holy ground" is mentioned but once, in reference to the burning bush. And likewise, that ground was made holy solely by God's presence.