Jesus is revealed not as some aloof, indifferent hero, but as the One who sympathizes with the sick, the hound of Heaven who chases after the wandering, the One who would salve with the oil of righteousness, and the Savior who would cover with His robe of righteousness.
Proper 21 is not properly celebrated in 2024, since the Sunday (September 29) is taken up instead with the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels; and when the Church celebrates a feast, I believe everything else should defer to that. That said, whether you choose to preach on the feast day or finish up the selections in James, it is nice to be able to put some closure on this epistle.
So, on to James 5. Proper 21 is one of those funny propers where the lectionary suggests you may want to read the entire chapter instead of the clipping at the end of the book. While I like to read the longer selection (even if to simply evoke at least one minor complaint or an exasperated sigh; I find that entertaining at this stage in my life), my encouragement for the preacher faced with James 5 is to forsake verses 1-12 in favor of 13-20. The rich/poor dichotomy (5:1-6) has been amply addressed in the pericopes of the prior propers, and 7-12, while encouraging patience in the light of Christ’s Parousia, rehashes the fact He pointed up in last Sunday’s pericope: We live in the world, this vale of tears, while belonging to another Kingdom. Whereas last week the point was not to fall for the demonic wisdom of the world, but rather, to humbly seek the wisdom that is from above, James 5:7-12 counsels longsuffering and endurance until the Lord comes.
However, James 5:13-20 has a couple of points worthy of whole sermons which riff on verses that are likely in the hearts and minds of your hearers already if they have at least some passing familiarity with the New Testament and James in particular. First is the extended lesson on prayer, especially 5:13-16; the bits about anointing with oil, the prayer of faith, and the prayer of a righteous man. The second is the final verse of the pericope, indeed, of the entire wisdom letter: James 5:20 and the phrase “cover over a multitude of sins.” I would encourage the preacher to meditate on these two bits in particular and decide how best to deliver the Christ who needs to be proclaimed to your people.
Whether the preacher decides to focus a sermon on the gift of prayer or on the theme of covering over a multitude of sins, the key in either approach to delivering the Christ faithfully is, once again, to observe the idiom of wisdom literature. The formulaic “he who does this,” “he who does that,” should be familiar to you. It sounds like the wisdom literature programmatic preface to the entire psalter: “Blessed is the man who...” (see Psalm 1:1). The psalm is read fully and rightly when it is read Christologically. All wisdom literature in scripture is read rightly when we read Christ as the blessed man, when we read Christ as the wisdom of God, when we receive Him as the wisdom from above, and when we realize He is the fulfillment of the perfect law of love that James proclaims.
All wisdom literature in scripture is read rightly when we read Christ as the blessed man, when we read Christ as the wisdom of God, when we receive Him as the wisdom from above, and when we realize He is the fulfillment of the perfect law of love that James proclaims.
For example, imagine if you are faced with “the prayer of a righteous man is effective in its working” (James 5:16), you will be well positioned to craft a sermon that delivers Jesus if you immediately consider the panoply of intertexts that comfort with the Christ-for-you, the Righteous Man interceding for others, for the disciples, for the world, and for you (Romans 8:26-27, 34; John 17; Hebrews 7.25; Luke 23:34, and others). Likewise, “whoever brings back a sinner will save his soul, will cover a multitude of sins” is begging for the same treatment. Again, this is not a stretch or some kind of cheap tropological prestidigitation. It is actually a given and solid reading, considering the idiom of wisdom literature, read in Christ.
Either of these paths suggests a sermon structure which aims at getting your hearer to read things one way, the way of human wisdom, despair of fulfilling the requirements of God’s Law and human decency. Then you can reveal the same words from the perspective of divine wisdom, the righteous man being Christ, the cover-up artist being Christ, the One who fulfills the role of wise man you cannot fulfill yourself in your sin and weakness, as well as the One who does these things for you. Jesus is revealed not as some aloof, indifferent hero, but as the One who sympathizes with the sick, the hound of Heaven who chases after the wandering, the One who would salve with the oil of righteousness, and the Savior who would cover with His robe of righteousness. Seeing things from this new perspective, an “aha moment,” invites a classic “Lowry Loop” that a preacher can plot out as narrative for a sermon which will be more dynamic than simply law – gospel – application.[1]
Personally, I am a fan of the final admonition, the turning the wanderer from his path and so cover a multitude of sins, as this resounds with the “covering” language rehearsed throughout scripture (refer to Psalm 5:11-12; 1Peter 4:8; Psalm 32:1-2; Isaiah 61:10; Revelation 19:8, 7:14; Luke 15:22). The mutual confession one to another that James envisions at 5:16 is not to a priest for individual absolution (see the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, 12b.12), but is no less an opportunity to absolve and to encourage the mutual consolation of the brethren and sistren. It is a reminder that this gift to God’s people is given by Christ who claims the authority to forgive and to the Church He chooses and commissions. Confession is “same saying,” homology, and so, when we as a church speak to each other the words of Christ, we are indeed delivering the “Blessed Man,” the One who covers over a multitude of sins.
What follows is an outline for a sermon focused on delivering that Christ, emphasizing the cover-up job wrought in Christ’s gift to the Church.
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James 5:19-20: The conclusion of James.
What a letter! What a lot of laws! And what a lot of reflection on wisdom. How can anyone stack up to the demands James piles on?
- Human effort cannot do this (refer to James 2:10).
- Human striving to fulfill the Law ultimately falls short; members of the congregation will “wander from the truth” (James 5:19).
- Human assessments of who is in, who is out, circling the wagons, and sinfully judging the outsider, especially the one who used to be an insider! (see James 2:8-13).
- Human handling of the Law can taint the desire to evangelize and extend mercy because we read James 5:19-20 arrogantly, imagining our human efforts are intended to omit the possibility of sins, saving a soul from the possible roads he could wander in the future.
The Law, even this concluding exhortation of James, will ultimately and always accuse and kill.
- Reading the Word of God in the way of human wisdom anticipates that if you do the right things, the right things should happen.
- What about when they do not? Faith as expectation of right action for right results is not saving faith!
- Rather than accusing the Word of being a collection of simple transactional or human practical wisdom (such intellectualizing is not saving faith, see James 2:19), the failure of human striving to effect what the Law demands drives us to the recognition of our need instead.
The cure for sin is not more striving, not more practical human wisdom. The cure for sin is confession and absolution.
- The cure is not inward striving and not outward damage repair, rather restoration.
- The gift God gives to the Church in the authority of Jesus (Mark 2:5-12; John 20:21-23).
- The gift God gives for the consolation of one another is community (James 5:16).
- The gift is actually the Christ, who is not just an example to emulate (like Elijah, Job, or the prophets), but the One who arrives as the only human to fulfill the Law.
Could it be that there is a human “he” who fulfills the Law’s demands?
- Christ comes not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17-20).
- Christ fulfills the Law in His perfect life (actively).
- Christ fulfills the Law in His propitiatory and vicarious sacrifice (passively).
- The living Christ continues to fulfill it, over against our striving, in spite of our failure, as a substitute for our failure.
Jesus Christ does not do this to excuse our failure. He does it to save you, your neighbor, and all of His creation.
- This is the heart of God and the joy of Heaven (Luke 15:7, 10).
- The living Christ is the seeker (refer to Luke 15).
- The living Christ is the seeker of James 5:19-20 (just as much as He is the righteous “pray-er” of James 5:16).
What consolation: Divine wisdom exercised by the godman, Jesus Christ, for you!
- Gratitude for Christ’s subject role in James 5:19-20.
- Response to receive the gift given in James 5:19-20: To be the Christ for the lost.
- The cover-up job; just as the lost son is covered with a robe (Luke 15:22), what we cover over in confession and absolution is covered with Christ (refer to the many and various covering passages).
- Christ is the One who returns the wanderer from his wayto the truth; delivering this Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out 1517’s resources on James 5:(1–12) 13–20.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you preaching James 5:(1–12) 13–20.
Text Week-A treasury of resources from various traditions to help you preach James 5:(1–12) 13–20.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
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[1] You can find a further explanation of the Lowery Loop here: https://concordiatheology.org/sermon-structs/dynamic/narrative-structures/lowry-loop/
