“A Puzzle or Person?” Revisited

I was reading my notes and past entries trying to decide if I should write anything more when I read the following paragraph in my first post on the book of James:

In my folder of notes on the letter of James is one heavily marked-up outline at the top of which I’ve written the phrase, “not just a puzzle to unpack, but a person to know.” For years I had been approaching the letter of James as a conundrum to solve — an object to carefully unearth so I could find what his letter was really about; in a word, the letter of James was a challenge. But, as I have continued to work through the letter of James to seek its structure and purpose, I have realized I have been avoiding the real reasons to study scripture; to know Jesus better, to become more like him, and to become a better citizen of the kingdom of heaven.

The Letter of James: A Puzzle or a Person?

Reading that entry helped me realize I have spent nearly all of my time writing this blog by unpacking the puzzle of James. I’ve concluded that the book of James is fairly sophisticated writing organized in the structure of a sandwich — or as the really smart people call it, a chiasm — rather than a mere mishmash of proverbial sayings. James wrote to the early Jewish believers so they would know how they should live and handle life’s struggles as they awaited a return to their home. But James’s words do not apply only to those ancient believers; the modern believer is also a stranger in a strange land awaiting the day when our true home in heaven comes a reality. Our earthly plight is quite similar to that of James’s original audience and guides us each day until that day when we all gather together as fellow believers on the other side of the gates of heaven and say, “Home at last!”

But as I thought through all of that, I realized I haven’t explored anything about, as I put it, “a person to know.” With James seeming to be more about our behavior, it is difficult to see much about Jesus in the book. Of course, James mentions Jesus in his letter, but only twice: once in James 1:1 where he wrote, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,” and once in James 2:1 where he wrote, “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.” Outside of those two references, the rest of the book seems devoid of any overt or even subtle references to Jesus. Even though…

Hey. Have you ever thought that maybe not every individual book is a Jesus-book, but the Bible, as a whole, is a Jesus-book. I mean, I know that Jesus is very important, but maybe some of the books of the Bible are more of a how-to or some sort of spiritual self-help book. I mean, it seems like a lot of people treat the Bible that way these days…

If you had just waited a minute, I was about to say…

I didn’t interrupt. You did. Besides, you’re writing all of this; I don’t even exist.

Shhhh. Don’t tell the readers that. They think we’re having a conversation.

Okay. Well, go on with your “Jesus-book” discussion. I can be patient.

Can you? Anyway, as I was about to say, even though James, the brother of Jesus, wrote the book and it is addressed to believers in Jesus, that doesn’t make James a Jesus-book. But there is another reason why James is a Jesus-book; I think James wrote his letter because he wanted people to know more about Jesus; he isn’t merely providing some sort of spiritual self-help directions or random proverbial sayings. Let me show you what I mean. I want to revisit the big picture of the book as we discussed last week. I’ll recap it here so you don’t have to look back.

Thanks, I’m sort of lazy.

I know. Okay, here it is:

Layer 1 — James 1:1 – Greetings to the dispersed (diaspora) believers (Jewish Tribes)
Layer 2 — James 1:2 – 8 – Suffering and wisdom
Layer 3 — James 1:9 – 12 – The glory of humiliation
Layer 4 — James 1:13 – 16 – Temptations come from our own lust and passions
Layer 5 — James 1:16 – 18 – The good and perfect gift from above
Layer 6 — James 1:19 – 21 – Be slow to speak
Layer 7 — James 1:22 – 25 – Be a doer, not only a hearer of the word
The Center of the Sandwich — James 1:26 – 2:13 – True religion is taking care of the poor, loving your neighbor, and being impartial
Layer 7’ — James 2:14 – 26 – Faith must be accompanied with works
Layer 6’ — James 3:1 – 12 – The dangers of the tongue
Layer 5’ — James 3:13 – 18 – Wisdom is the good gift from above
Layer 4’ — James 4:1 – 12 – The passions that war within man
Layer 3’ — James 4:13 – 5:6 – The subtle sin of arrogance
Layer 2’ — James 5:7 – 12 – Have patience in the face of suffering
Layer 1’ — James 5:13 – 20 – How to live in community as the gathered ones, the church (ekklesia)

Thanks. That’s way easier than clicking back and forth. Go on.

…

When James, in Layer 1, writes to the dispersed believers, of course, he is writing to a people who were not living in their true home. We’ve already talked about them, but now let’s look at Jesus. Paul wrote, “Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:5-7). And John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1) and then, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Just as the early Jewish believers were not living in their homeland, doesn’t it seem that Jesus, when he came to earth in the form of a servant, was not in his true home? Isn’t his true home in heaven where he lives in perfect unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit?

That makes sense.

Yeah, and when James writes in Layer 1’ about the gathering of believers in the church is he not writing about the church that Jesus promised to build in Matthew 16:18? And is not the same church that is Jesus’s bride to be, the one with whom Jesus will live forever in the home provided by his Father? While Layers 1 and 1’ inform the early Jewish believers about their state and inform us about our state, they also tell us about the experiences with “home” that Jesus has gone through.

I suppose you are going to say the rest of the book is organized the same way?

You are smarter than you look. Yes.

You realize you just insulted yourself.

Uh…

Finally! You are speechless. I win!

Okay, get over yourself. Moving on…let’s take a look at Layers 2 and 2’. In these layers, James wrote about enduring trials because trials test our faith and produce steadfastness. He also tells us that the wisdom of God is what will get us through those trials, but we need to seek it. He continues writing about this in Layer 2’ when he provides examples of patience: a farmer, the prophets, and Job.

Yeah. I remember.

Well, take a look at Jesus and you will see that he is a prime example of patience in the face of suffering; he endured, not only a lifetime of doubts by even his closest friends but also beating and crucifixion without once reaching out and utilizing his divine power. But, Layers 1 and 1’ aren’t just about Jesus being an example of patience. James chose his examples very carefully. As a farmer, Jesus planted the seeds the grew into the church (Matthew 13); as a prophet, Jesus was not honored in his hometown (Mark 6:4), and like Job, Jesus acts as a priest, offering himself as a perfect sacrifice (Hebrews 10:1-18).

Huh? Job? A priest?

Yes. Job acted as a priest for his children when he offered sacrifices for them after their parties (Job 1:5), and he acted as a priest for his three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar when they were instructed by God to offer sacrifices to Job so they would be forgiven for their sinful tongues (Job 42:7-9). Like Job, Jesus was the intermediary between us and God making atonement for our sins. Not only are we to be patient, but we see the model of perfect patience in Jesus as he endured his trials so as to make us perfect and complete (James 1:4).

And, when we move on to Layers 3 and 3’ we see that Jesus is also the prime example of humility. When Luke wrote about Jesus’s humble birth in a manger, he juxtaposed it with the arrogant power of Caesar Augustus. Jesus, the King of the Universe, came to us wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger (Luke 2:1-7). Jesus chose to live his life doing the will of the Father, not his own (Matthew 16:36-46), and in his humility he was in turn glorified by the Father (John 17:1-5).

Okay, I can see that. But what about Layers 4 and 4’? Jesus was sinless.

Yes, he was, and you just made my point for me. As a human, Jesus was subject to all the same desires we have, but he overcame them. We can read about Jesus’s temptations in Matthew 4:1-11; Jesus was hungry and Satan tempted him to turn bread into stones; Jesus emptied himself of his glorious divinity and became humble according to the Father’s will but Satan tempted him to reveal his glory to the world; Jesus came to reclaim the world and Satan tempted him with the fast track to reclaim all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus was tempted in every way that we were, yet he was without sin.

Every way?

Yes. Every way. John tells us that, “all that is in the world — the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life — is not from the Father but is from the world” (I John 2:16). Satan tempted Jesus with the desires of the flesh when he suggested he turn stones into bread; he tempted him with the pride of life when he told him to jump from the temple to reveal his glory, and he tempted him with the desires of his eyes when he showed him the kingdoms of the world. When James tells us to endure temptations in Layers 4 and 4’ he tells us to do so because Jesus was able to do so; James knew we could not engage in such a battle on our own. These layers reveal another aspect of Jesus.

And Layers 5 and 5’ continues to reveal to us more about Jesus. Jesus constantly prayed to his Father in heaven; he knew that the Father’s wisdom was the good and perfect gift that came from above. But Jesus was also the good and perfect gift coming down from heaven. When Jesus calls himself the bread of life he references the manna during Moses’s time and calls himself the one “who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:33). Furthermore, when Paul wrote in I Corinthians 15:20, that Jesus was “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,” he shows us that Jesus is the example of the sort of firstfruits we can expect to become (James 1:18). But James doesn’t stop there with Jesus, James tells us that we, like Jesus and God’s wisdom, will become “pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere” (James 3:17).

I never thought of James in this way before.

Neither had I, to be honest. But, as I spent more time in James I began to realize that James (wittingly or unwittingly, but inspired nonetheless) wrote a book about Jesus. The things James tells the early Jewish believers to do are nothing more and nothing less than what Jesus did in his life.

Interesting.

Yes, it is. Take a look at Layers 6 and 6’ and you find one of the most difficult areas of our life to reign in; the tongue. How do you think you would have responded to the Pharisees? Don’t you think it would have been easy to respond with words you might later regret? But for all that Jesus endured at their hands, Jesus kept his tongue under control. We don’t often think about Jesus being tempted to say things he would regret, but as a human, I think it was possible he had a few words cross his mind that he chose not to say (I know, Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, but it seems possible that he could have been tempted at other times in his life…but I could be wrong; I’m wrong a lot!). Regardless of whether he was tempted to respond poorly or not, it is still a fact that he never did; Jesus controlled his tongue, the very thing James calls upon us to do.

And in the final Layers of 7 and 7,’ we quickly realize that Jesus was the perfect example of faith and works. It may seem odd to say it this way, but Jesus had faith in the Father; he trusted the Father with his very life. Everything the Father wanted him to do, he accomplished (John 17:4). And when it came to the cross, Jesus chose to do the Father’s will and not his own (Luke 22:39-46). Jesus’s faith in the Father was complete because it was accompanied by the works he did on earth.

And in the Center of the Sandwich, we find the heart of true religion, which is, according to James, to take care of the orphans and widows, to keep oneself unstained from the world, and to be impartial in our love for one another. When Jesus was asked by John’s disciples if he was the Messiah, he said this, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Luke 7:22-23). Jesus’s simple response matches James’s Center of the Sandwich. The evidence for Jesus being the Messiah was that he took care of the sick and infirm and he lifted up the poor; anyone, regardless of financial or social status, was impacted by Jesus’s work. Furthermore, those who were not offended by him — those living lives consistent with the teachings of Jesus — are blessed. The heart of James’s message is the proof Jesus gave to John that he was the Christ come from the Father.

Yes, on one level, James is a puzzle to unpack. The organizational principles of the book are not readily seen, but they are there if you study, pray, and meditate on the book. And the puzzle once unpacked and then put back together, reveals to believers what the church is to look like. But James’s letter is more than just a helpful puzzle. James’s letter provides great detail about Jesus and how he has already done those things that he asks us to do. This is why I wrote that James’s letter is also “a person to know.”

I would like to say one last thing before I close these writings on James. As I’ve been writing these blog posts on James I have often wondered if James, while writing his letter, was reminded of his childhood with his older brother Jesus. I’ve wondered if James looked back and thought about why he didn’t make the connections between the life he saw being lived and the Jewish expectations for a Messiah. And, I’ve wondered if James harbored any regret for not following his brother — his Lord — sooner than he did.

I think it’s possible that if we were able to talk to James he might tell us that Jesus was a puzzle to him until he saw him rise again and ascend to heaven. But when James finally saw who Jesus was he changed from being a puzzle to unpack into a person he wish he knew better. I think when James began to write to those early dispersed Jewish believers he had those thoughts in his mind. Certainly, he wanted to help them know how to live in their new circumstances, but he also wanted to tell them about his brother — the divine son of God — so they might know him better.