Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
James 5:7-10
“Patience”
Christmastime, for me, is the most ironic time of the year. There is something about this time of year that brings out the absolute best in us and the absolute worst in us. While Christmas comes loaded with amazing amounts of generosity and love and kindness, it also comes wrapped with rampant consumerism, greed and impatience.
I was reflecting with my small group the other night that, for me, Advent, which gives me a chance to prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas, is at its heart, counter-cultural. The consumerism, greed, impatience and other ugly stuff of the holidays is what culture has made of the season. It is our job to prepare for Christmas by centering on the radical message of love that is at the heart of the Gospel.
So, we are looking today at a rather odd passage from a book we don’t spend much time in, the Letter of James.
Before we look at it, let’s think about what it is. Scholars argue about this but what we may have here is a letter written by the brother of Jesus Christ. This seems to be a general letter, not to one individual but to Christians in general. It is a letter of encouragement and direction. So, practically speaking, this is a letter as much to us as it was to its original readers, except that they read it in Greek and we have to read it in English.
7Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.
Some more background. It is hard to get an exact date of when this letter was written, but we might guess around 60 A.D. Anyway it is some years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The earliest Christians lived with the belief that Jesus would come again and very soon. In fact, the Gospel accounts give us some clues to this. Jesus says before his death in Matthew 16:28:
28Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
And speaking of his triumphant return in the second coming in Matthew 24:34, Jesus says,
34Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.
Now, around 60 A.D. the generation is starting to pass away and Jesus has neglected to return and people are getting impatient and this is what James is writing about.
7Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.
I mentioned the original hearers of this letter heard it in Greek and we are
listening in English so let me try to make this clearer.
7Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.
Be patient (makrothumia) – remain tranquil. Literally the word means big spirited. So this sentence conveys more than the limited sense of the word patience we commonly consider.
The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.
I love this example. One writer proposes that the opposite of patience is panic. Have you ever been sitting at a traffic light waiting for it to change and you are late for something? Either to yourself or out loud you are saying, “Come on, come on!” Think about it for a moment, no one tries to be impatient, right? Think back to a moment when you have just felt that impatience brewing inside of you, sort of taking over control. What happens in the moment, which feels an awful lot like panic is that you are trying with all your might to gain control of a situation you have no control over.
The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.
I love that example. It sounds kind of ridiculous to think of a farmer out in his field saying “Come on grow!” Just as if my impatience will get the signal light to turn green faster.
This is such an interesting time of the year to talk about patience because this is the time of the year when it is often most lacking. The reasons for a lack of patience are pretty real. Most of us live these lives that are already over-taxed and the Christmas season can just push us over the limit. It is a though throughout the rest of the year we have had all this free time and finally we can use it buying a tree, hanging lights, buying presents, wrapping presents, mailing presents, signing cards, mailing cards, planning parties, going to parties, etc. And everybody is doing this same thing at the same time so it builds.
I am not the most patient person on the planet around Christmas, especially this year. Through amazingly good planning, the month of December for me is just crushing. Between the church, my ordination process, our efforts to adopt Joshua, it seems every day had a form to turn in or another meeting to go to. I was not particularly patient picking out our Christmas tree. I was not particularly makrothumia, tranquil, big spirited.
The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. 8You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.
“Strengthen your hearts” kind if misses a bit of the idea. Sterizo! It actually means fix or establish.
Let look at the word used in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 9, verse 51:
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set (sterizo) his face to go to Jerusalem.
Jesus fixed his sights, he set his face, he put Jerusalem clearly in the crosshairs.
8You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.
How do we do that? It is really easy to say, “be patient.” But it is harder to be patient. But the answer is right in there. Strengthen, fix, establish your hearts. Fix, establish your hearts on what? On the prize on the coming King. That is what James is telling his readers. Don’t be impatient, fix your eyes on God and wait for it. I tell you, preparation for Christmas is a wonderful parable for Advent.
We get impatient because we have lost control and we are in an unconscious panic to regain it. “Come on light, turn green!” Here is the thing: in Advent, as we are trying to be patient for the coming of the King, by setting our eyes on God, we are actually preparing ourselves to be able to handle not being in control.
When we become impatient, we try, with little avail to control something beyond our control. We do that in line, but we also do that waiting for God to act. Remember, James is writing to a community waiting for Christ’s return and they are growing impatient. What are they doing? They are panicking, trying to regain control of something they can’t control. Just like us, that panicky attempt to regain control manifests itself in improper behavior. As is evidenced by what James writes next.
9Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors!
The preparation surrounding Christmas is a perfect parable for Advent. We are trying to be patient, big spirited, which is the opposite of panicked, trying to gain control of something out of our control.
And who is coming at Christmas, who is it that James audience and we are waiting for? Someone who will ask us to totally let go of our lives to give control over to someone else.
Jesus says in Mark’s Gospel, 8:35-36
35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
At the heart of the Gospel message and contained in nearly every sermon I preach is this idea that our relationship with God is about letting go, trusting in the abundance, trusting in the grace, trusting in the promises of God, letting go of control.
We need to be patient. I am not a counselor or guru, so I am not going to give you techniques. I am not going to tell you to count to ten when you feel impatience bubbling up inside you. I am not going to even tell you to let go and let God. I am just going to say, that during this time of Advent, as we try to patiently await the coming of the Christ child, that we need to try to strengthen our hearts, set our hearts toward God and live in the promise of Christmas.
