James and Generosity

I had a younger brother. I also have three sons, so I know the phenomenon of the younger brother. The younger brother, if healthy and outgoing, usually bothers the older brother. The younger brother is set to outdo the older. There is inevitable competition, envy, wrestling and yes, play.

Jesus lived with his family for many years. We do not know exactly how many, but he went back home with his parents at age eleven after being found in the temple in Jerusalem talking with the rabbis. From that point on, we hear nothing about his upbringing until his baptism in the river Jordan. But it can be assumed that he lived in Nazareth for at least a few years and continued to know and live beside his brothers.

James, along with his other siblings and his mother, came to Jesus after Jesus' ministry had officially begun. They came not to listen to his teachings but to make him come home. A crowd had gathered. James and his family declared in front of everyone that Jesus was "out of his mind." (Mark 3:21) and they tried to grab him. They wanted to bring him home by force, if necessary. All their experiences with their older brother told them that Jesus had gone crazy, that he was not acting like himself. Jesus' behavior was an embarrassment to them, such that they were openly hostile and tried to take him by force. They did not realize that, at Jesus' baptism, he had awakened to who he was. They just wanted life to go back to normal. They just wanted their brother back. What did they know about baptism?

After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to only one person who had not followed him in life. He appeared to his brother, James. I believe that James was able to see the risen Christ because, although he did not believe in Jesus, he did love him. He loved his brother and it was that love that opened his eyes.

Once James saw who his brother really was, James was baptized. Water poured over his head, just like it poured over your head, over my head. And from the moment he was baptized, James was changed.

Life cannot stay the same once you give your life to Jesus. Once the waters of baptism have poured over your head, everything changes. From that moment on, you don't belong to this world. You can avoid this fact and run from who you really are or you can begin to live into your inheritance and act like a child of God.

James would later write a Letter which was included in the Canon of the New Testament. He wrote that all of us who have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus are called to live out that baptism. If we do not act as baptized Christians, living for others and for God, we kill the faith in us. If we do not act baptized, our faith is nothing, it is dead.

Often when someone is baptized, we think, "Done! She is saved now. Heaven awaits her." And it is true that God opens the gates of heaven to those who are baptized but if they do not act on their faith, if they do not pray, and worship and give, then when the time comes to walk through that gate, they will not know how.

From the moment of your baptism, God says "Come Inside." "Come to me." " Feed my sheep. Tend my lambs." And from that moment, God will place people in your lives, people who need your help. And you must respond. You are called to be generous. You must give your life to God.

Jesus responded to those who needed him. When a woman who was not a Jew came to him, begging him to heal her daughter, at first he was rude. But her desperation reminded him of who he was. He was called to respond to all who crossed his path. Jesus, the Son of God, was himself baptized. And if we follow him into those waters, we must be willing to follow him out the other side and into the fullness of his life.

Do you remember the story of Corrie Ten Boom? She was a baptized Christian living in the Netherlands as World War II approached. She and her family aided the Jews in any way that they could. One day, a well-dressed woman came to her door with a suitcase. The woman explained that she was Jewish. Her husband had been deported and her son had fled. She was afraid to go home as the authorities had already come to her house once. Could she stay with them?

I want you to stand in the shoes of Corrie ten Boom and her family for a moment. Stand in that doorway. Corrie ten Boom could have said no. She and her family, they could have closed the door, and with good reason. To take in this woman meant possible death or imprisonment for them. They did not have enough food. There were a million reasons why this was not practical, not sensible. But the ten Booms knew who they were. They were baptized Christians. They did not put themselves first. They were called to give their lives away. Without hesitation, they took her in.

The ten Booms would house many Jews. They built a secret hiding place in Corrie's room. They erected a false wall behind her bookshelf. Just 30 inches, it was the size of a large wardrobe. But when the Nazis came arrest the ten Booms, six Jews hid in that room and were saved. Corrie's father and sister would die at the hands of the Nazis but Corrie herself would live to tell her story.

Do you really think you have a choice when that door opens and someone asks for help? Don't you realize that from the moment you were baptized, your life became God's own? And when the church asks you not for your life but for the simple act if giving money, don't you realize that generosity is part of who you are? Your money is not yours. It was washed away in baptism. You belong to God now and you live eternally with God. The generous life is what calls you now.

If Corrie had closed that door, James would say that her faith would have died right there on that doorstep. But she did not close the door, she opened it. She responded to her baptism by saying yes. How will you respond?

- The Very Rev. Kate Moorehead

Labels: The Hiding Place in Corrie's Room

Tuesday, August 28, 2012