July 27, 2025 ☩ Saint James
on
Jeremiah 45:1-5; Acts 11:27-12:3; & Matthew 20:20-28
“Life: Our One True Treasure”
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Today, we observe the feast of Saint James the Greater. Saint James was known as the first Apostle to be martyred. Acts of the Apostles tells us that the strain of life facing a widespread famine and political tensions led to the oppression of the Church, the group who supported other faithful members with international resources – coming to Judea from an outer region who also likely felt the strain of famine. James, a likely participant in this humanitarian aid, was killed by the sword at the command of Herod.
The political powers found validity and momentum in their oppression through the complacency and approval of other groups of faith. Like Luke’s Parable of the Good Samaritan, we very much find the greater goal of Jesus to encourage positive inter-regional and international relationships at work in this Scripture reading from Acts of the Apostles.
Matthew’s Gospel puts forth a notion about who is permitted to take a seat near the Lord in His kingdom. Zebedee’s wife, the mother of James and John, desires the best for her children and asks Jesus to grant them seats beside him in Jesus’ kingdom. The ideology is exacerbated when our American privilege urges us to fearfully hold onto and control every resource at our fingertips OR simply to want more for a few who are close to us at the detriment of others. This often leads to an unwitting desire to decide who can be our neighbor and who is worthy to be supported. In other words, we often ask if others are worthy of our resources. Matthew’s Gospel though makes clear to not be the tyrant. Instead, our greatness in our Lord’s eyes will come from our servitude. Matthew reminds us that just as Jesus came to serve humanity, we are called to willingly follow in service in fervor and with great passion.
Our Christian life is a compassionate hand reaching forth for others. We are called to serve, even when we extend our hands to those drowning in dangerous and shark-infested waters. We are called to be brave and steadfast in our love for one another. Jesus gave of himself for us. James gave of himself simply by living out a faithful life. Both lived in tenuous political landscapes. We might feel similar tensions, but the ministry of the Church remains constant. Support those in need – with prayer and in service.
Jeremiah’s prophetic words strike to the heart of our most crucial desire. Where “disaster upon all flesh” is noted, we find a dramatic metaphor for the aspects of our lives that appear to be lost, deteriorating, or diminishing. We might feel as though our lives are upended when the political landscape shifts, when inflation makes filling our car’s gas tank or grocery cart a greater challenge, when our car breaks down, or our roof leaks, or maybe our clothes aren’t quite as beautiful as they once were. Materialism is the most palpable way we feel as though disaster engulfs us – by the cherished belongings we own deteriorating or by not being able to satisfy our desires for more. To the point, this reading from Jeremiah ends with the Lord’s words saying “I will give you your life as a prize of war in every place which we may go.” [Jeremiah 45:5] So, even if we must move and give up the comfort of the familiar roads, restaurants, and stores. Even if we travel without the plethora of belongings we spent a lifetime to accumulate, we will know, feel, and savor the simple truth that our lives are the most precious gift.
Like a treasure of a long-fought battle marking victory, our lives are our gift to cherish and treasure with a peaceful and satisfying breath and sigh of gratitude. The battle was fought for our eternal life by our Lord when he defeated death. The prize and the victory is our to cherish. At the very core of our Christian life, knowing our very essence is a prize – the treasure – strengthens and renews us with a sense of honoring this gift we carry.
Aware of the gift and of the giver, Saint James strove to live as a faithful Apostle. He must have supported the struggling people in Judea living through a famine – and was caught up in the tyrannical politics that strove to acquire precious resources for the elite. Traditions also hold that James also traveled as far as Spain to spread the Good News.
How far are we willing to travel to spread the Good News? Sometimes the faithful work requires us to look beyond what familiar borders we know and connect with other cultures. Sometimes the faithful work is in our familiar surroundings. Yet, I suspect, the most difficult place to travel sometimes is within ourselves. We must also find ways within ourselves to cherish this gift of life and to know what clutter should and must fall away to better honor this gift of life in us and in others. Maybe it goes beyond the understandable and the material world. Perhaps to better hold the gift of life dear, we may need to let go of frustration, impatience, resentment, and so on.
May we find ways to shed that which hinders our grasp on true life - through faith in Jesus Christ – and remain confident, steadfast, patience, and compassionate in the exemplary service of others, as found in the Apostle James, regardless of the chaos we might experience in our world. Amen.
