St James

TRUE GREATNESS

(St James)

25 July is the Feast of St James, Apostle and Martyr. He is often called 'the Great'. He, together with his brother John, were fishermen. He was put to death by the sword on the order of Herod Agrippa, who hoped in vain that, by disposing of the Christian leaders, he could stem the flow of Christian converts. His martyrdom is believed to have taken place in the year 44 AD.

Since the seventh century it has been alleged that he preached in Spain, though this is unlikely. Also, according to Spanish tradition, it is claimed that his remains were transferred to Santiago de Compostela, which continues to be a place of pilgrimage.

I am sure James must have been embarrassed by the request of his mother when according to Matthew’s Gospel she asked Jesus that , 'these my two sons may sit, one on thy right hand and the other on the left in the kingdom’.

However, Matthew has rewritten history to put the two sons in a more favourable light. ln Mark's Gospel, which was written some thirty years earlier, and therefore likely to be more accurate, it is James and John who ask that they might have places of honour in the Kingdom, and not Mrs Zebedee!

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Now, at first sight this may not appear to be unreasonable when one considers their impressive record of service.

After all, they were amongst the earliest of the disciples to respond to the call of Jesus.

Of all the disciples, they had probably sacrificed the most, bearing in mind that they came from a secure, wealthy family background.

They were also related to Jesus, as cousins, since their mother was the sister of His mother, Mary.

Furthermore, throughout his ministry, Jesus appears to show them special favours, in so far as together with Peter, they formed that inner circle of friends who were with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and in the Garden of Gethsemane.

That to me sounds pretty impressive and therefore one would not think it too unreasonable for Jesus to give them special recognition in the Kingdom of God, even though others objected when they heard the request.

Such a record of service would certainly deserve some recognition in the secular world where ‘the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them’.

In other words, the secular world of the day would have been impressed by the exercise and trappings of power and influence.

And the same is true of today. The important people of life are often judged to be those 'who exercise power, and who can influence and shape the lives of others, for good or bad. Just think, for instance, of the power of the media, and in particular, the way politicians seek to suck up to Rupert Murdock, the press tycoon.

We also tend to be impressed with the trappings of power and influence such as titles, high salaries, luxurious homes, flash cars and boats. These appear to be essential symbols of power and influence.

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But whilst they may impress the world, they do not necessarily impress God. Nor should they impress the followers of Christ.

As Jesus goes on to say, 'But it shall not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever would be chief among you, let him be your servant’.

In other words, the basis for true and lasting greatness is service and not status.

And if we want an example of what he means, we need look no further than at the life of Jesus himself. In particular, his action at the Last Supper. There he took upon himself the role of a domestic slave and washed the disciples’ feet, in order to remove the dirt and dust of the eastern road from their feet. This was the most menial of jobs in the ancient world.

Such a reversal of the world's idea of greatness and importance is hard to accept. No wonder Peter protested so strongly when Jesus tried to wash his feet.

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And the world continues to find it hard to accept such a criterion for greatness.

The father of Francis of Assisi found it hard to accept his son's desire to give up a wealthy and comfortable lifestyle for one of serving the poor.

The friends of Albert Schweitzer also found it hard to accept his desire to give up a brilliant career as a theologian, organist and doctor in order to go and serve lepers in Africa.

Others find it hard to accept the sacrificial devotion of the late Mother Teresa to care for the poor and homeless of India.

We too find it hard to accept, not just because it goes against the grain of contemporary culture, but because such people are a personal embarrassment to our lukewarm discipleship.

We prefer the protection of status to the vulnerability of servant-hood.

For to serve others is to allow ourselves to be open to abuse, ridicule, and maybe, even death itself, as in the case of Jesus.

This is a hard lesson to learn. It was a particularly hard lesson for St James to learn as he renounced his privileged upbringing in the service of others. In fact, it led ultimately to his death at the hands of Herod the King, as described in Acts 12.2.

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My friends, the only status that is worth anything in the eyes of God is that which is based upon service to others, and not upon positions of power over others. And it is this which we see supremely revealed in the lives of the saints of God who are our role models.