Monday of the 32nd Week

James 2:14-26

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled”, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. 

Mark 6:54-56, 7:1-8

At that time, Jesus got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the market-places and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well...Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the market-place, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honours me with their lips,

    but their heart is far from me;

in vain do they worship me,

    teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

Today's epistle reading serves to complement the reading from Hebrews we heard last Monday, citing many of the same examples of faith. Many who wish to undermine the harmony of the apostolic message suggest that St. Paul and St. James are at odds here, that one argues for faith alone while another argues for works. There is no contradiction, however, only a difference in emphasis. While St. Paul says that all these things were made possible only through faith, St. James points out that this faith had to be put into action for it to be effective and complete, theoretical belief is not enough. We see this in the Gospel reading: those who believed in Jesus translated their faith into action in bringing their sick to Him. Moreover, like the woman with an issue of blood, they were healed by touching His garment. It was their faith in Him that healed them, but not until they accompanied it with the action of touching His garment. Illustrating the vanity of mere belief, St. James notes how the demons are all monotheists, which is the very foundation of all Christian theology and spirituality: "The most important [commandment] is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one" (Mk. 12:29). The demons believe in the existence of God and know that there is no other god besides Him, but this is merely belief, an acceptance of a fact, it is not the living and saving faith of which St. Paul speaks. The verse continues with "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" (v.30). It is this second part that distinguishes the belief or knowledge of the demons from the living faith of a true Christian. If we believe God exists, but live our lives as if He did not, what will that profit us? How do we differ from the demons? At least the atheist or pagan can plead ignorance. What will we who call ourselves Christians say if we do not live in accordance with that name? As St. Maximus the Confessor famously said, "Theology without practice is the theology of demons." Christ condemns such people as hypocrites, quoting the prophet Isaiah "This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me" (Is. 29:13). 

I'll close with a somewhat lengthy but beautiful passage from The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John of Sinai, which cuts to the heart of such hypocrisy and is a good cause for self-reflection (were it not so long, I'd put it in the "About Me" section of the blog!): 

"The insensitive man is a foolish philosopher, an exegete condemned by his own words, a scholar who contradicts himself, a blind man teaching sight to others... He talks profoundly about death and acts as if he will never die...He has plenty to say about self-control and fights for a gourmet life. He reads about the judgment and begins to smile, about vainglory and is vainglorious while he is reading. He recites what he has learnt about keeping vigil, and at once drops off to sleep. Prayer he extols, and runs from it as if from a plague. Blessings he showers on obedience, and is the first to disobey. Detachment he praises, and he shamelessly fights over a rag... He blesses silence and cannot stop talking about it. He teaches meekness and frequently gets angry while he is teaching it... In front of others he criticises himself for being vainglorious, and in making the admission he is looking for glory... Out in the world he is full of praise for the solitary life and cannot see how much he is disgracing himself. He glorifies almsgivers and despises the poor" (Step 18, p.191).