Today is the day to remember the disciple James, sometimes known as the “Elder” to distinguish him from James the Less whom we remember on May 1 and James of Jerusalem whose day is October 23. It’s as confusing for me to keep the James boys straight as it is to keep track of the several women named Mary.
In Matthew chapter 4, Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee when he calls two brothers, Simon (Peter) and Andrew to “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.“ Jesus continued on down the shore and finds two more fishing brothers, Andrew and James. Jesus called them and “Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” I know this is an example of the power and urgency of Christ’s call to discipleship and the need for our immediate response. However, Jesus call that day must have seriously affected the fishing industry along the Sea of Galilee.
James and his brother John were known as “sons of thunder.” On one occasion they asked Jesus for permission to call down lightning on a Samaritan village that had refused to welcome Jesus. Another time James and John requested that they be given the most important cabinet posts in Jesus administration when he finally got around to running the Romans out of the country.
James was the first of the disciples to be martyred. His is the only martyrdom of a disciple recorded in the New Testament. He is frequently pictured with a scallop shell. It recalls his life as a fisherman, his call to fish people, and the gift of our baptism into Christ.
In the hymn, “By All Your Saints in Warfare” we sing of James the Elder,
O Lord, for James we praise you,
Who fell to Herod’s sword;
He drank the cup of suff’ring
And thus fulfilled your word.
Lord, curb our vain impatience
For glory and for fame,
Equip us for such suff’rings
As glorify your name.
LSB 518, St. 20
From ancient times Mary Magdalene has been thought to be the sinful woman who repented and anointed Jesus’ feet. However, there has been long standing debate over whether the repentant prostitute is Mary Magdalene.
Valerius Herberger writes, “We do not want to grow grey hairs over this debate…” Neither do I, since mine are already grey.
An examination of Luke 7:36-50 provides no biblical basis for Mary Magdalene being the repentant prostitute.
What we do know for sure is that she saw Jesus die. She also witnessed his burial. And most important of all, she was the first to see Him alive after His resurrection (John 20:11-18). Bernard of Clairveux calls her “the apostle to the apostles.” For as we read in John 20:18, she “announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’ - and that he had said these things to her.”
Because John’s gospel reports her as weeping at the tomb, she is often portrayed with red eyes. Icons depict her standing by the tomb holding a red egg.
We sing Your praise for Mary,
Who came at Easter dawn
To look for Jesus’ body
And found her Lord was gone.
But, as with joy she saw Him
In resurrection light,
May we by faith behold Him,
The Day who ends our night!
LSB 855 st. 11, For All the Faithful Women
A little Water and a Morsel of bread
I would have loved to be around the campfires of Israel or in the city gate listening to the elders tell the story of the three men who visited Abraham as recorded in Genesis 18.
Moses awoke from his nap and through the shimmering heat he saw three men standing at a respectable distance. Though showing hospitality was incumbent, a visitor would nevertheless stay at a polite and safe distance lest their sudden presence appear threatening.
Abraham leaps to his feet and rushes out to meet his visitors bowing before them. He says, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.” Just who are these three men? Are they the Lord? Is Abraham only addressing them as he would any visitor? Is he saying more than he realizes? Does he have an inkling of their identity? These are questions that the story never quite answers. Yet we come away from the story knowing the answer.
Besides mystery there is humor. “Let a little water be brought.” “Here wash your feet. Refresh yourselves. Have a seat over here in the shade. I’ll bring a bit of bread.
He hurries back to the tent. “Quick Sarah, three seahs of the best flour. Knead it, and make cakes.” A seah is two thirds of a peck. It’s going to be like all-you can-eat Pancake Day at IHOP.
Then he runs to the herd picks out a calf that will make the best veal cutlets and directs a young man to kill, butcher and grill the meat. These guys are going to be stuffed.
Abraham wasn’t done yet. He had some cheese made. Finally, (how many hours did this “morsel of bread take to prepare?) he served the meal to his visitors.
Now for the big surprise. When they had eaten their fill the men ask about Sarah. Of course she was in the tent. “Tell Sarah, when we return a year from now she will have given birth to a son.”
Well, tents aren’t exactly sound proof and perhaps the Lord spoke loudly enough to be sure she heard.
The story teller now lets us in on some information. Abraham and Sarah are old, really old. Sarah had long ago gone through menopause.”I’m worn out and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” More questions arise. Was she talking about a renewed interest in sex? Or had that never waned and she spoke now of the pleasure of having a child? Who is going to bring up this kid anyway?
So she laughs to herself. I suspect women do a lot of laughing and head shaking at the ways of men. These three men didn’t seem to show any more sense than her husband did at times, like when they went down to Egypt and got mixed up with Pharaoh.
Of course the Lord always holds the highest trump in the deck. “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”
We’ll hear that same line used with Mary a couple thousand years down the road.
Well, you know the rest of the story.
Bartolome de Las Casas, Apostle to the Indies.
Bartolome’ was born in 1474 in Spain, perhaps Seville. At the age of 24 he is reported to have sailed with Christopher Columbus on his third voyage, in 1498. In 1502 he was granted a large estate on which was worked by a number of native “Indians.” He became the first priest in the Americas in 1510. However, it wasn’t until 1514, at the age of forty, that he became an advocate against the mistreatment of the native born people. He freed his slaves and became a missionary in Central and South America.
Bartolome’ urged planters to work alongside their workers and gently bring them to Christ. He continued to protest, often in the face of great opposition, the mistreatment of Indians. His work took him to Guatemala, Peru, Cuba, Nicaragua and Mexico. He also wrote extensively regarding the treatment of the Native Americans and of their history. “The Indians are our brothers, and Christ has given his life for them. Why, then, do we persecute them with such inhuman savagery when they do not deserve such treatment?”
Bartolome’ died on July 17, 1566.