The Feast of St. James
July 24, 2016
Click here to listen to this
homily (mp4 file)
“We hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be
of God and not from us….” St. Paul’s image of an “earthen vessel” in
today’s reading from Second Corinthians has its origins in the great Genesis
creation story where God creates us humans from the clay of the earth.
It has always been a favorite of mine. I’m not sure why, but maybe it’s
because, in my more honest moments, I see how well it describes me!
Happily, Jesus has a special place in his heart for
earthen vessels. Why else would he have spent so much time with tax
collectors and sinners? Why else would he have surrounded himself with
the apostles he did? Each one of those twelve, beginning with Peter,
and including our great patron, St. James, was every inch an earthen vessel.
It’s true that we call St. James “the greater,” but
that’s only because there was a second James among the Twelve and tradition
settled on that way of distinguishing between the two. But we shouldn’t be
misled by the title: being “the greater” didn’t make James any greater than
the others, or any less an earthen vessel.
Today’s gospel story gives ample evidence of that.
Along with his brother John, James approached Jesus to make a bold request.
“See to it,” they said, “that we sit, one at your right, the other at your
left, when you come in your glory.” We can be forgiven for
wondering, ‘who did they think they were, anyway?’ because that’s exactly
how the other ten reacted. They became “indignant,” Mark tells us. A
strong word, but not a surprising one.
Now, it’s worth noting that Matthew’s telling of
this story differs from Mark’s. Matthew says that it was the mother of
James and John who made the request on behalf of her sons --forever
providing a patron for all good Jewish mothers. So who does get the blame?
It doesn’t really matter. There was probably enough blame to go around and
if, indeed, it was the mother who made the request, I’m guessing her sons
didn’t protest too much!
Earthen vessels they were, and Jesus knew it.
Notice how gently he treats them -- lest they shatter as earthen vessels
easily do. Instead of scolding the two, Jesus decides to teach a
lesson to all twelve, challenging each of them, but putting no one down. He
lets them know that he is inviting them into something altogether new and
unheard of.
‘You want to be great?’ he asks. Then let go of
your grandiose dreams of thrones in glory and become like me: a servant not
a sovereign. Learn to forget yourselves and to serve others. Do as I do: lay
down your lives for others, for “the Son of Man has come, not to be served
but to serve, to give his life as a ransom for the many.”
Years ago, when I first came to St. James, I didn’t
give a lot of thought to our patron saint. My thoughts were more about the
parish and the Cathedral that just happened to be named for St. James.
I look at that differently now. That’s because in many ways, the story
of St. James has become the story of the Cathedral, and the story of each of
us. Being a cathedral is kind of a glorious thing, I guess you could
say, and this is a pretty glorious place. But it’s not about glory, is
it? It’s about service. And that’s what we’ve made of this
place: a community of people whose first name is St. James and whose middle
name is service. The words up there over our altar have, in many ways,
become our parish motto, and they say it all. They are Jesus’ own words, and
they became James’ words, and now they have become our words: “I am in your
midst as one who serves.”
Most of us know the story and the great legends of
St. James; we’re familiar with the tradition that he went as far as the far
northwest corner of Spain to preach the gospel, forever earning for himself
the title, ‘patron of pilgrims.’ But as I see it, the most important
pilgrimage James made was more personal than geographical. His real
pilgrimage was the one he made from seeking a throne in glory to living a
life poured out in the service of others.
Today, pilgrims from all over the world follow in
St. James’ footsteps by doing the Camino: taking time out of their lives to
make the long and demanding trek from the Pyrenees to the Atlantic, crossing
northern Spain all the way to Santiago de Compostela. They go for many
different reasons – religious, spiritual, physical, psychological, personal.
A motley crew they are, too, but no more motley than we, no more motley than
the Church.
And then there are the 200 or so of you who have
been doing our St. James, Seattle, version of the Camino these past few
weeks. You’ve taken some time out of your busy lives, too: walked quite a
few miles, met new people, prayed along the way, formed friendships, and
maybe even gotten a bit more fit in the process. Good for you!
But whether or not you’ve done our local version of
the Camino, or the Spanish one, I would still challenge each of you to do
your own personal Camino. On this, our patronal feast day, I would challenge
you and encourage you to make the journey St. James did when he let go of
selfish dreams and began to dream more generous dreams of serving others.
This, my friends, is a journey we can all make – a journey we must all make
-- and it’s a journey that – if we make it -- will be the making of us…!
Father Michael G. Ryan
