Maxine King

Dear Friend,

Today is the feast of St. James of Jerusalem, the first bishop of Jerusalem, brother (though not necessarily a biological child of St. Mary) of our Lord, and the attributed author of the Epistle of James. If you’re confused about which New Testament James is which, take comfort in that you are not alone, nor are there any certain answers! In fact, this feast is a recent addition to our calendar with the 1979 revision to the Prayerbook -- we had previously followed the Western tradition of combining this James with St. James the Less, whose feast is with St. Philip May 1st, and then celebrating St. James the Great on July 25. With this latest revision, our Church has followed the Eastern system of commemorating three distinct Jameses in the calendar.

Our readings appointed for Holy Communion today survey a few different mentions of this James across the New Testament (St. James is mentioned as a brother of our Lord in the Gospel and St. Paul writes that one of our Lord’s post-resurrection appearances was to St. James in the Epistle. St. James takes the largest part in the first lesson from Acts 15 , and it is St James’ role at the Council of Jerusalem described in this passage that is referenced by our collect for today.

The Council of Jerusalem was convened to settle the question of whether Gentile converts should be required to be circumcised and keep the rest of the Mosaic Law. This was no small matter, and the divide deeply threatened the unity of the early Church. Such were the divides that in Galatians 2, St. Peter even refrains from eating with Gentile converts when members of St. James’ very own “circumcision party” arrived, which provoked a stern rebuke from St. Paul. This makes it all the more incredible that in Acts 15 we find James giving the consensus judgement at the conclusion of the Council that Gentile converts should not be troubled by having to observe the entire Mosaic Law.

The Scriptures don’t give us a look at the interiority of what occurred in St. James between the events of Galatians 2 and Acts 15, but our collect rightly attributes his shift not to his own efforts, but to his conversion in prayer: “Grant, we beseech thee, O God, that after the example of thy servant James the Just, brother of our Lord, thy Church may give itself continually to prayer and to the reconciliation of all who are at variance and enmity.” It would do us well to note that the example St. James sets for us is a reminder that in prayer, we not only or even primarily pray for others to be converted to the truth, but for the conversion of ourselves.

May we, aided by the example and intercession of St. James, give ourselves continually to prayer when we find ourselves in conflict, seeking the conversion of our own desires to be rightly ordered toward God, the source of any true reconciliation.

Maxine King