St James the Great

Sermon preached at 11am Mattins at St Mary’s, Lapworth on Sunday 25th July 2010
Festival of St James the Great

Readings: Ps 126 Jeremiah 45: 1-5 Acts: 11: 27 – 12: 2 (Matthew 20: 20-28)



So today we celebrate the festival of St James the Great. It is only one year in seven on average that 25th July falls on a Sunday, so today is a good opportunity to reflect on St James and to get to know him a bit better.
First of all, let’s get straight who we are talking about. We are talking about James, as in James and John, the sons of Zebedee. James and John were among the first disciples to be called by Jesus. I am sure you remember the story. They were sitting in their father’s fishing boat mending their nets when Jesus came and said: “Follow me”. And they left their father in the boat with the hired men and followed Jesus. At the same time Jesus also called Simon and Andrew and said that they would become fishers of men. And in fact Peter, James and John became like Jesus’ inner cabinet. They were the ones he took with him up Mount Tabor for the Transfiguration. They were the ones who went into the room with him when he brought the young girl back from the dead. They were the ones who he took to one side with him as he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. And perhaps it is because of this very privileged position that James, son of Zebedee, held that he is often called James the Great.
Because we have to acknowledge that there were a lot of other Jameses around in the New Testament. There is James, Son of Alphaeus, who was also one of the 12. There is James, called Brother of the Lord, James the younger and James, writer of the New Testament book. It’s not completely clear to the scholars if those James are all the same person, or two people or three or perhaps even four different people. But anyway we are not talking about them, we are talking about James, brother of John, son of Zebedee, one of the Lord’s three closest companions.
I have already mentioned some of the New Testament stories about James but I have not mentioned the most famous story. This is the story where the mother of James and John asks Jesus if her two sons, James and John might sit at his right and his left in his glory. Jesus says, “You don’t know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I will drink, or be baptised with my baptism?” “We can” they boldly responded. “Very well,” said Jesus, “The cup that I drink, you shall drink, and my baptism will be your baptism, but to sit at my right and my left is not mine to grant, it is for those to whom it has already been given.”
It was perhaps rather brave or perhaps foolhardy to say to Jesus, “Yes, we can drink your cup, yes, we can be baptised with your baptism.” By his “cup” Jesus probably meant his passion and death, as he did in Gethsemane when he prayed “Father, take this cup away from me! Yet not my will but your will be done.” After James and John had been so enthusiastic about Jesus’ cup, a martyrdom always seemed possible. As we heard in our reading from Acts, James was indeed martyred, probably about 44AD, by the sword. There is a tradition that he was beheaded by King Herod in person.
But the interchange with Jesus was very important because it lead to Jesus’ explanation of what leadership must be like in the church. Jesus explained that in worldly circles masters lord it over their servants, but it must not be like this in the church. Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave, for the Son of Man came to serve, not to be served and to give his life as a ransom for many.
And this model of servant leadership has been crucial in the church and in Christian society ever since. Of course we often fail to live up to it, and certainly our leadership in our society today seems to be completely tied up with money and power and have very little to do with service. However there have been powerful moments of witness.
For example, in the sixth century there was an uncomfortable power struggle between the Patriarch of Constantinople (traditionally seen as the second most important bishop in the church) and the Bishop of Rome, traditionally seen as the first. The Patriach gave himself a new title: Ecumenical Patriarch – Patriarch of the whole church. Pope Gregory the Great was under pressure to respond, and he adopted the title Servant of the Servants of God. What is more, is he managed to live his papacy in that reality. A crucially important point was made.
So what does servant leadership mean? It doesn’t usually mean that we expect our archbishops and popes to do the washing up and to wait at table. It is very symbolically important when they do these things, but if they were to do them all the time then they would not be doing their jobs. What we do hope for and expect, and what we should certainly try to live out when we are in positions of leadership ourselves, is that the office is to be used and powers exercised for the benefit of all the people, not for the benefit of the leader in question. The bishop must act for the benefit of all the people of the diocese. The headmaster must work for the benefit of all the people in the school; the Chief Executive for the benefit of the whole company. And, just as a waiter must be attentive to the needs of the person he serves, and a good waiter will even anticipate these needs, so a good leader must be attentive to the needs of those that are led.
Personally I think we need to have a special sensitivity to St James and to servant leadership in this church. We know that before the reformation there was an altar in the south aisle dedicated to St James. So the saint was important in this place, but the link has been lost. And in fact the situation is even more dramatic at Baddesley Clinton. That whole church was originally dedicate to St James, but at some time that was changed to St Michael. So once again an important link to the saint has somehow been lost. Now I am not suggesting that we should rush to reinstall an altar to St James, but I do think we need to recognise and honour aspects of this saint, with whom we have had these links. So servant leadership would be one aspect of that, which of course applies especially to Rectors, wardens and PCC members. Another aspect is being willing, perhaps even in a foolhardy way, to drink the cup that Jesus drinks and to share his baptism. Most of us are not called to full martyrdom, but a willingness to share sufferings with Jesus is important, as we were discussing last week. And a third aspect would be to be a good disciple of Jesus, responding to his “follow me” and seeking to be especially close to him as James was. I think if we can live well these three aspects we will honour St James well, and altars that we have lost, or dedications we have changed will matter far less. Amen.




Prayer for St James' Day

Almighty God, remember your church, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. We pray for all bishops and all leaders in your church. By their example may we follow close to Jesus. May we continue always in the apostles' teaching and in the fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayer. We make our prayer through the same Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.