Easter V
Ezekiel 43, Psalm 65, James 1, John 16
One of the things I enjoyed about
Seminary was learning new words. I
thoroughly enjoyed learning the word “Perspicuity.” It means to be clear, plain, and unambiguous
and is a word theologians use when speaking of the clarity of Holy
Scripture. “But be ye doers of the word
and not hearers only” seems to be a perspicuous verse. It seems clear that St. James is commanding
his readers (for the words “be ye” come from a Greek imperative verb) that the
word of Scripture must not just tickle their ears but transform their
lives. Bolstering the perspicuity of the
verse is the very clear and very similar command of
However, it is not enough to surround
our lives with the pleasant sounds of Scripture. Last night I heard the Santa Barbara Choral
Society and Symphony perform Verdi’s Requiem.
Verdi used the Latin text from the Roman Catholic funeral mass, a text full of
Scriptural references and allusions. In
Verdi’s hands the fear and tragedy of death are amplified as the choir sings Dies irae, dies illa, solvet saeclum in
favilla (the day of wrath, that day will dissolve the world in ashes) and
peacefulness of death is soothing as we are reassured of God’s forgiveness and
mercy when the choir sings Agnus Die, qui
tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem (Lamb of God, who takes away the
sins of the world, grant them rest). The
meaning of these words seems very perspicuous, because of sin, death is a
tragic and awful event, yet because of the mercy of God, we find grace and
forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The powerful Scriptural words from Verdi’s Requiem had a deep transformational
impact on my life. Yet for some, including Verdi himself who remained a
skeptic, these words were just pleasant sounds tickling their ears, sound that had
no affect on their lives or moved them to worship God for his great compassion
and mercy.
“Do not be hearers of the word
deceiving yourselves.”
Since we are commanded not to be mere
hearers, some Christians have concluded that what really matters is being a
“doer.” These Christians say that Christianity is simply a matter of doing the
right things and being a good person and if you are a good person who does good
things, then God will look down from his throne in heaven and declare, “You are
a good person therefore I shall dub thee a Christian and welcome you into
heaven.” This teaching, however, clouds
the perspicuity of Scripture by focusing on our response to the word rather
than the words response to us. Theologians
call this error Legalism or Moralism for these Christians think that doing good
things reconciles us to God and is the catalyst for Christian transformation.[1]
This error tends to surface during times of moral upheaval, thus it should come
as no surprise that is error is very popular today, in fact a majority of
Americans, both Christian and non-Christian (particularly in my parent’s and
grand parent’s generations), think that what really matters is being a good
person or a doer. St. James, however, is
not an advocate of Legalism for St. James said, “God chose to give us birth through the word of truth.” (1:18) Our
birth into Christianity is not through what we do but through the grace of God
found in Jesus Christ whom we know through the words of Scripture.
“But be ye doers of the word and not
hearers only.”
In the English language to “hear” is
to perceive a sound, but to listen is to be persuaded by a suggestion or
request. We are to listen to the words
of Scripture and be persuaded by them for when we listen to the words we
participate in their story and when we participate in the story of Scripture
that story transforms us into godly, righteous, and holy children of God.
In a sense, St. James commands us not
to be a hearer but to be an actor. Our
dear Efrem once told me that most scripts an actor gets are full of poorly
written, lousy characters and it is up to the actor to make something good of
it. However, once and while, an actor
will get a script with an amazing character and when an actor immerses himself
in the script of an amazing character something incredible happens, the
characteristics and traits of the scripted character start to wear off on the
actor and influence his entire life. If
we want to live godly, righteous and holy lives, if we want to be a ‘doer’ of
the word then we have to pay attention and listen to the words of scripture and
let these words transform our lives.
Christian have been given the
greatest story every written. It is a
scripted penned by Moses, King David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Peter,
John, and Paul and it is a script that presents the greatest character
imaginable: Jesus – the incarnate Son of God born two thousand years ago to a
poor young Jewish woman pledged to be married to a poor Jewish man, who lived
without succumbing to the temptations of sin, was hated by the powerful men of
his time, was put on a mock trial complete with false witnessed and executed as
an enemy of the Roman Empire, but three days later rose from the dead. In fact, it is the story that is the catalyst
for all good stories, and if we Christians would start listening to this story
and participating in its drama, we might just find ourselves taking on the
characteristics of Jesus. The words of
Scripture are not just pleasant sounds, they are like the hands of the Holy
Spirit that stretch out to form and mold us into images of Christ. If we would just stop paying so much attention
to what we do and instead just listen to the word, we would find ourselves
becoming perspicuous Christians, clearly revealing Jesus Christ.
[1] I think this title is rather unfortunate because it inadvertently (or purposely in the case of some) implies that the law is a bad thing. The law, however, is a good thing as all the books in Scripture affirm.