James 5:1-11 - The Vengeance of the Lord of Hosts on Behalf of the Poor and the Oppressed

James 5

James 5:

Now listen, you rich people,

 weep and wail because of the misery

that is coming on you.

God is awesome.

God is the King of Glory.

David calls God the Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle.

God is supreme over all creation. The Earth belongs to God, and everything in it. The world is his, and all who live on it (Psalm 24).

The Psalmist commands that all the gates of the kingdoms of the Earth be opened wide, so that the King of Glory may come in.

That’s our God. The LORD of hosts.

Psalm 19 says that the heavens never stop declaring the glory of God. All of creation cries out the character and nature and being of the Sovereign King. All of creation has heard it. We are without excuse.

The law of the LORD is perfect,

   refreshing the soul.

The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,

   making wise the simple.

The precepts of the LORD are right,

   giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the LORD are radiant,

   giving light to the eyes.

The fear of the LORD is pure,

   enduring forever.

The decrees of the LORD are firm,

   and all of them are righteous.

 They are more precious than gold,

   than much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey,

   than honey from the honeycomb.

(Psalm 19:7-10)

God’s judgments, God’s commands, God’s words, they are precious. More precious than gold. More desirable than honey. That is the God we serve.

Our Just Judge

Our Sovereign King

Our Merciful Saviour

The Bible calls God Yahweh Tsabaoth, The LORD of hosts. This name calls God  high commander over all the hosts of all the armies of the Earth. God is High King over all the power in creation, High King over all the armies of Heaven. 

God is the LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle.

Yahweh Tsabaoth -  Jesus Christ - Our King.

Scripture says that after Jesus ascended into Heaven,

God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

(Phil 2:9-11)

King of Kings. Lord of Lords.

How foolish we are, that we would ever be so tempted as to trade in the precious word of our God, for a bag of silver in this world.

How can we be distracted from the sweet dripping honey of the Gospel and eternity for a bowl of thin soup in this temporal existence.

But this is exactly how James describes the life lived by those distracted by the riches of this world.

James 5:1-6

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

Like stupid cattle that don’t even know that the food they are gorging themselves on today will be worthless tomorrow when they are put to death, so are the lives of the arrogant rich. It’s all vanity. Chasing after wind. (Ecclesiastes 1:14)

The cries of the oppressed have reached the ears of Yahweh Tsabaoth – The LORD of Hosts. This is a dire warning. The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed (Psalm 103:6). Those who choose to seek a life of pleasure and self-indulgence rather than submission to the King of Kings will be judged rightly for their sin. God hears the cry of the oppressed. From the blood of Abel crying out from the ground, to the banished Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness. From  the Israelites in slavery, to the oppressed and persecuted Christians by the wealthy and powerful of first century Palestine.

There may always be a powerless oppressed in this lifetime, but never doubt that the cries of their distress are heard by YAHWEH Tsabaoth. God will avenge them. God is the God who works righteousness and justice for the oppressed widow, and orphan, slave, and foreigner. A dire warning to all who would dabble in the affairs of this world – God will avenge.

The LORD of Hosts is a Just Judge. 

God's Judgment of the Arrogant Rich

Moses’ law says in Deuteronomy 24:15:

You shall give him (your worker) his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin.

This is exactly as it says in James 5:4. The cries of the oppressed workers will reach the LORD of hosts. God hears the cry of the oppressed. God will avenge them.

Malachi 3:5

“Then I will draw near to you for judgement. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Scripture lists unjust payment of a labourers’ wages with sorcery and adultery. Jesus did not mince words when he said in Luke 6 (verse 20),  “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” but (in verse 24) “…woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.” In Luke 18 (verses 24-25), Jesus says, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Do we think Jesus was kidding? How do we so easily whitewash this away? How do we so easily treat these words of Jesus as though they do not apply to us who claim to follow him?

We are the richest people on Earth. I would not make a case for scripture saying that having wealth itself is outright sin. But let us not fool ourselves. The treasure of this world is kindling. Don’t play with fire. Don’t make friends with the world and an enemy of God (James 4:4).

So, what does the LORD of Hosts condemn in this passage? God condemns the rich for covetousness, oppression, hedonism, and persecution of the righteous.

1. Covetousness (Hoarding) or 

Avarice (Reprehensible Acquisitiveness)

James 5:2-3

Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.

The wealth of those days was is food, clothing, and precious metals. They’ve stored food so long, it’s rotted. Their clothes are so many and unused that they are bug food. Their gold and silver are corroded. Their incorruptible metals . . . are corroded. In the original language, this verse means that they’ve literally “rusted through – top to bottom”.

Do not be foolish. There is not one thing that will last for all eternity. For those who put their trust in the permanence and incorruptibility of their gold and silver, the Sovereign King says, “No, even this will be destroyed. And if Gold and Silver, how much more shall be the impermanence of your very flesh.” In the previous chapter, our very lives are described as a “vanishing vapour” (James 4:14). Our lives are a breath in the nostrils of God. The Judge is coming. Do not fatten yourself for a slaughter.

Romans 2:5

But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

Matthew 6:19-20

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

2. Oppression

James 5:4

Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

The Landowner needs the labourer’s work as much as the labourer needs his paycheque. But the owner has the power. The migrant worker may have no way to seek justice for himself, but all that is done in secret will be brought to the light.

God commands us to give to the poor, graciously and mercifully. How great a sin is it to hold back the wages of the poor, which they earned and is rightly theirs? The cries of the oppressed are heard by the LORD of Hosts.

3. Hedonism

James 5:5

You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

This lifestyle is condemned even if it doesn’t oppress others. Jesus tells a parable in Luke of a rich hedonist who happily trusts in his own wealth and prosperity as though pleasure is the total of his life’s purpose. Jesus describes the hedonist as saying to himselfself, “Self, you have plenty of money laid up for yourself for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” But God says to the hedonist, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” 

(Luke 12:19-20 – paraphrased)

                More hopeful is Jesus’ parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32). In this story, a child asks for his inheritance from his father while he is still alive. He takes it and immediately begins spending all his new wealth on debauchery and empty pleasure. But when his money runs out, the child repents and returns to the father, who receives him with open arms and a party.

                For those trapped in empty hedonism, pray that your wealth runs out before your life does. There is still time to repent of your arrogance. Your loving father waits to receive you back.

4. Persecution

James 5:6

You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

Most translations say "the righteous one" or "the innocent" (singular), leading many scholars to interpret this as meaning Jesus himself, equating murder of the poor with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the only person ever called "innocent" in this way (Acts  3:14; 7:52; 22:14). This is harmonious with the account of Saul's conversion, when Jesus tells Saul that he takes personally Saul's persecution of Christians, as though he were persecuting Jesus himself (“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” - Acts 9:4; 22:7), In Matthew’s fifth discourse, Jesus tells a parable of judgment at the end of days, when the mercy shown or denied the least of the people in the world is taken as mercy or oppression toward Jesus himself. Jesus offered no resistance to his crucifixion, and the rich oppressor's treatment of the poor is taken by the Lord Almighty as the same guilt as if they were treating Jesus the same way.

He was oppressed and afflicted,

   yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

   and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

   so he did not open his mouth.

(Isaiah 53:7)

When the poor are oppressed, their cries reach the LORD of Hosts. When the righteous are persecuted, it is the King of Kings himself who is persecuted. And he will avenge. The Christians James is writing to have been pushed from the urban centres and from their homes to the countryside because of persecution (James 1:1-2). If we take the verse as a double meaning, referring also to these scattered oppressed, we must continue to consider this suggestion that they do not resist, especially considering the undeniable instruction to resist that James gives in the last chapter.

There are two Greek words for “resist”. This verse’s “resist” in Greek (Strong's number 498 - antitássomai) literally means organized, military resistance with intention of violent action. Followers of Jesus are taught to only resist non-violently (The Sermon on the Mount contains examples, such as standing firm and turning the left cheek to someone who slaps you, rather than cowering in fear).  This does not mean, therefore, that it is somehow ideal or righteous to not resist evil. When James instructs us to resist the devil in the previous chapter (James 4:7), he uses a Greek word (Strong's number 436 - anthistēmi) meaning active, direct resistance to the demonic spirit of injustice in the world. We make no mistake that followers of Jesus do resist injustice done toward themselves and others, but our resistance is always done in such a way that we honour the image of God even in the oppressor, humbly offering the opportunity for them to repent of their sin, even as we resist them in it.

Followers of Jesus do resist evil, evil persons, evil action, evil systems. We may do so nonviolently, but we are by no means passive, and there is nothing holy in acting so. On the contrary, the dramatic confrontation in this passage shows us that it is acting on the side of God's justice and righteousness to actively and intentionally resist in this lifetime, even to death.

Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

(Also see Matthew 10:38, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23, Luke 14:27)

The cross was an instrument of torture reserved explicitly for insurrectionists against the empire, not just everyday criminals. When Jesus said "take up your cross and follow me", the symbol of such had not yet become a religious one as we know it today. Those hearing him say it would not have applied it to him, as he had not yet been executed upon one. Therefore, "take up your cross and follow me" would more likely be heard by a first century Palestinian in this way:

"As I am resisting the unjust, violent, occupying forces of the evil Roman Empire, so should you. Give up your demand for a comfortable life, and live the hard road of resistance, the consequences of such behind you wherever you go, and continue to do so until you die at the hands of that empire you resist."

While I believe that Jesus and the early gospel writers do intend more by this sentence than the above paraphrase, it is good for us to consider the original context in which it was heard. Jesus did not shy away from suggesting that our life of discipleship is contrary to the authorities of this world.

(For more on resistance to injustice, I recommend my recent post on James 4:4-10 - Romantic Radical Resistance.)

The Patient Resistance of the Faithful Oppressed

James 5:7-8

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

Be patient! Patience here literally means to hold back, stay your hand, don’t retaliate violently. Why?

Because God is a Just Judge

He is Sovereign King

He is a Merciful Saviour

The judgment of the Lord is compared to harvest time. Don’t rush it! His timing is perfect. Our hope is in Jesus.

James 5:9-10

Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast.

Our Just Judge is waiting eagerly to avenge! Don’t compare your experience to others (he’s less oppressed than me). Trust in Jesus. To the arrogant rich’s avarice, we offer patience. To their oppression, we answer with endurance. What did the prophets endure?

Hebrews 11:36-40

Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

Why do we patiently endure, though we resist?

Because the LORD of HOSTS is

Just Judge

Sovereign King

Merciful Saviour

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

God has a greater intention for us than we see in the temporary. His plans are perfect. We do not assert our will. We trust in our Sovereign King.

James 5:11

You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

The patience of JOB

Though he lost everything, Job did not curse God (Job 1:11, 22).  When Job lost everything. He questioned God. God questioned him. Between Job 38:4 and 41:34, God questions Job 184 times, each time affirming that Job is a subject of God’s Sovereign will. But after all of God’s questions, God restored Job with twice as much as he had before (Job 42:10).

Job 41:34

And the Merciful Saviour gave him everything back that he lost.

The LORD of Hosts. is Just Judge.

Sovereign King.

Merciful Saviour

Matthew 5:11-12

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Blessing is not based on a reaction to an external circumstance. Blessing is an objective and unalterable state derived from the approval and reward of the Almighty God.

                To the arrogant rich, in the midst of your avarice, your hedonism, your corruption, your selfishness, as you persecute and oppress the poor and marginalized: your day will come. There will be a reckoning. The Just Judge will require vengeance for your sin, and has taken account of your oppression as persecution toward himself.

                For those who are oppressed, be hopeful as we resist in faith on this side of eternity. God’s Kingdom is here, and we will see it come in fullness. Whether we see vindication on this side of eternity or in the world to come, either way, the Master Avenger hears our cries, and will bring justice and righteousness for us all.

All Glory to God.

Amen.

☠

Click the above image to read the entire series from James

James 5:13-20 - Pain, Perseverance, and The Prayer of Faith

James

 To be a follower of Jesus is to embrace a life that will certainly include pain and heartbreak. Citizens of the Kingdom of God seeking to honestly demonstrate their faith on this side of eternity, among the contrary empires of this present age, will suffer hardship. We live between two worlds. We are encouraged by the hope found in serving a King who has conquered even death, the only power that will equalize the most privileged king and the most impoverished child in India. His righteous judgments will end oppression, and set every captive free. But until the consummation of the Just Kingdom, oppression remains. Followers of Jesus live in resistance to the corruption in the world's empires and the demonic powers behind them. In our resistance, we will suffer pain, just as Jesus did before us.

James writes to a church scattered, a people who knew explicitly the pain of poverty and persecution. Even James himself succumbed to death as an insurrectionist by order of the Roman Empire in AD 62. Soon after his death and the fall of Jerusalem in AD 75, the church in exile would see their pain escalate. The early readers of James' letter were poignantly aware of the reality of grief, of pain in the soul, and of injury in the body. James begins his letter with this understanding.

James 1:17-18

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

James reminds us in the opening of his book that though we may experience hardship, though we may lack the wisdom to even know how to process our pain, our God is good. God loves as a good, wise, and gentle parent. God does not change, though our lives may seem to be tossed by waves of circumstance. Our faith is in one who is secure and unchanging. We place our hope in an unmoving foundation, not in our changing circumstance. God walks through our every storm.

Gifts of miraculous healing are given because God knows that we need them. Healing is a good gift given by a good God whose love is immeasurable and eternal. If we believe that God is real, that God is just, that God is love, we can pray in confidence, without fear, for whatever we need.

God's goodness is revealed in the reality of healing before we even ask. Our very beings are created, body, mind, and spirit, to heal itself beginning at the very moment of our injury. Our Creator designed us with healing right in the very makeup of our being. God is a healer by nature of himself. The same God that called the void into correct order and purpose in Genesis 1 has the power to heal you also. God is generous. Do not be afraid to ask.

The Gift of Healing

Gifts of healing were given to the church in James’ day and in ours. In the book of Acts, it says that God confirmed the preaching of the word with signs and wonders following it. This included healing.

Acts 14:3

So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.

It is good to desire gifts of healing. We don’t desire healing so we can boast, but as a gift so we can love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

God’s sovereign acts of divine intervention demonstrate the love and freedom of the gospel. Love is central to all God does. As followers of Jesus, we must also be motivated by love. Whether we pray for God’s miraculous intervention, or march in a demonstration, or organize to feed and clothe those that can’t afford it, if we do it in the name of God, we must be motivated by love before all else.

Miraculous healing also demonstrates God’s authority as the very highest authority. If God has authority over illness and death, it must be higher than the corrupted pseudo-authority of the empire that we live to resist. If we may be healed by God's sovereign will, then there is nothing by which the powers of this age may persecute us that we cannot overcome in the authority of the True Kingdom. God's authority to heal demonstrates his authority over death, and if this is so, than we are empowered to live in resistance to any power on earth. If we will overcome even in death, than we have nothing to fear.

James 5:13-16

     Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

James encourages us to pray for healing. We may enter God's presence boldly, grateful for the healing already working in our body and soul even before we ask, confident that the one who has made our spirit alive can also bring life to our mortal flesh, submitted to his good will and purpose in our life as he answers our prayer as he wills. Miraculous healing glorifies God. It is his good pleasure to be glorified in your healing, and to demonstrate his love to you by his miraculous intervention.

James 5 describes a community in which the spiritual gifts are active, including gifts of healings. It gives us practical examples of how gifts of healing can be manifest in the church today. How do we pray when we pray for healing?

3 Types of Prayer in James 5:13-16

            James describes three kinds of praying, all three of them are ways of praying for people who are sick or suffering in some way.

1. Praying for Ourselves

James 5:13

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.

No matter how we may suffer, James encourages us to pray. This could include sickness. If we are sick, we can pray for ourselves, right then and there.

In the last passage (James 5:1-11), James is talking to persecuted and oppressed migrant workers, instructing them to be patient in their trial. Prayer would be essential for them. We follow the suffering Saviour, so suffering will be part of our lives, too. Prayer is essential for us.

James tells us that we pray for ourselves in any kind of suffering. We may even suffer as a victim of someone else’s sin, or as a consequence of our own. Jesus is our advocate, and answers our prayers, whoever we are.

2. Prayer of the Elders over a Sick Person

James 5:14–15

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

In this passage, a sick person is being visited in their home. Sickness may make us weak enough that we can't get out to a church event. Since this passage describes being prayed over, and raised up, it brings to mind people surrounding a bed. This person is probably very sick.

The elders are pastors, or shepherds (literal) of the congregation (Acts 10:17, 28; 1 Peter 5:1–2). When a sheep is wounded or seek, it needs a shepherd first. If elders are in a constant state of prayerful, studied faith, as is necessary for their role in the church, they will be good candidates for readiness to pray in faith for healing. The Bible says that Jesus is the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5), and the elders follow his example. As Jesus was always ready to pray for people’s healing, so also should the elders be always prepared to pray in faith according to God’s will when people in the church need prayer. Elders are to be rich in faith, expecting for God to work miracles in and through them whenever they are needed.

3. Praying for Each Other

James 5:16

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

This general encouragement could be practiced anywhere. We can share our lives and our weaknesses with one another at a prayer meeting. We can have a private prayer at home for a friend. Groups of people can pray for sick friends with that person present, or from a distance. Our prayer is always that they will be healed. We can pray for each other! Any Christian can pray for healing for someone else.

The verse says that we can confess our sins to each other, that we may be healed. This doesn’t change the truth that we need only one advocate and high authority, Jesus Christ. This verse is not talking about needing to go to a priest as a go-between for you and God.

1 Timothy 2:5

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Confession of our sin is followed by repentance, a change in our behaviour away from sin. Sometimes, sickness is a result of our own sin. Sin is bad for us. It's unhealthy.

It is a theme of James that faith unaccompanied by works is dead. We may pray to be healed of addiction. If it is a prayer of faith, it will be followed by action, our abstinence from the object of our addiction. If we are to pray for healing from a God who heals, we should be willing to accept the consequences of living healthy with our new healthy body and soul.

If gluttony has made someone obese and caused them heart disease, they should repent.

If an alcoholic has ruined their liver by drinking, they should put down the bottle.

Ulcers can be caused by stress or workaholism.

God may want to heal us, but if we have been making yourself sick, we need to stop. Get healthy.

Sin rots us from the inside out. God promises to forgive us of our sin when we confess to him. He's given us his church on purpose. For those who have deep rooted, habitual sins, sometimes there are deeper roots of pain that need counseling or deliverance. So, we confess to one another. Sometimes, we need to talk it out. There is healing in the body of Christ, healing for your soul and body.

Ministering healing to one another in community happens in prayer, but it also continues to happen all the time as our shared community helps each of us to grow and change into the people God has created us to be. We share our sins and struggles honestly with one another, and are healed in the sharing, the prayer, and the walk of faith in freedom after we share. 

We all can and do pray for one another, preaching the gospel of freedom and love to one another in faith, and praying that God would miraculously heal the sick among us.

The Example of Elijah

James 5:17-18

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

James makes no mistake that prayer is for anybody, from anybody, not something only reserved for certain people with a special gift. James is referencing the same story I shared in the post about King Ahab and King David. James says here that Elijah was just like us. We cannot claim that Elijah was somehow extraordinary and cannot serve as a model for our praying. This also means that Elijah’s life, lived outside of the mainstream and in resistance to the corrupt authorities needn’t be dismissed as an anomaly for followers of God. Elijah was just like you, living in resistance in the authority of the True Kingdom, just like you. You can be encouraged that your prayers will have great affect, like his that stopped the rain for three and a half years.

Powerful praying for divine healing is not limited to a special sort of person, like the elders. We are encouraged to think of our praying in the same category with a great miracle worker of the Bible. Elijah wasn’t perfect. He didn’t have it all together. He doubted. He made mistakes. He suffered depression and despair. He questioned God (1 Kings 17 – 2 Kings 2).  No one is excluded. Every one of us can pray in faith that God will work miracles according to our prayers.

The Prayer of Faith

James 5:15

And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

            “The prayer of faith," will heal the sick. This is an absolute statement. Why, then, are people sometimes not healed, though prayer is offered without a doubt? I believe James is speaking if a special gift of faith, given to the church by God, so that we may pray with certainty. If God reveals to the person that prays that someone will be healed, they may pray with authority according to God’s will.

1 Corinthians 12:7-9, 11

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit … All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

There is a faith that comes as a special gift to pray for something extraordinary. There is a gift of faith that can remove mountains (1 Corinthians 13:2).

Mark 11:23–24

Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea’, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

The power of prayer is not in the prayer itself, or in the person that prays. The power of prayer is in God, the one to whom we pray. God will sometimes give a person a certainty that the prayer they are praying is according to God’s will, and will result in miraculous intervention. This is the prayer of faith, a prayer of authority that speaks with the assurance that God will answer the prayer as it is asked. This is why the prayer of faith will always heal a sick person. So the elders at the bedside of the sick person in James earnestly desire a spiritual gift of faith so that they might pray the prayer of faith, and this prayer will result in God’s demonstrative healing power manifested in the sick person’s life.

The prayer of faith will heal the sick. We are to deeply desire spiritual gifts.

Correction Heals the Body

1 Corinthians 12:12-20

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body”, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body”, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

We need each other in the body of Christ.

There is an attack against the notion of truth in our society today. It is offensive, and even intolerant to suggest that there is an absolute truth, and that what you believe is it. Many would call this oppressive.

The common postmodern attack on truth is an indirect attack on the notion of its existence rather than a critical examination of its claims. Truth is attacked as a political weapon, by which men oppress women, and whites oppress blacks, and western culture oppresses eastern culture, and the rich oppress the poor, and Christians oppress Muslims, and straight people oppress homosexuals, and so on. So the way that the claim to truth is attacked is not by showing that it's false or distorted, but by calling it names.

Don’t fall for this deception. Stand for truth as it is, within its own arena. Critical thought, reason, and argument are not wrong. Truth sets us free. It does not bind us. Do not use truth as an excuse to oppress anyone. We only speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), and we love even our enemies (Matthew 5:44). How much more should we therefore speak in love when speaking truth to someone in error within our own community?

James 5:19-20

My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

This is one of the reasons God gave us the church. We pray for each other when we’re sick or hurting. We submit our faith and our belief to one another as we share our lives together. Christians living in the new covenant can and do sin. We are not yet perfect. Our security is in God, not our own perfection. God uses the Body of Christ as his means to keep us in the truth. Our salvation is personal, and we have only one mediator. But our life walked in faith is also a community project.

God uses us to minister his work in the world. We are agents of the coming Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power (1 Corinthians 4:20). We are ambassadors of this Coming Kingdom, demonstrating and declaring the truth of the highest authority manifesting love and justice in the midst of the corruption of the present age of empire. We participate in the kingdom as we go into all the world and preach the gospel, as we share our things as though they are not our own, as we pray for one another when we are sick. God’s desire is for us to be healthy and whole. We are healthiest when we are not sick, when we are forgiven. God uses us to minister this healing to one another and to the world.

Life in the body will include hardship and pain. Our hope is in the truth that we will be made whole even through our pain, as God redeems for our good even the worst that can be thrown at us on this side of eternity.

James 1:2-3

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Even the most privileged among us in the community of Jesus followers will experience difficulties by virtue of being a part of this community. James 1:27 tells us that the demonstration of our faith is to share real life with widows, orphans, and foreigners in their distress. James is telling us that a life that follows Christ lives in solidarity with the most vulnerable and oppressed, making their struggles our own. We are in this together, seeking freedom and justice for everyone.

It is a sober and humbling task to share in God’s work of maturing grace together when our friends are going through difficult times. During times of sickness or loss, we may feel inadequate to know how to counsel, correct, or comfort a friend. But James assures us that whether the trial is our own, or we share in the suffering of others, God will give us the wisdom we need to endure.

James 1:4-8

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

As hard as it may be for the most privileged to honestly and humbly submit themselves to walking real life with the oppressed and hurting, others in the body of Christ may have a different challenge. When we are hurting because of circumstances and loss, it may be difficult to hear counsel and encouragement from someone who seems not to be sharing our same struggle, no matter how sincere their intentions, or how good and right their counsel may be. God’s comfort and healing for each of us is perfect. That comfort is given to us through our brothers and sisters, the Kingdom manifest among us with skin on.

For Those in Grief

            Comfort and wisdom spoken in love through faith is a medicine for our souls. But while God’s words are perfect, the church is not. During a time of loss or pain, it can often be very difficult for friends to know just what to say or do to communicate their desire to comfort or understand. With the best of intentions, you may hear such sincere attempts come in a certain reminder that in time, your grief will pass.

Many times, such assurances may be accepted and even helpful. From a certain perspective, it is true. However, if you find such assurances somehow don't land with you, it's okay. In truth, hearing that the grief you're feeling right now will ever leave you may strangely feel like bad news, even in your pain.

I'd like to offer a different assurance, in two parts.

First, your grief is not bad. Though your loss may be a tragedy, or injustice, the grief you experience in its wake is not. It is not wrong. It is not evil, sinful, unholy, or anything for which you should feel ashamed. Your grief is natural. You may be processing a change in the programming of your very soul. You may feel angry, playful, lonely, silly, or sad. You may want to be alone, change your hair, write, party, or just be quiet and cry. For none of this should you feel guilty. Neither should you feel the process is one you must complete as quickly as possible.

So, when your friends remind you that your pain will pass, remember that this does not mean it or your responses to it are something you need to first seek to transcend in the present, or just wait out like a bad dream. You have permission to embrace your grief for as long as you need it to last.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, in all the ways that matter most, your grief will in fact never pass. I mean this in the best way. In this season you may feel like this grief you have is far too important to release. Whomever or whatever you lost was precious to you. In your grief, their value becomes immeasurable. How can life possibly ever be the same now that this person (or job, or marriage, or loss of some other kind) is gone from your life? Your grief honours what you have lost, how could you ever seek anything other than this grief, and in moving on, twice lose them? The ghost of the one you lost visits you in your grief, even in your pain. It may seem a sacrilege to imagine a life that continues without it.

Here is the hopeful truth: life will not be the same. And that is okay. The pain you feel in your grief right now will subside, but the changes that have happened in you will remain. You really are different now. You will heal. You will grow. If you allow the Suffering Saviour into your heart, the Holy Spirit will work this for your good. As you learn to heal, forgive, let go, and process this change in your life, submitted to the one who knew and loved you before you were born, you will become even more the person you are than you were before your loss. This is a gift. And this will honour your loss in all of the best ways.

Though the severity and frequency of your pain may pass in time, your grief will not. But your grief will change. It may not ever even become less. But you will grow to contain it. In your growth, may you become even more acquainted with Jesus, man of sorrows, and may the journey be sweet, healing, and true.

Humility, Community, Authority

            Let us walk humbly together, sharing honestly in our pain and in our joy. Let us pray always for the strength to persevere in any trial, placing our faith on the certain hope that in the darkest times, Christ is still present with us, and will see us through to a greater end. Let us be close enough to God in prayer that we may be called upon to exercise our faith in his good gifts for miraculous healing whenever it is needed. Let us have the humility and willingness to serve one another in our darkest times, so that we may also share in the joy of each other’s testimonies when God manifests miraculous healing. And he will.

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Next  - The Vengeance of the Lord of Hosts on Behalf of the Poor and the Oppressed - James 5:1-12