“A Mother’s Influence“, by Rev. Mike Holly

What good is it if you say you have faith, but do not have works, James asks us. This debate has lasted since the dawn of the church. Is what is most important about the Christian life our faith in Christ or our service in his name to others? The Protestant Reformation in Europe shifted the church’s focus from good works towards faith. It wasn’t that people did not have faith, the Reformers thought, but that they relied upon these works instead of upon the grace and mercy of God.

The problem is that faith without good works is not true faith, as James is trying to tell us. Faith without good works is like believing that the sky is blue. It is a fact, but it doesn’t affect my life. Faith without faith is more of a concept than real and radical trust in God.

What we learn from today’s reading is that faith and good works are part of the same reality within our hearts. If we truly have faith that God is merciful to each and everyone of us, then we will joyfully respond in love to Him and to others in their need. Faith in this sense cannot be contained within our own hearts but overflows to others. The mother of John and Charles Wesley taught them from a very young age to have this kind of faith in their lives and when they found it as adults they shared it with all in the Methodist movement.

~Mike Holly

The Word

James 2:14-26

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.

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