Sunday after Christmas Fr. James Jorgenson

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Christ is born. Christos

Christos. Slavity. For me personally, the more

central the feast is to the mystery of our salvation,

the harder it is for me to sort of say something

new, because the mystery is inexhaustible. And

for that reason, preaching it around Pascha,

or now the Nativity of Our Lord, or even Epiphany,

what the services say, the liturgical texts,

really have just about said it all. So, with

this introduction, I am bowing out of saying

anything directly about Christmas, but I'm going

to speak instead about today's being the feast

day, the commemoration of my patron saint, St.

James, the brother of the Lord. It's also the

synexis of the Theotokos. The day after feast

day, a major personage in the event is... traditionally

remembered. So that's why it's also the day after

Christmas is also the synexis of the Theotokos.

James, the brother of the Lord. I think for people,

names in the scriptures are initially quite confusing.

I remember when I was really a little youngster,

John. I thought there was one John in the New

Testament, but then it dawned on me, if he's

beheaded, how can he end up writing a gospel?

So it is the beginning of a realization that

there are two Johns. A little more perplexing

is the Jameses that you run into in the New Testament.

Two of the apostles are James. James, the son

of Alphaeus, and James, the son of Zebedee. And

then there's another person who gets mentioned

a number of times is James, the brother of the

Lord. We heard this at the end of the epistle

reading today from Galatians when Paul tells

the Galatians and us that after his conversion,

He went on retreat for a certain period of time.

Then he went up to Jerusalem, and he conferred

with Peter, not any of the other apostles, he

conferred with Peter and with James, the brother

of the Lord. So this is one of the numerous indications

we have, not only from the scriptures, but also

from the embryonic. histories that were being

written about the church at this time, that there

was another person, another James, James the

brother of the Lord. How is he the brother of

the Lord? The tradition tells us that he was

one of probably several children of Joseph by

a previous marriage. Joseph, of course, according

to tradition, was a widower. His first wife had

passed away, and he was probably somewhat older

than the Theotokos, the Virgin Mary. And this

Joseph, of course, is not the real father of

Jesus, but the foster father. And Joseph apparently

had several children by his first marriage. And

one of these is James. That's why he's called

the brother of the Lord, or probably to be technical,

but they weren't really interested in such a

technicality. James is a half -brother of the

Lord. But be that as it may, James to me is an

interesting personage because in many depictions

in early Christian art of the flight into Egypt,

when you know from the Christmas story that Joseph

and Mary and the child Jesus fled from Herod

and went to Egypt. And many of the early frescoes

and icons of this flight into Egypt depict a

young man who's a teenager or a young adult who's

also involved. Sometimes he's leading the donkey,

sometimes he's walking behind the donkey. but

yesterday I googled around on the flight how

this is depicted in art and by and large the

presence of James the brother of the Lord did

not really make it into later Western Christian

art about the flight into Egypt so very early

in Western Christian art, and then also it's

persisted in Eastern art, frescoes and icons

of this young man going with Joseph and Mary

and the child Jesus into Egypt. Also, this is

today's epistle, of course, tells us that he

was, no, the gospel, that he was called. They

left Egypt, came back to Palestine to fulfill

what was said, out of Egypt I have called my

son. So they went to Egypt to flee from Herod.

And then there are also a number of delightful

stories from, it's really apocryphal, early Christian

literature, which means it didn't make it into

the New Testament for obvious reasons. And some

of these stories are delightful and charming.

We, my matushka and I, met a Coptic couple several

years ago who had lived in Egypt until quite

recently. And they delight in pointing out the

different places where the Holy Family stayed

in Egypt. This is an oasis where they stopped

to draw some water. And then here's the house

where Joseph and Mary lived. Well, these are

all charming stories, as is that when they were

coming into Egypt, the palm trees all bowed down

to the child Jesus, and the idols of Egyptian

gods crumbled as they walked by. So these are

just sort of delightful stories. They may or

probably did not happen, but that makes for an

interesting read. And so the content of this

is one reason why a lot of this early Christian

literature did not make it into the inspired

text of the New Testament. So that is the James

here, the brother of the Lord, who's mentioned

several times. Another place where he really

figures in very prominently is in chapter 15

of the Acts of the Apostles. And this relates

the first council, the Council of Jerusalem.

Occurred maybe about the year 50, we don't know

for sure. But the issue there, as you see reflected

so often, in the Acts of the Apostles and in

St. Paul's writings, that perplexing issue of

do converts to Christianity have to adopt all

the regulations, the dietary regulations, and

so on and so forth, which were part of divine

revelation in the Old Testament, part of the

Hebrew religion. And this issue came to a head,

and this was the major point of discussion at

this Council of Jerusalem. And James, the brother

of the Lord, was the first bishop of Jerusalem,

and the Jerusalem church represented that party

that felt very strongly that Gentile converts

have to adopt many of the ceremonial and the

dietary practices of the Old Testament religion.

So James, the prominent one in this party, stands

up and says basically no. Faith in Christ is

the important thing, but we do ask them two things.

Abstain from idolatry, which was... So obvious

to anyone who would become a Christian. But it

was a little bit more of a problem to people

that came from a non -Jewish background. To abstain

from idolatry and from blood. So in other words,

don't eat meat that still has blood in it. So

that was how this issue was resolved at this

Council of Jerusalem. And James also, he spoke

with Paul and Barnabas, so he figures prominently,

and according to tradition, he was, for preaching

Christ, he was thrown off the wall of the temple,

and that's how he endured martyrdom. What else

has James bequeathed to us? First of all, a very

ancient liturgy. in the church, or Eucharistic

prayer, is the Liturgy of St. James, which can

be celebrated and is celebrated in some Orthodox

churches, parishes, on October 26th, James' feast

day, and then on the Sunday after Christmas,

or today on the 26th of December. A very ancient

liturgy, but it's, I don't mean to be irreverent,

it's very wordy. The priest's prayers are very

extensive. And I think this is probably one of

the main features why this liturgy was eclipsed

by the liturgy of John Chrysostom and St. Basil

as the common. Eucharistic prayers that we're

familiar with nowadays. But it is sometimes liturgical

historians say that sometimes it can be considered

the father or the grandfather of the liturgies

that we have now. But so I think may or may not

be, but of course what connects all of these

are the things that are mentioned in the Eucharistic

prayer. And this is common to all the Eucharistic

prayers. The things on the night before he suffered,

having done all of this on the night before he

suffered, he took breath. And so this very ancient

liturgy of St. James is in some quarters still

used nowadays. But most prominently, and this

is what I'm going to speak briefly about and

conclude momentarily with. One quotation from

the epistle. St. James is the author of the epistle

of St. James. This is James, the brother of the

Lord. And the content of the epistle clearly

shows that the epistle was primarily addressed

to an audience of Christians who had come to

faith in Christ out of their Jewish heritage.

So those are the issues that are dealt with in

the epistle of St. James. But looking that over

again, I thought, well, just so I can conclude

with a challenge for myself and for you. What

kind of things does James talk about in this

epistle? And there's one that particularly caught

my attention. He says in chapter 3, the tongue

is a little member, a little part of our body.

Now you probably know where he's going to go

right from there. The tongue is a little part

of our body, a little member. It can boast of

many great things. But how great a forest is

set ablaze by a fire. For the tongue is a fire.

The tongue is an unrighteous world among our

members, the parts of our body. An unrighteous

world among the parts of our body. Staining the

whole body. Setting on fire the cycle of nature.

And set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast

and bird. A reptile and sea creature can be tamed

and has been tamed by mankind. But no human being

can tame the tongue. How hard it is for us to

tame our tongue, in other words. A restless evil,

full of deadly poison. With it, the tongue, we

bless the Lord and Father. And with it, the tongue,

we curse others who were made in the image of

God. My brethren, that not ought to be. So in

other words, the advice that I conclude with

is from St. James. It's advice to myself. I know

he's talking to me. And I'm sure he's talking

to many of you also. Watch what you say. Watch

how you use that little tiny member. How beautiful

it is used to sing and to pray to God. But at

the same time, how that tongue can hurt other

people's feelings. How that tongue can hurt your

wife, your husband. your children, your parents.

That tongue that can do so many beautiful things

can also be a source of fire and lack of harmony

among those we love. So, St. James, thank you

today for giving us this timely piece of advice,

and we ask your intercession as we continue to

celebrate. the glorious feast of our Lord's Nativity.

Amen. Christ is born.