Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost
The Lord Will Raise Him Up
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen. St. James says some things in today’s Epistle that you would do well to
understand very carefully and to spend further time contemplating during your
week.
· If you read and understand today’s Epistle in the wrong way, you will
run the dreadful risk of losing confidence that God will answer you prayers. If
you take these words wrongly, you might even start to wonder whether you have
enough faith to pray in a manner that God shall hear. Guard yourself against
falling into such black temptations!
· Listen to what James is saying to you. Take his message to heart and
do not draw the wrong conclusions. In so doing, you will have new joy and
confidence, not only in your prayers, but also in the daily events of your
life.
“The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick,” James declares, “and the
Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you
may be healed.”
Dear Christian friends,
If you struggle to believe wholeheartedly that “the prayer of faith will save
the one who is sick,” you are not alone. Many people share that struggle with
you. You want to embrace and to believe these Words because you know they are
God’s Words, but you have also prayed your fervent prayers. In particular, you
have prayed about your illnesses, or about the illnesses of those whom you
love: “Please, God… I am begging you, God… Grant this for the sake of your Son
Jesus, O God.” You have prayed with all your might, believing as firmly and as
earnestly as you are able. Even with your most ardent effort, nothing happened:
no healing fell from the sky.
Some preachers and some well-meaning Christians will tell you that, if you want
to get your prayers answered, you need to pray with increased faith. “You just
have to believe more than you do, they will say, “and if your prayers do not
get answered, it is because you lack faith.” Preachers who say such things
might even point to St. James as a way of proving their appalling point. They
will read to you that verse which states, “The prayer of a righteous person has
great power as it is working,” and if your prayers are not working, there must
be something wrong with your righteousness, or your faith, or something wrong
with you. (You are probably better off staying away from people who tell you
such things, preacher or otherwise. Such people will lovingly drive you into
despair.)
1. “The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick.” Notice how
carefully James has written these Words. He does not say, “The prayer of faith
will heal the one who is sick,” as though healing will be the guaranteed result
of your faithful prayers. In this Epistle, James speaks about the salvation of
the sick.
· “The prayer of faith will SAVE the one who is sick.” James is not
giving you a formula for healing and he is not offering you escape from your
illnesses in these Words. We Christians believe that some illnesses are
actually loving gifts from our merciful God; we believe that God does not
always see fit for us to escape such things. This is why, for example, St. Paul
endured his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
· “The prayer of faith will SAVE the one who is sick.” With these Words,
James is offering you the comfort and assurance that, no matter what illnesses
you might suffer, your illnesses in no way indicate that you have lost God’s
favor or have been separated from Him by these things. James wants you to know
that the baptismal God’s gift of faith—expressed in prayer—this faith shall
SAVE you, even if you are sick. Stated another way, James is telling you that
your sicknesses are no indicator that God is angry at you, distant from you, or
even demanding greater faith from you. God’s gift of faith, which endures even
in the midst of serious illness, will save you.
2. “The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick,” James declares,
“and the Lord will raise him up.” The Word James uses for “raise him up” is a
resurrection Word. This the Word Paul used to speak about the resurrection of
all flesh on the Last Day (1 Corinthians 15:29). It is the Word St. Peter used
to speak about what God the Father did for His Son Jesus: “God raised Him on
the third day and made Him appear” (Acts 10:40). This same Word of victory over
death and the grave is now also the assurance James speaks to you and to those
who must watch their own bodies—or the bodies of their loved ones—erode in
sickness toward death: “the Lord will raise him up.”
3. “The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will
raise him up.” Hang your hat on the future tense of the verbs James is using in
this divine sentence. Throughout his entire letter, James has been completely
focused on one thing in particular: the future blessing of the Last Day. While
you struggle with your illnesses or with the illnesses of those whom you love,
James wants you to focus your attention on one and the same bright horizon:
“The prayer of faith WILL save… the Lord WILL raise…” With these Words, James
assures you that illness and sickness, tumor and disease cannot win in the end.
“The prayer of faith WILL SAVE the one who is sick,” even if his sickness
should first take through the doorway of the grave. “The Lord WILL RAISE HIM
UP,” even after his flesh has been destroyed.
4. “And if he has committed any sins,” James goes on to say, “they will be
forgiven.” The illnesses you suffer should not be wrongly understood. You must
not think of your illnesses as God’s punishment for your sins. Jesus suffered
all the punishment for your sins, and at the cross the punishment was fully
finished for you (John 19:30). Illnesses are not a sign that God is still
holding your sins against you. “If [you who are ill] have committed any sins,
they will be forgiven,” just as the sins of those who look whole and healthy
will also be fully and completely forgiven. James speaks about forgiveness as
though it were a future promise, to be given to you on the Last Day. Yet this
forgiveness is so certain and so completely earned for you that not only may we
say, “Your sins will be forgiven,” but we may also say, “Your sins are RIGHT
NOW forgiven in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
“The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick,” James declares, “and the
Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you
may be healed.”
Dearly beloved saints of God, do not shudder any more when you hear these
Words. Do not hear them wrongly, and do not mistakenly think that, of you do
not get your prayers answered, that must mean you do not have enough faith..
Nothing could be farther from the truth! God your heavenly Father has
miraculously given you His gift of faith. Through His Word, through the
on-going power of His Baptism, through His Holy Communion, the same God shall
likewise provide and nourish and sustain your faith through every trial, every
illness, and every need.
Hear the Words of today’s Epistle with confidence and joy. Understand that
James is offering you the certainly of forgiveness, salvation, and resurrection
that is yours, even if you should fall ill. Know that James wants you to cling
to these promises and gifts from God, not allowing your present illnesses to
deter you from the faith that God has given to you. And by all means, pray your
prayers! Ask God for the things you desire, trusting that nothing shall hinder
your prayer. “Pray for one another;” pray “that you may be healed.” Then let
your God be your God, ordering your days and your deeds in His peace.
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
___________________________________________________________________________
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