It took Jesus's brother, James, a long time to find out who he was. Throughout the three years of Jesus's public ministry, James was the embarrassed brother, wondering why Jesus was making a public spectacle of himself, risking the wrath of religious and political leaders, and saying such outrageous things as: in me and in my work all of the scriptures are fulfilled, for I am bringing the kingdom of God to you. James was probably one of the family members who came to where Jesus was teaching and tried to get him to come out, perhaps to stage an "intervention," only to be told, "Who are my brothers and sisters? Those who do the will of God." James was not one of Jesus’s disciples during those three years. And he wasn’t there when his Lord was crucified.
But Jesus always knew who James was. And so, according to Paul, after his resurrection, Jesus showed himself to his brother, who had not believed him for so long. And finally James knew who he was. He was a faithful son of Israel, who trusted God's promise to Israel, and trusted that Jesus was the fulfillment of that promise. James knew that his brother was the Anointed of God, the Messiah, the Christ.
James was a man of Holy Scripture. He knew the Law of Israel inside out. When Jesus said that you must love your neighbor as yourself, James knew that he was quoting Leviticus 19:18. And knowing Leviticus, James understood that loving your neighbor means much much more than coming up to the people you already know and giving them a hug. He knew that loving your neighbor means more than doing nice things for the people who can do nice things back. That's how love of neighbor is defined in Leviticus 19, and that's why James is so emphatic that our love must play no favorites whatsoever.
So, as the leading Apostle in Jerusalem, he refused to give up on his brothers and sisters among the people of Israel. He was a faithful Jew and a disciple of Jesus the Christ. When he feared that Paul might leave behind too much of the Old Covenant to gain the Gentiles, James reminded him that any pretense of faith which finds no expression in loving your neighbor as yourself, is dead. Finally, when overly zealous Jews stoned him to death in 62 AD, he knew that he was to be a sharer of his brother's death and resurrection. James submitted to the law of liberty, and in death, truly found himself.
It's never easy to find ourselves. We look in the mirror, and wish that whatever ghost lurks behind that image would show him or herself. We spend a lifetime trying out for a myriad of roles: the teen too cool for u: the angry young man: husband, wife, embarrassed sibling, father, mother: master of the universe, be it in politics or business: churchman, wise old grandparent. But when the end comes, we are the same wondering helpless child that we were at our beginning.
So what is the answer to this riddle, "Who am I?" Well, you will never find the right answer to that question, unless you ask a second question, “Who are you?” As long as you stare in the mirror, you won’t see yourself. You will only find yourself in relationship with your neighbor, loving your neighbor as yourself. And who are our neighbors, in the church and in our community? What do they look like? Well, if you can’t see who you are by staring in the mirror, you sure can’t tell who your “neighbors” are by their appearance. In today’s reading, James tells us that we all are beloved children of God, no matter how we look, no matter the mistakes we have made. And so, to our neighbors, our message must be: God loves you, Jesus loves you, and as Jesus's hands and arms, I love you.
This is the law of liberty. We all must love each other, equally, even as we love ourselves, in deed as well as thought. And when we submit to that law, we will be liberated from the false roles we try out, the false expectations we lay upon our shoulders. We will be liberated from our loneliness. We will be liberated to be ourselves as God loves us, loving our neighbors as Jesus loves us. Of that we can be sure, because it's the law.
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