James 3: how different section headings would lead to a different understanding

In many Bibles, there are section headings which are not in the original text. They are added by the publisher as an aid to study and understanding. I find those headings helpful when I am scanning a hardcopy for a particular passage. But the section headings can hide connections. (Chapter breaks, likewise added after the original text was written, share the same risk.)  

While studying the book of James, in Chapter 3 in my hardcopy there are 2 sections: "Taming the Tongue" (3:1-3:12), and "Two Kinds of Wisdom" (3:13-3:18). And yet, there is a chance that the chapter is meant as single unit. Consider that 3:1 may set forward the topic for the whole chapter: Cautions for teachers. That first verse says plainly, "Not many should be teachers, knowing that we shall be judged more strictly." From that point of view, "taming the tongue" and "two kinds of wisdom" can be understood as topics specially applicable to teachers, who spend so much time speaking, striving for wisdom, and hoping to communicate something useful. In "taming the tongue" there are warnings against speech that is incendiary or inflammatory, against speech that curses others. In "two kinds of wisdom" there is a contrast between worldly wisdom -- where someone might boast or use their smarts in service of selfish ambition -- and wisdom from above which is more focused on peace and, through peace, cultivating a harvest of righteousness. The wisdom from above employs the teacher's humility to help the learners and beyond. 

And so when we open our mouths to teach, all of those warnings and instructions may have been meant for just that moment. 

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed. Alleluia! 

Blessing to all on your celebrations of Jesus' resurrection: God's promise to us that our own lives are not in vain. 

Grappling with Christ's sacrifice

The ancient sacrificial system makes little sense to me. I cannot relate to the idea of bringing goats or pigeons as an act of atonement. 

But I can relate to the idea of being in deep regret or shame, and wanting to bargain my way out of it, make some kind of substitution, any kind of substitution. What about one of those moments in life that I'd give anything to take it back? I can imagine myself bargaining ... "Anything, I see how wrong it is but there's no way to take it back. Just don't let that ruin everything!" Some people say that bargaining like that is futile, but is it? What if God said "Okay"? What if God took the deal with one condition: He would pay the price instead. 

In some ways, the question of "How could a good God allow evil?" is the question how a good God could allow agency to people who are so flawed. I've heard skeptics and scoffers list their reasons to disbelieve in God, and they are often lists of things that humans do to each other. Even on that level, God bears the shame of any wrong I've done. 

May I consider, in those moments where I feel that urge to bargain away my regrets, that God accepted. 

The Stone The Builders Rejected

During the season of Lent, we remember the events leading up to Jesus' crucifixion. Jesus proclaimed himself as the fulfillment of the prophecy of the stone that was rejected by the builders, the one that still becomes the cornerstone. All of us are builders in some way. So I'd like to consider how that warning would apply across the years to us today. 

• When Jesus proclaimed forgiveness, the leaders' reaction stemmed from not knowing who Jesus was: No one can forgive sins but God alone. Or is it that on some level, leaders -- or anyone else -- can gain power by not forgiving others? When we find fault with others, our human desire is not always the good, but the desire to elevate ourselves or put down someone else. Forgiveness can rob us of a weapon. 
• When Jesus cleansed the Temple of merchants to restore it as a house of prayer, the leaders' reaction revealed that they had lost sight of the holiness of the Temple. In the aftermath, the verbal sparring showed that these particular leaders had stopped seeking truth about certain things, and had begun using knowledge (and strategic ignorance) as pawns. It had become more important to them to maintain power, prestige, and legitimacy. Those are necessary, aren't they? But it becomes part of that human picture that we are willing to gain our own prestige at others' expense. If Jesus is the cornerstone, then we are not. Our efforts -- along with our demands for prestige -- are not as vital as we would like to think. Very human to resist. 

The temptations that led his accusers astray were temptations common to us all.