James 3:16-4:6

The James passage is quite direct. It centers our problems of unity as the problem of desires. We live in a culture of entitlement and victimization -- we feel entitled (i.e., we have "rights") to various items, offices, and influence. If they do not come, we then have become "victimized" by the oppressive powers or authorities around us. James speaks instead of a "wisdom from above." It might be good just to contrast directly the results of envy and selfish ambition versus the wisdom from above.

At the basis, the passage places "friendship with the world" in contrast with "friendship with God" in strikingly strong language. Friendship here is a type of moral formation that seeks to influence by allowing oneself to be influenced by certain persons for the sake of a broader agenda. Why would James speak so strongly against "influencing and being influenced" by the world? How is friendship with the world related to pride? Why does God oppose the proud but gives grace to the humble?

Mark 9:30-37

It is important to see the beginning of this passage, and the direct tie of Jesus' teaching on discipleship to his suffering, death and resurrection. How does this change how you read his teaching on the reception of children? Notice how the disciples struggle to get it.

A couple technical items. The saying that begins the specific teaching is "whoever wants to be first must by the "servant" of all." Yet the great word here translated as "servant" or "minister" does not mean lowly service, but one who re-presents all, who receiveds an assignment from all to uphold the will of a superior in a situation where the superior is not available. It is language taken from the realm of "ambassadors" -- to be the ambassador, the one speaking in behalf of all. This radically changes the interpretation of what follows. To welcome the child is to welcome Jesus which is to welcome God the Father. We have to remember that in this era, children were basically as the necessity to continue the heritage of a family, responsible for complete obedience to their family, with no social standing outside the family. Welcoming the child is welcoming the Father. If so, the whole passage relates Jesus' suffering and resurrection to his being sent by the Father to be "received" in the body of the child. Humility is receiving the child as the representative of the Father.

Both passages therefore link humility to submission and obedience -- not exactly seen as great virtues within a democratic-"participatory" society. The passages remind me of a section from Talal Asad's book, Genealogies of Religion. He has a chapter on "Discipline and Humility in Christian Monasticism." Discipline was related to the Rule of St. Benedict as a giving a certain divine wisdom for the reception of the Christian virtues. Humility, the acceptance of authority in the reception of Wisdom, becomes a central virtue because thought and virtue only arise from the discipline -- certain external goods given to one by an authority so that the internal virtues might arise. Without humility, one cannot receive the elimination of sinful desire, nor have ones dispositions realigned. Humility is thus linked with the obedience to God by receiving instruction for the re-shaping of individual desires. In a sense, one becomes most "free" (the ability to desire and do the good) when one lives in deepest humility to God -- shaped by an obedience to God in Christ as witnessed to in the rules and the Scriptures and sacraments. This is very different from our understanding today. Asad writes, "humility in the form of self-abasement is no longer admired in 'normal' Christianity, and modern secular thought and practice classify and treat it as one of the standard personality disorders. Rituals of humiliation and abasement are now symptoms of patients, not the discipline of agents" (p. 166-167). We give medical doctors much more authority than "spiritual doctors." The medieval world knew a completely different order of humility.

Maybe the discussion can move to the passages to retrieve a proper Christian sense of humility. It might be good to ask how having small children around re-shapes one's desires.
What type of "disciplines" do children require from those who "receive" them? Can one properly "receive children" at the same time as living in "friendship with the world"? What is the role of humility in the James passage? What type of person must we be formed into in our internal life? What is the external good? How can we live this out better?

I hope that this is not too disjointed. It is very difficult to speak of authority, submission, obedience, and humility in our world as a pastor. It makes one sound so "authoritarian" in the whole bad sense of the word. Yet there is a deeper vision, a truer vision of life in these Scriptures that provide the sense of humility that allows God to grace our life with the Life that is God.