The first podcast is here! James and Me, a conversation with the Lord’s brother…and a mirror launched last Saturday and will drop every Saturday before noon CST.
The scene for James and Me is conversational, where James, me, and various Bible translations “sit” together, discussing his New Testament letter as if we were all assembled. James, in turn, was reading it to us, with the different translations chiming in. And then, after each conversation, I check the mirror to respond in the privacy of my prayer closet.
To read the Prologue for all the details, go here.
Below is a partial transcript of Episode one; to listen in its entirety, go here.
1—By Way of Introduction, the Twelve Tribes
I have longed to have this conversation with James, our Lord’s brother, but procuring the participants has been challenging. After all, we assemble participants from across countries and centuries for dialogue years apart. Fortunately, the timelessness of God’s Word would allow for such a gathering.
Throughout our conversations, I hope to ask him about growing up with Jesus, although I doubt he says much about it. I have some ideas because there is such silence about our Lord’s early years, but maybe I can get just an inkling of support (or even reproof) about my theories.
However, that is secondary to my conversational goal: I want to glean all I can from what is arguably the first letter of the New Testament. It was Mariam Kamell Kovalishyn who inspired the needed action to fulfill my desired gleanings,
“Because of the vision James has of the priority of the work of God, the work of humanity to care for one another gains importance: in terms of mercy, humans are to mimic their God; in terms of judgement, humans are to trust God. The problem comes when people switch those two categories and begin to presume themselves in God’s role. In this, the echo of the sin of Genesis 3 reveals itself. Ultimately, after the fall, humans have chosen to follow the path of their own desires, which leaves them divided and unable (or unwilling) to act in accordance with God’s ways.”[1]
Wow, what insight! Reconciling the work of God with the work of humanity—this is James’ longing.
All I know is that I want to be like Jesus.
I invited Dr. Bob and Finis Dake to join us today for our opening conversation with James; both will add some insight into the conversation.
As we settled in, waiting for James and not to disappoint, Dr. Bob started us off,
“This was Martin Luther’s least favorite book in the New Testament because it seems to contradict Paul’s ‘justification by faith’ emphasis in Romans and Galatians (i.e., James 2:14-26). This is a very different genre from other NT books, very much like a new covenant book of Proverbs (i.e., wisdom literature) spoken by a fiery prophet, written early after Jesus’ death and still very Jewish and practical,”[2] he said.
Dr. Bob’s opening quickened my spirit in several ways:
1. I have known many believers who struggled with balancing Paul’s and James’ writings on faith (and I am looking forward to that future conversation). Still, the simple answer for me in maintaining equilibrium was not the either/or dogma, but rather “and,” faith alone saves, and faith inspires works.
2. Proverbs is the book I read most of the Old Testament books. I couldn’t truthfully tell you how many times I read it over my 42 years as a believer, but it started early on, right after my call into the ministry. That next day, still reeling from the divine summons that changed my life in the Sunday night service, I knelt, using a hay bale as my altar, and prayed Solomon’s prayer for wisdom and knowledge to lead God’s people (cf. 2 Chronicles 1:10) and felt the need to read Proverbs ever since.
Bookmark the podcast link and check it out each Saturday.
And remember, it’s not vain to always look in the mirror when looking to see Jesus in you!
