Tag Archives: James 5

The View from James’ Sandals

February 9, 2026 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you.
James 5:1 (NIV)

What do you remember from 25 years ago?

I remember a great deal. It doesn’t seem so long ago. The turn of the century. The Y2K hoopla. Life and air travel before 9/11. I remember the townhouse we lived in. Taylor and Madison in their preteen years crazy about boy bands and Spice Girls.

As James writes his letter, it has been roughly 20-30 years since Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. James is the specified leader of the followers of Jesus in the city of Jerusalem, which remains the center of the Jesus Movement. It is the same Jerusalem and Temple system in which Jesus taught and performed miracles just a few decades before. Those who saw Him, heard him teach, saw Him hanging on the cross, and witnessed Him risen from the dead were still alive to bear witness.

In Jerusalem, the same corrupt kingdoms of government, economics, commerce, and religion that illegally arrested Jesus, forced Him through a kangaroo court set of trials, and then had him executed remain staunchly in place. The power brokers remain the same even if a few faces have changed: the Roman Governor, the Herods, and the family of Annas the high-priest.

This menagerie of wealth and human power not only killed Jesus, but the corrupt Jewish leaders under Annas’ influence had stoned Stephen to death. The Herods had seen to it that James, the Son of Zebedee, was killed by the sword. They’ve arrested countless followers of Jesus, stolen believers’ property through corrupt legal means, imprisoned many, and executed others. It’s so bad that many believers have fled to live in other towns, cities, and regions. That is why James is even writing this letter “to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations.”

Meanwhile, James is trying to hold things together in Jerusalem. The followers of Jesus are doing their best to maintain Jesus’ teaching. They are caring for the poor, the sick, the leprous, widows, and orphans. They are sharing what they have with one another to survive. As the undisputed leader of the believers in Jerusalem, James is the one who must stand before the Romans, the Herods, and the corrupt Temple leaders—absorbing the pressure, the threats, and the consequences on behalf of Jesus’ followers.

If you’ve not read the chapter, I encourage you to do so with this context in mind as you read. Suddenly, the words take on a new layer of meaning.

The “rich” oppressors he describes at the beginning of the chapter have names and faces. They are part of a social-economic system in which the rich and powerful get even more rich and powerful at the expense of the poor and weak. James has to stand before these rich authority figures to defend Jesus’ followers, and he’s experienced the futility of standing against their corrupt power.

Those whom James urges to be “patient in suffering” also have names and faces. They are James’ friends. They were part of his local gathering of Jesus’ followers. He’s writing this letter to precious friends and loved ones who’ve lost everything because of their faith and are now surviving life in exile one day at a time.

James final pleas also feel far more poignant when I place my feet in the sandals of one of the letters’ original recipients.

Pray.
Don’t stop praising God, even in your present circumstances.
Pray for one another in sickness and sin.
Live life with other believers.
Stick together in such intimacy that you confess to one another.
Have faith.
Assist one another in keeping that faith.

Two things surfaced in my heart as I meditated on James’ words in context to the circumstances in which they were written.

The first is that I can’t imagine the daily reality that both James and the recipients of his letter were experiencing. Yes, it’s Monday morning at the beginning of a new work week, but I can honestly count my many blessings and praise God for the relatively wonderful life I’ve been gifted.

The second is that there are those in this world who painfully know these realities today. Nigerian believers are in fear for their lives, some live in hiding. Tens of thousands have been persecuted and slaughtered in recent years. In China believers are imprisoned, persecuted, and live under constant threat from the State. Throughout the Muslim world are communities of believers who trace their faith back to the earliest days of the Jesus Movement, but live under constant threat of the very types of persecution James and the early believers.

They are brothers and sisters in Christ.

As I enter my day, Wendy and I will pray — and trust James words that our prayers might be “powerful and effective” for those who need it far more that we do given the realities they stare down this day.

Our chapter-a-day journey moves to the letters of Peter tomorrow, beginning with 1 Peter 1.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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Chapter-a-Day

Give and Live

June 25, 2021 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you.
James 5:1 (NIV)

The times in which James wrote his letter to scattered believers was tumultuous. Jesus railed against the aristocrat Pharisees and religious leaders who lived in luxury while they exploited the poor. He cleared out the temple moneychangers who were getting themselves and the priests rich by charging poor pilgrims exorbitant exchange rates. Jesus’ criticism and the favor it gained him among the poor and marginalized was what got him crucified. Jesus wasn’t crucified for religious reasons. He was crucified because He threatened the religious racket’s cash cow, and stirred up resentment that already ran deep.

Thirty years later, the situation has not changed. It’s only gotten worse. James was the leader of the Jesus Movement in Jerusalem. He was well respected as he tried to manage the political powder keg between the Jewish religious leaders, local ruler Herod Agrippa II, and Rome. The gap between rich and poor continued to grow further and further apart. The aristocratic priests lived in spacious homes in the city’s upper city while the poor lived downwind of the local sewers. Exorbitant taxes pushed poor farmers out of business and wealthy landowners took over everything. The rich sided with the Romans in an effort to keep stability. This gave the poor more reason to hate them. Tensions were high, and about to spill over.

Reading today’s chapter with this context, it’s easy for me to feel James’ situation. The Jesus Movement exploded in part because it addressed the disparity of members. The wealthy generously gave. The poor and marginalized were welcome at the table with the rich and noble. James calls out the wealthy who are exploiting the poor. He calls on poor believers to persevere in chaotic, desperate circumstances. His instructions are about maintaining simple, daily ritual: Keep praying, keep praising, keep healthy, and stay in community with other believers. Pray for one another, confess to one another, forgive one another.

In the quiet this morning, I am reminded that the current chaotic times are a cakewalk compared to what it would have been like to be a poor day laborer in Jerusalem back in James’ day. History is always good for providing me with much needed context. At the same time, the same general principles and forces are at work today as they were then. Generosity, equality, deference and humility are still the tangible ways that the love of Christ is to flow through me to others. As a follower of Jesus, I’m to live out my faith daily in simple rituals that channel those same values. I’m called to view my current earthly circumstances in the eternal perspective of the Great Story.

James’ warnings in today’s chapter were incredibly prescient. The rich in Jerusalem continued to hoard more and more wealth. The rich priests withheld tithes from poor priests, forcing them into day labor. There were 18,000 day laborers who worked to finish construction work on the temple who didn’t get paid. James was condemned by the religious leaders and stoned to death. In 66 AD a revolt broke out. Priests and the Roman Garrison on the Temple mount were massacred. The four-year revolt against Rome would end in 70 AD when the Romans invaded Jerusalem and destroyed it along with the temple.

“Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”
Luke 21:5-6 (NIV)

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

More, Faster

September 13, 2016 Tom Vander Well 2 Comments

Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.
James 5:7 (NRSV)

The culture I have known my entire earthly pilgrimage is one of instant gratification. In comparison to my childhood, the world I now experience on a daily basis is instant gratification on steroids. Things just keep moving at increasing speed. This is not the musings of an aging man, but the realities of a culture rebuilding Babel with Cat-5 cable and DNA strands.

When I was 5 I received an “electronic football” game for Christmas that was nothing more than a vibrating panel with little plastic men moving chaotically around the bouncing cardboard panel. Sometimes the “running back” with the magnetic ball on his base would spin around in circles. Sometimes he turned around and vibrate to the opponents end zone for a safety. I was, nevertheless, mesmerized by the experience.

When I was 10 I was playing a hand-held “Mattel Electronic Football” game that was nothing more than little red blips on a tiny screen which would switch on and off representing players (see featured image). I played it for hours, those red blips transformed by my imagination into the Minnesota Vikings winning the Super Bowl.

When I was 30 I was playing football as a video game on my home computer. The black and white, heavily pixelated graphics seemed revolutionary. Now the computer could simulate actual players, teams and leagues and keep track of my stats across an entire fantasy season.

When I was 40 I had a gaming console playing a much more sophisticated and realistic video game version of football allowing me to play the game as a player, coach the team, or run an entire team franchise including roster moves and salary caps.

At 50 I can play electronic football that looks like a real television broadcast complete with commentary, and I can play against virtually any person, anywhere in the world from the comfort of my man cave.

This is just a trite example, of course. Yet, I can expand this example to almost everything I do during my day. I am growing increasingly used to getting what I want, when I want, and how I want it.

How is this affecting my spirit?

Throughout God’s Message we find example after example of people who waited. Noah built the ark and waited for years before it rained. Abraham and Sara were promised that their descendants would number like the stars in the sky, then waited for decades before their first child was born. Joseph, as a child, received a vision of his brothers bowing down before him then lived a lifetime of struggle, slavery, scandal and imprisonment before it was ultimately fulfilled. David was promised he would be king as an adolescent boy, then spent thirty years on the run with a price on his head before it would come to fruition.

I have learned along my journey that God’s sense of timing is not our human sense timing. Following Jesus and fulfilling our God-given purpose requires patience, waiting, and perseverance. These qualities are increasingly rare in a world in which I can order virtually anything I want from the palm of my hand and have it delivered to my door step within hours or days. Why on earth would I believe in a God who wants to groom me to accomplish His purpose for over 40 years when I can have my 15 minutes of fame on YouTube right now?

This morning I’m thinking about purpose and patience. In a world that keeps speeding up, I am realizing how critical it is for me to choose to slow down, breathe deeply, and be patient. God’s creation is about the ebb and flow of time and seasons. Humanity’s creation is about more, at increasing rates of speed. If I am going to embrace the former, I must consciously address the latter.

featured image source: dcjohn via Flickr

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day James 5

December 15, 2011 Tom Vander Well 3 Comments

Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. James 5:7 (NLT)

As I read this verse from today’s chapter I thought about the season of Advent. Our church is focusing on the Christian calendar this year, so the messages leading up to Christmas have been about Advent, which is a latin word meaning “coming” or “revealing.” It’s the season of expectation prior to Christmas as we await the coming of the birth of Jesus.

As I read this verse in today’s chapter I thought about the warm autumn rain that’s been falling for the past day here in Iowa. The fields are brown and death-like, and yet there is already anticipation of next year’s crop. The moisture is a welcome sight for farmers who are waiting and already thinking and planning for planting next Spring.

As I read this verse in today’s chapter I thought about my dinner conversation last night with Wendy. With our Vikings at a miserable 2-11, we are already talking about baseball and all of the changes for our beloved Cubs this off season. Christmas is almost here, then a sojourn through January. February means the beginning of Spring Training and suddenly it doesn’t seem that far away.

Through the journey I’ve learned that I can be an impatient person. I don’t like waiting. God’s timing is so rarely my timing. More often than not I find myself waiting and expecting. It is woven into the fabric of the journey. We stand on the path, but our eyes stare ahead to the horizon.

God, help me to find the balance between contentment and expectation. Help me to balance my desire to get to my destination with the patience to appreciate the place that I find myself at the moment and accept all that the journey is creating within me.