St. James the Elder, Apostle 2021

Rev. Thomas Van Hemert

St. Mark 10:35-45

St. James the Elder, Apostle

July 25/29, 2021

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The early Christians spoke of martyrdom, that is, being killed for your faith, as being “baptized with blood.” In a holy death, such as in martyrdom, blood is shed for the faith. And the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. In Holy Baptism, Christians are baptized with water and the Word of God. Which is that Word of God? Christ our Lord says in the last chapter of Matthew, “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” So also does this Word of God give promises. Which are these words and promises of God? Christ our Lord says in the last chapter of Mark, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

Holy Baptism is a gift. It is a gift that grants the one being baptized forgiveness of sins. It rescues from death and from the power of the devil and gives eternal salvation to all who believes this, as the words and promises of God declare.

In Holy Baptism, we die. In Holy Baptism, the act of baptizing with water indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

Luther understood the Sacrament of Holy Baptism to be a drowning, that is, a death of all that is sinful and bad within us. The guilt of original sin is washed away. In Holy Baptism, we see a picture of what the Christian life is like on this side of glory. The Christian life is a life of dying.

We see this, in my opinion, most obviously in the martyrdom of Christians. Thus, the association of the early Christians of martyrdom as being baptized with blood. Some Christians throughout the world and throughout history are baptized with their own blood. Their blood is shed simply because of the fact that they are Christians and loved by God. This is going on, even as we speak, in other parts of the world, specifically in parts of Africa and the Middle East. Christians were hunted down and persecuted, also by various governments throughout history, most notably, the Roman Empire where if you didn’t burn incense to Caesar, you were brought to the Coliseum to face the lions. During the Twentieth Century, under dictatorships and communist regimes, soldiers would march in to Christian homes and say, “Blaspheme Jesus or be shot.” We are sorely mistaken if we don’t think this could happen, even in our day, in our country. We’ve already seen and heard the warning signs: governments and governors on the east coast, west coast, and neighboring states of Iowa telling Christians that they aren’t allowed to enter their own houses of worship because of certain recent events or face possible fines or even jail time.

But take heart, this is nothing new. The sinful world hates Christians. The world has always hated Christians. The devil hates Jesus and thus, the world hates you because you have come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. It is getting to be more and more the case that even sharing the Christian faith carries with it certain repercussions. You may lose your job. You may be labeled a bigot or an idiot for saying that marriage is only between one man and one woman. You may even be called a sheep for following the teachings of some guy named Jesus who died 2000 years ago. It could happen at the rate this world falls deeper and deeper in to sin, that eventually, Christians will be hunted down and killed, even in our neighborhoods. But take heart, this is nothing new. For so it happened to St. James.

James the Elder, or James the Greater was one of those two sons of Zebedee who once made a request of Jesus. He and his brother John asked to sit at Jesus’ right hand and at His left in His glory. Unfortunately, this request was not Jesus’ to grant. James did not know for what he was asking. For the honor of sitting at Jesus’ right hand and at His left in His glory was given to those two thieves who hung upon the cross with Jesus. The cross of Jesus was His glory. And in the cross of Jesus, we glory. Jesus’ death made holy our own deaths. And through death, we are brought into His glorious presence.

Now St. James’ request was not completely ignored. He did drink the cup that Jesus drank. He was baptized with the baptism that Jesus was baptized with. This baptism was a baptism of his own blood. For sharing the faith, for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ crucified for all people, for preaching that God loves all humanity and all men must repent and turn away from their sin. For preaching and teaching this, St. James lost his head. He was the first of the Apostles to be martyred for the faith by Herod’s sword. The strength James had to endure drinking this cup and receiving this baptism by blood was given to him in the sure words of Jesus, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Though St. James lost his life to Herod’s sword, He knew that through this vile act, Jesus would call him home. James kept his life for eternity because Jesus willingly laid down His own life for him.

On this side of glory, the Christian life is a life of dying. No one gets out alive. Not even the Son of Man, not even Jesus. But through and by Christ’s death, He hallowed the death of Christians. He made holy our graves. And now He leads us out of death into eternal life. Because in Holy Baptism, we not only die. Death does not have the last word, but we rise again to new life in Jesus. So that when our time comes to be laid into the ground, whether it be by a gruesome martyrdom at the hands of the rulers of this world or peacefully in our sleep, Jesus will call us out of our graves just as He called us out of those baptismal waters to a glory unseen.

The life of St. James is, in its essence, the life of a Christian. Misunderstanding and in constant need of correction and teaching, praying and asking things of God even if he didn’t fully understand what he was asking, sharing the faith with those who know nothing of Jesus, and if it comes to it, suffering death rather than falling away from this faith and forsaking the Church just as we vow in confirmation. But we stand with Jesus who is for us. “Who can be against us?” asks St. Paul. Thus also we stand with St. James and also the Psalmist who both confessed, “I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.”

In +Jesus’ name.