James 5:7-10; Patience of Farmers/Prophets

"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. 8 You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. 9 Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! 10 As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord."

I. Introduction

The Epistle of James is a bit of a puzzle. The Catholic Church never paid much attention to it, and the early Reformers, especially Luther, considered it a "right strawy Epistle" in comparison to the nobler and more satisfying cadences of Galatians and Romans. Yet, for all its neglect, it has some memorable verses and arresting turns of phrase. We are to "count it all joy," for example, when we experience various trials (1:2). Not many of us should become teachers (3:1) because those of us who teach will face a stiffer judgment. Well, what am I supposed to do with that, James? James also has the most unrelenting attack on the rich in the New Testament. "Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?" (2:6-7).

James is a master at aphorisms--those short and pithy statements that illustrate a truth. "What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a moment and then disappears" (4:14). Or "And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell" (3:6). James seems to have judgment "on the brain," too (our passage for today), urging us not to grumble against one another because the judge is "standing at the door" (5:9). The Lectionary-makers no doubt chose this passage because of its reference to the coming of the Lord (5:7).

Despite James' rather frosty reception historically, I have a special place in my heart for it. Why? Because this was the first Biblical book I memorized when I was a college sophomore in Fall 1971. I realized that because of its bristly and pointed sayings, the Book of James was fairly easy to commit to memory, and because of my experience with James, I became convinced at that time that one of my life's goals was to master, and communicate, huge amounts of very precise knowledge.

Today's text really has only one major point to it--be patient until the Coming of the Lord. I would like to spend some time on that concept today. Patience is not really defined but it is illustrated by the farmer and prophets. Then, we are also urged not to grumble against one another (5:9), though the translation of "grumble" is anything but certain. It is a rare verb in the NT, and is also used in Mark 7:34 where Jesus "groans" before he performs a healing. Is a particular sound intended, something like a "whine," which, when we hear it, we immediately want to squelch? Let's talk briefly(!) about patience before reflecting on the images of the farmer and the prophets.

II. Patience

The Greek word for patience, which appears frequently in the NT, is makrothumia. Literally it means, "large spirit" or "great temperament." The patient one demonstrates this kind of temperament. It is rather easy to pass over this NT word quickly, to get to the "meat" of whatever the passage is trying to describe. I propose, however, we "rest" on "patience" for a minute because it is becoming ever more clear to me as I get older that patience really is the key to good living. One needs to be patient with self, with others, with your circumstances of life. I think we end up bringing immense pain on ourselves principally because he aren't patient. We can't wait. We have to have something resolved now or soon. We need an answer right away. American culture (and probably some other cultures in the world) honors quick decision-makers and decisive people.

But we need patience--first with ourselves. It usually takes us years and years to come to some conclusions about how we should live our lives, where are pleasures are, what our heart's desires are. We are not born with an owner's manual, and we don't often have educators who see it as their task to develop our lives. We therefore often live in confusion. But perhaps this Advent we need to learn to be patient with ourselves.

We also need patience with others. If we, who often think we have a lot going for us, have so much trouble trying to come to some closure on important decisions or questions in life, how much more, we think, might other people face? Well, even if you reject this line of thinking, we can try another thought. The older we get the comparatively younger other people look. Have you noticed? If we still face confusions in life, how much more, in all probability, are theirs? We need to have patience with them. Then, we need patience with circumstances in life. The ducks just don't line up willingly for us. Often it seems as if they never will. I think that we need patience to succeed in life principally because this is one of the hardest things to demonstrate, and it, rather than brilliance or specialized skill, is often our biggest asset.

James exhorts us here to be patient until the coming of the Lord. I don't know when that event is going to be--unless we "collapse" our interpretive categories and look at the coming of the Lord as Advent. Yet, the time for patience is now--with self, with others, with life.

The Farmer and the Prophets

When I lived in Kansas from 1990-96, I became familiar with and was befriended by many farmers. One of them, when asked by me about his favorite time of the year, would say, "late June, when harvest begins." I always thought that late June was the worst time of the year. The summer heat was upon us, harvest stirred up all kinds of dust, and people were wheezing and teary-eyed for weeks. Yet this farmer, and many others, considered late June as his ideal time. I think it was because harvest was the fruit or result of patience.

We don't have many farmers anymore. Those who exist may be patient, but they almost continually fret about their uncertain economic circumstances because of early or late or too much or too little rain. Another KS farmer, one of my history students, said to me, with only a slight bit of humor in his voice, "I have never met a farmer who isn't going broke." I suppose the flip side of the farmer's patience is the farmer's worry. Perhaps some of that is inevitable--not only in his life but also in ours, as we are cultivating patience.

Then, the passage concludes with the example of patient suffering--the prophets. Actually, if you read a few verses after the conclusion of the passage, you would come to v. 12, where the example of Job's patience is mentioned. Maybe the lectionary makers decided to end the passage before the reference to Job--since he wouldn't be my Biblical model of patience, unless patience includes yelling and screaming at God (and maybe it does). In any case, prophets like Jeremiah and Amos, rejected by contemporaries but beloved by God, only "made it into the Bible" because of their patience in suffering. Glorious days may have been seen by them in their mind's eye; I don't believe they ever saw them in reality.

Conclusion--Three Cheers for Patience

So, as you are asking for presents this year, why don't you put patience at the very top of your list? You will be glad you did.

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