Third Sunday in Advent: Epistle, James 5:7-11                      

James 5:7-11

Aren’t there subjects in the Bible that you like to steer away from? I’m sure there are. Me, too. Patience is one of those for the simple reason that I have very little. What I need, what we need to remember is that we don’t just have little amounts of virtue in ourselves. We literally have none at all. Now that is a subject I also like to steer clear of. Open your Bibles and read and you’ll find that’s true. Yikes. Isn’t this the season for joyful anticipation?

Before we roll over into pits of despair, let’s take a look at our epistle reading for the week. James, the Lord’s half-brother gives us a book that is the closest we have to wisdom literature in the New Testament. Oh, it’s a letter. But full of instruction on the “dusty feet” parts of life with which we all contend. Here James encourages us toward lives of patience. And the context here is the coming of the Lord. I think first we should ask: Do I carry an “impatience” for the Lord’s return? Do I look for it? Do I long for it? Think of it. James is actually writing to believers who needed pastoral “calming” while they waited for Jesus. I want to live that way.

James, as he does, gives us pictures so that what he exhorts can be grasped a bit more clearly. Among his exhortation to patience he uses an example from nature and then from the ancient spokesmen of the Lord, including Job. Farmers wait for fruit. And prophets trust the care of the Lord. Both are examples of suffering to one degree or another. Waiting for a treasured future is always difficult. Whether it is the long-awaited harvest or release from ill-treatment, waiting is tough.

Behind both examples from James is his “reminder” that God’s care is beneath everything for which we wait. “The coming of the Lord is at hand” (v.8b). And isn’t that the resolution we need? And it’s no mere wish for escape. It’s a longing for home. Perhaps James would have used the example of the road-worn salesman longing to see wife and children had he written today. But it doesn't matter. The examples used suffice. Patience is a virtue. Patience is a gift from God. And that patience has its sure reward. 

Be patient.