Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-september-4
James 3:1-12
Taming the Tongue
1Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
Those who know me well know that the intersection between science and Christian theology is an area of particular interest to me. In fact, that was the emphasis of the last program I completed in seminary. It seems particularly sad that some Christians are so suspicious of the developments in contemporary science. In my mind, science is just the name for the systematic observation of God’s creation.
Some people find science threatening because it calls into question their traditional understandings of the Christian faith. But it’s the traditional understandings that are the problem, I think. For my part, the more I learn about the world of science, the more it enriches my understanding of the created order in which God has placed us.
And for that matter, the more I read and think about the Bible, the more I think some parts of it have deeper and richer meaning for us in the 21st century than they did for the people who first read them in the ancient world. Our reading for today is a good example. Advances in science, and especially in the neurosciences, can provide a glimpse into the words James wrote in this passage that would have been impossible 2,000 years ago.
James is writing about a subject that’s central to human life in general, and also to the life of faith. That topic is our God-given ability to communicate with others.
James saw something that many of us can see just by walking through the world – that human speech can be both a great blessing and also a great curse. And contemporary research in fields like neuroscience and social psychology provides some depth to our understanding that speech is absolutely critical to the way our minds are formed and shaped. That’s especially true when we’re kids, but we continue to be formed and shaped by spoken communications throughout our lives. So in ways that James would never have suspected, we homo sapiens are what we are because of the power of speech.
For that matter, it seems to me that our human ability to communicate is one of the most important ways we display the image of God.
I suppose that for most people, the first thing that goes through their minds when they hear that we’re made in the “image and likeness” of God is our physical form. But Jesus says, “God is spirit,” so there’s no way for us to know what God “looks like.” In spite of the way God has been represented in Christian art, there’s no reason to think that God has a physical form like ours (except when he walked the earth as Jesus). So it’s not likely that’s what it means that we’re made in the image of God.
It seems much more likely that we actually display the image of God through our unique capabilities – through the mental abilities that are collectively referred to as “human consciousness.” Those capabilities include the ability to remember and learn from the past, the capacity to form relationships with others, the sense of right and wrong, and the ability to plan and control our actions. Probably also the ability to have a sense of what other people are thinking and feeling, and to empathize with them. These all seem to be parallels between human consciousness and the way God reveals himself in scripture. So they’re probably all ways that we display the image of God.
And one vital capacity that ties all these things together is the ability to communicate — to use speech and language — the very subject James is talking about in today’s reading.
When it’s used as God intends, human communication can be an incredible tool for good. It can forge bonds of affection and loyalty between people. It can be a powerful instrument for healing, or for expressing the subtleties of the unique relationship between two people. Carefully chosen words can let us navigate through the moral complexities of situations we have never experienced before. They can help us formulate our thoughts as we “think out loud” about the challenges of everyday life. And, of course, they can express our joyful thanks to God for caring for us, and for our new lives in Jesus.
But when it’s used carelessly or maliciously, human communication is the most malevolent force on earth. We’ve all seen the films of Hitler’s toxic oration before the German people of his day. And at an individual level, the neurosciences tell us that harshly belittling a person – especially a child – actually causes physical injuries to that person’s brain – in some cases, injuries that may never heal.
The sad truth is that all too often in our day-to-day living, we sinfully use our power of communication, this incredible reflection of our holy God, to tear others down, to exercise power over them, or to make us feel better about ourselves.
In our time, with the appearance of communication tools like the social media, we have the ability to communicate truth that makes people free, but also to spread lies that create division among us and even kill people. Over the past few years, tens of thousands of people have died in our country because they believed lies spread for political purposes about vaccines that could have saved their lives.
Becoming more thoughtful in what we say – and communicate online – might just be the one thing followers of Jesus could do that would have the greatest impact on the church – and maybe on the world. Imagine how different the world would be if the two billion people who claim to follow Jesus suddenly stopped speaking harshly to others, even to those who hate us. Imagine how different public life would be. Imagine how different political discourse would be if those of us who claim the name of Jesus refused to participate in the bitter partisan rhetoric that has become so common among us.
The apostle James tells his readers that the Christian way is to be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” If all of those who claim to be followers of Jesus could internalize that teaching – could listen more and speak less – and could speak with loving care each time we opened our mouths, it might just turn out to be the greatest step ever in bringing the kingdom of God to fulfillment here on earth, as it is in heaven.
Let’s pray. Lord, by the power of your Holy Spirit, move us to speak more carefully, more gently, and more lovingly, so that each word we say becomes one that could have fallen from the lips of our Master, who spoke with love even to those who crucified him. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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