One of my favorite places for Mexican food in town in La Perla, Tapatia.
La Perla is a grocery store on Lander Ave that specializes in Mexican – and in the back of the store is the fast-food line where we go for burritos.
Now, I’m probably not doing myself a great favor by telling you this. And that’s because there is almost always a significant line back there – especially at night time after 7, when the burritos are half price. So it’s not always a fast food line.
But, you know what? I usually don’t mind waiting in line at La Perla because the people in line with me are always interesting. And it’s fun to watch the workers prepare the food – talk about hustle – they’re on par with the UPS delivery people. They really move back there behind the counter.
And then I know that I’m really going to enjoy my beef burrito with the extra non-Swedish very hot sauce. So I don’t mind waiting.
Consider, though, if the food was only so-so and the people behind the counter were more interested in socializing than making burritos? What if the people in line were smelly, loud, and obnoxious? It would
be a lot harder to wait patiently, wouldn’t it?
Our scripture from James points to the struggle that we all have with patience and waiting – especially in difficult circumstances. No, he’s not talking about waiting in the burrito line – but waiting in the line for Jesus to return.
And part of the problem with waiting for Jesus is that we’ve been waiting a long time -- our feet are getting tired of standing there. And we’re not seeing a whole lot of hurried activity behind that counter. On top of that, some of the people we’re stuck in line with are smelly, loud, and obnoxious.
So we struggle. Maybe I should just leave. I can come back later if I want to and the line may be shorter.
Are you catching my drift here?
It’s hard to wait when you get frustrated in line – even if you know the burrito is going to be good.
Or to take this to an even more absurd level of comparison – would you stay in line if a sniper started taking shots at people as they waited to order their Carne Asada?
People were taking shots at the church and some of the Christians were having trouble being patient in line – understandable so.
This is the concern that James has. So in 5:7 tells his readers: “Dear brothers and sisters, you must be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return.”
We already know from pervious chapters that James was writing to Christians who were going through trials testing their faith.
1:2 – “Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.”
1:12 – “God blesses the people who patiently endure testing.”
The early Christians were undergoing testing of some sort. Opposition? Persecution?
Unfortunately, not everyone was passing the test. Many were starting to crumble under the pressure. Some people were becoming territorial. There was prejudice against the poor, bickering, infighting -- extreme lack of patience.
I saw something last Saturday that I haven’t seen before in Turlock. There was construction on Main Street and the traffic was all snarled and the construction workers were not very good at letting people through the area.
There was a major gridlock and drivers began laying on their horns trying to get the construction people let them go – deja vu Chicago or Boston.
And after three cycles at a red light where I didn’t move an inch I was almost ready to join the anit-Teichert lynch mob. It was very frustrating. Stress doesn’t always bring out the best in everyone.
So James is reminding his readers – us – that OUR ASSIGNMENT AS FOLLOWERS OF JESUS IS TO WAIT PATIENTLY FOR THE LORD’S COMING. By the way this is the key point this morning.
Verse 7 again – “Dear brothers and sisters, you must be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who eagerly look for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They patiently wait for the precious harvest to ripen.”
James uses the Palestinian farmer as an illustration. The farmer waits for the early and late rains – early rain is October – softening the parched land up so the seed could be planted. And once the seed was planted it sat there dead -- all winter long.
Nothing happened. The wheat and barley didn’t grow until the spring rains in March or April started. All winter long the farmer sat there with nothing in the field.
You, who have orchards, at least have bare trees to look at but the ancient Palestinian wheat farmer had nothing but a bare field from the time he put the seed in the ground in October until it started to come up in April. For half the year he waited patiently for something to happen out there.
And that is James’ message. Yes, you’re in the middle of winter and it looks like nothing is happening. It was so long ago that the Lord planted the seed and it appears that it’s never going to sprout – maybe it’s bad seed – dead seed – and nothing will ever come – and not only will we look foolish but we’ll be hungry, as well.
Patience is hard when you’ve got to wait an exceptionally long time and you don’t see much happening to indicate that the promised fruit
is coming.
And if such was the case in James’ day – 20 or 30 years after the ascension of Jesus – how much more so for ourselves 2,000 years later.
Okay, it would be nice to see a little encouraging sign indicating that Jesus is really coming back as promised.
A sprout or two is all we ask, Lord. We’re getting impatient here – and things are not getting any easier. Our brothers and sisters in Sudan are dying for their faith. Things are pretty tough in India, Pakistan, and Nigeria, too. And now we’re even having some of the terrorists attacking our relatively safe enclave in the United States.
Lord, are you SURE that you’re coming back? Some of us are getting tempted to drop out of line. Give us a word! Yes, says St James, the half brother of our Lord Jesus. Yes, he is coming. Really, he is. Your
assignment is to wait patiently.
And just in case you don’t know what patience means, he says, let me get a little more specific here.
First of all, PATIENT PEOPLE EXEMPLIFY COURAGE.
Verse 8 – “You, too, must be patient. And take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.”
The phrase rendered here as “take courage” is literally “establish your hearts” -- which is an idiomatic expression for “stand firm.”
Don’t be moved. Don’t let anyone bump you out of line. Take courage. You can do it! Don’t give up now! The coming of the Lord is close.
Sometimes that’s really all it takes is a word of enCOURAGEment. It’s not easy – this waiting for Jesus.
Somewhere along the way some of us got the idea that following Jesus and waiting for him was going to make our lives easier – simplified!
But that’s not at all consistent with what Jesus told his disciples. Following Jesus requires courage. And that’s because we’re not involved in a passive waiting – we’re busy struggling with the forces of darkness all the time that we’re waiting – holding our spot in the line. And there are dark times in all struggles.
Take courage, says James, even if nothing seems to be going right. The patient person is a courageous person.
I think of the parents who think they’re going to lose their sanity because their kids are involved with drugs and the wrong crowd – and they have done everything they could do – sometimes making them unpopular.
They’d do anything if they thought it could actually fix the problem and relieve the pressure they live under.
Or what about the high school girl who is struggling with the pressure to hook up with some guy. Everyone else is doing it. Everyone else seems happy. And it would be a whole lot simpler if I just loosened up
a a bit.
Maybe so – probably not. Perception is not always reality. But the struggle is real. So keep being patient, keep on holding your ground.
Just because you’re doing the right thing doesn’t mean that it will all get better and that the struggle will end real soon. But you can hang in there – there is no doubt in James’ mind.
Maybe you don’t think you can but you can do it. Hang in there.
Then secondly, PATIENT PEOPLE WORK AT GETTING ALONG.
I mentioned earlier that the Christians to whom James was writing were having relationship problems. And this is because when you’re under pressure it is easy to take to infighting.
This has been an explicit part of the American strategy in Afghanistan. By offering enough money and incentive, along with some very strong military pressure, the American and British forces are hoping to get the loose confederation of radical Taliban-type
groups to start bickering and break ranks with each other. And it has been a successful strategy.
During times of struggle and pressure – or to use James’ term from chapter 1 – “trials” – it is easy to implode. And it starts with a little grumbling, which grows into bickering, and then blaming, and eventually can become open hostility.
Verse 9 – “Don’t grumble about each other, my brothers and sisters, or God will judge you. For look! The great Judge is coming. He is standing at the door!”
You don’t have to look for blame. The judge isn’t too far away and if anyone is to blame for the struggle he will take care of it. And certainly, you don’t want to be doing things that will draw his judgment to yourself.
Now notice, James does not say you shouldn’t groan or grumble. When you’re struggling a few groans are natural – ask Job. But we’re not to groan or grumble against each other. You can bemoan your circumstance if you are so inclined but don’t get into the blame game. Just let it go. The judge will take care of it when he comes.
Then thirdly, PATIENT PEOPLE LOOK TO THE EXAMPLE OF THE
OLD TESTAMENT HEROS.
There are some wonderful examples of patience in the Old Testament prophets.
Don’t think that what you’re going through is new. The people before you had to wait, too.
How many thousands of years did they wait for the first coming of the Messiah? And how much did they go through as they courageously waited?
Verses 10-11: “For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. Job is an example of a man who endured patiently. From his experience we see how the Lord’s plan finally ended in good, for he is full of tenderness and mercy.”
In D/C (discipleship / confirmation) we talked briefly on Wednesday about Job. And one of our junior high students told the story of how Job suffered until he repented.
In a sense that was true. (We’ve got some sharp kids). But the point of the story isn’t that Job repented, as we might be inclined to believe. He did have to repent for challenging the wisdom of the Lord. But that’s not the point of the story. Nor was his challenge the cause of his suffering.
To the contrary, Job was a righteous man and yet he suffered in spite of his rightfulness. Job was a good guy serving the Lord and yet he lost his family and his livelihood and even his friends. But he waited
patiently for God to make things right.
We go through 42 chapters of long drawn out dialog on his suffering. But in the end God makes it right and blesses him. Thus Job 42:12f – “So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand teams of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters. He named his first daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land there were no other women as lovely as the daughters of Job. And their father put them into his will along with their brothers.
“Job lived 140 years after that, living to see four generations of his children and grandchildren. Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, good life.”
The patience of Job pays off. And that’s what James is telling his longsuffering readers. Be patient like Job.
There is a great quote about Job’s longsuffering example from St. John Chrysostom, the fourth century bishop who actually had more than his fair share of suffering, too. I’ve reproduced it in the message guide.
“It is a great thing if we can give thanks with great joy. But there is such a thing as giving thanks out of fear, and also such a thing as giving thanks in grief. This is what Job did when, in great suffering, he thanked God, saying: ‘The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away.’ Let no one say that he was not grieving over what happened to him or that he did not feel it deeply. Do not take away the great praise due to the righteous... How great is this praise? Tell me, in what circumstances do you bless Job? Is it when he had all those camels and flocks and herds? Or is it when he says: ‘The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away’? For the devil also harms us not in order to take our possessions away so that we have nothing left but so that when that happens he can force us to curse God because of it.”
In Job’s longsuffering we have a great example of the kind of the patience we’re to practice as we wait for the coming of Christ.
Some of you are in the midst of tough times and when things aren’t going well it’s easy to grow impatient.
I mean, it’s easy to wait in line when you can see the burrito builders are hustling and the line is moving and there is pleasant conversation with those around you. But when you’re stuck and nothing seems to be getting any better the temptation is to chuck it all, snub everyone else in line, and set off on your own.
James’ message to you is to relax a bit, take a deep breath, hold on to your place in line. “...be patient. And take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.”
The winter waiting for spring rain may seem unbearably long – but you can do it. “The coming of the Lord is near.”
