Apostles Anglican Church
Fr. John A. Roop

The Epistle of St. James. Christian Living 101
Chapter 5: The Health, Wealth, and Prosperity Gospel

The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
Let us pray.

FOR ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS OF MEN
O God, the creator and preserver of all mankind, we humbly beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of men; that thou wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them, thy saving health unto all nations. More especially we pray for thy holy Church universal, that it may be so guided and governed by thy good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. Finally, we commend to thy fatherly goodness all those who are in any ways afflicted or distressed, in mind, body or estate [especially _________]; that it may please thee to comfort and relieve them according to their several necessities, giving them patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions. And this we beg for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.

Introduction

The author Brennan Manning wrote only one book, but he wrote it several times and published it under a new title each time. The same is true to a slightly lesser extent of Henri Nouwen. What I mean is that each author had one core conviction and that same conviction lay at the heart of every book; each author tried again and again to express that one thing in new ways that would grip the hearts of their readers. Read The Ragamuffin Gospel by Manning and you find his conviction; read that one book and you really need read no others by him. Read The Wounded Healer or perhaps Life of the Beloved by Nouwen and you discover his principle. His other books don’t so much say new things as they say this one thing in new words. This is not a critique, just a personal observation.

I was reminded of this as I read James again in preparing for this class. He has two or three themes to which he returns repeatedly. One of those themes, central to his concept of living out the Gospel, is that riches, and the passions associated with wealth, present a great obstacle to Christian faithfulness. He really has nothing good to say about the rich man, but only warnings.

James 1:9–11 (ESV): 9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

James 2:5–7 (ESV): 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

James 4:1–4 (ESV): 4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

So, just as with Manning and Nouwen, we shouldn’t be surprised to see James coming back to this core conviction as he ends his letter. It is probably his most pointed denunciation of inordinate wealth and the abuse of the poor by the rich yet.

Warning to the Rich

Before we get to James, let me ask a question: What is your general impression of the rich: positive or negative, favorable or unfavorable? F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote this in his short story “The Rich Boy:”

Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different.

Almost in rebuttal, Ernest Hemingway wrote this in his short story “The Snows of Kilimanjaro:”

The rich were dull and they drank too much, or they played too much backgammon. They were dull and they were repetitious. He remembered poor Scott Fitzgerald and his romantic awe of them and how he had started a story once that began, “The very rich are different from you and me.” And how some one had said to Scott, Yes, they have more money. But that was not humorous to Scott. He thought they were a special glamorous race and when he found they weren’t it wrecked him as much as any other thing that wrecked him (http://www.quotecounterquote.com/2009/11/rich-are-different-famous-quote.html?m=1).

Fitzgerald seemed to place the rich on a pedestal as a race apart, but not so Hemingway. What do you think: different from the masses, better than the masses?

How do you think the very wealthiest in the United States became so wealthy?

According to a 2024 report by the Heritage Foundation, “the great wealth of America’s richest people came from the businesses they created, not inherited wealth” (https://www.heritage.org/taxes/report/the-wealth-billionaires-where-it-came-where-it-and-why-it-matters). I find that interesting, and I think it runs counter to what many think about generational wealth.

Now let’s turn to James with those same questions: What is his general impression of the rich: positive or negative, favorable or unfavorable? and How does he think these richest people became so wealthy?

James 5:1–6 (ESV): 5 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

What does James think about the rich and about how they gained their wealth? The rich are self-indulgent thieves who have stolen their riches from their poor workers. And this is in keeping with the whole of Scripture which, more often than not, turns a skeptical eye toward the rich; there is no envy of the rich evident in Scripture. On the few occasions that the rich are spoken well of, it is not for the sake of their possession of wealth, but rather for their use of it — their patronage of the church or their contributions to the poor: Joseph of Arimathea, Barnabas, Lydia.

So, when James critiques the wealthy, he is talking about the Sackler family who made their fortune by addicting medical patients to opioids or about the multinational corporations who utilize slave or child labor in brutal and dangerous conditions or about real estate moguls who steal property from the poor and minorities or…or about someone else, but not about us. We’re not the rich. Are we?

Consider these three quotes from St. Basil the Great (330-378), one of the great theologians and pastors of the church, one known especially for his concern for the poor (https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1823057.Basil_the_Great):

When someone steals another’s clothes, we call them a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat unused in your closet belongs to the one who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the one who has no shoes; the money which you hoard up belongs to the poor.

Care for the needy requires the expenditure of wealth: when all share alike, disbursing their possessions among themselves, they each receive a small portion for their individual needs. Thus, those who love their neighbor as themselves possess nothing more than their neighbor; yet surely, you seem to have great possessions! How else can this be, but that you have preferred your own enjoyment to the consolation of the many? For the more you abound in wealth, the more you lack in love.

“But wealth is necessary for rearing children,” someone will say. This is a specious excuse for greed; although you speak as though children were your concern, you betray the inclinations of your own heart. Do not impute guilt to the guiltless! They have their own Master who cares for their needs. They received their being from God, and God will provide what they need to live. Was the command found in the Gospel, “If you wish to be perfect, sell your possessions and give the money to the poor,” not written for the married? After seeking the blessing of children from the Lord, and being found worthy to become parents, did you at once add the following, “Give me children, that I may disobey your commandments; give me children, that I might not attain the Kingdom of Heaven.”

It seems like St. Basil is speaking of ordinary people, not just the billionaires who got rich on the backs of others, but ordinary families with a bit more than they need to get by. And that doesn’t give me a way to soften or to blunt this text like I want to. I don’t think I’ve stolen the wages of others, but I do have more than I need. I have laid up treasures enough to retire comfortably and to leave a bit of money to my daughter, barring any financial downturn — barring any full obedience to St. Basil’s exhortation. I don’t really know what to do with this, so I can’t wrap it up prettily and put a nice bow on it for you or me. It troubles me, and demands more prayer and discernment and probably more obedience.

James is finished with the rich for now. He turns his attention to the rest, to those who are in some way suffering, which means he turns his attention to all of us.

Patience in Suffering

James 5:7–12 (ESV): 7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

James is writing to people for whom life is, at least for the moment, hard, writing maybe to some of the laborers and harvesters who have been defrauded by the rich. His words seem somehow unsatisfactory to our ears, insufficient: be patient, don’t grumble, don’t swear. Our current cultural ethos is one of carefully cultivated victimhood, where our identity lies in our suffering — real or imagined, genuine or manufactured — at the hands of others. We are perpetually offended, perpetually blaming others: the white, male patriarchy; the feminists and the post-feminists; the Democrats or the Republicans; the immigrants or the wall-builders; the liberals or the conservatives. We want to shout our grievances from the social media rooftops and we want them redressed immediately, though our victimhood never allows for redemption of the victimizers. What we don’t want is to be told, “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord…be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another.”

I want to be clear. The Church has a long history and deep well of social engagement to ameliorate real suffering and to redress real wrongs. The concept of human dignity and equality under God is a uniquely Christian notion. Education (schools for the masses) and health care (public hospitals) originated with the Church. The abolition of slavery was spearheaded by Christians. The movement to end unrestricted abortion is largely a Christian movement. We could go on, and the Church must go on doing these things; this is part of loving our neighbors as ourselves. But, when all these things are done, there will be more to do. The poor will always we with us. Suffering will always be with us, until the coming of the Lord, when the Judge will put all things to rights. So, even as we struggle to work toward that ideal now, we do so patiently with the conviction that timing is of the Lord and that the ultimate victory is his.

I have been speaking in broad terms about political and social matters. James is likely speaking on a smaller scale, within individual gatherings of Christians, what we might call congregations or parishes. When he says, “Do not grumble against one another,” he seems to be addressing interpersonal relations among fellow believers. Be patient with one another. Forgive one another. Leave judgment to the Lord and wait for his appearing. Look to your fathers’ examples: the prophets, Job. Be patient under suffering as they were. All of this is for the sake of unity in the body, for the sake of the body’s witness to the world, and for the sake of each individual’s heart. We do not want to become anxious people, aggrieved people, grumbling people, judgmental people. Again, I want to be clear. There are appropriate ways within the church for the church to address grievances between and among brothers and sisters; Matthew 18 is the oft-sited procedure for that. Individuals and the church must be diligent about that. And yet, suffering will come and hurts will arise that simply cannot be eliminated. About these we simply must be patient, entrusting them to the Lord, for the sake of our own souls and for the sake of the church. There is, though, one sort of action that is always appropriate, always available to us in the midst of suffering.

The Prayer of Faith

James 5:13–20 (ESV): 13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

What recourse is always available to the suffering? Prayer: “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.” And then, as if to remind us that suffering is not all there is to the Christian life, James flips the script: “Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.” Everything from suffering to joy is taken in reference to God.

Then James addresses a particular kind of suffering that is a constant throughout all ages, then and now, and one that presumably everyone will experience: sickness. Let’s hear the pertinent verses again:

James 5:14–16 (ESV): 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.

Because we live in the shadow of the Enlightenment this passage challenges us in ways that it would not have challenged its primary audience. But, what we need to challenge in response is many of the presuppositions about illness that we have accepted pretty uncritically from a culture formed by scientific materialism. What I am saying is that our culture offers us a philosophy of illness in which this passage makes little sense and that the church has unwittingly embraced much of that philosophy of illness, when what we need instead is a theology of illness in which this passage makes sense.

Let me mention a few modern presuppositions about illness.

All illness is material in origin; it has natural, physical causes: viruses, genetic mutations, injuries, anomalies in or degeneration of bodily structures and systems.

Because it is material, there is no inherent meaning in illness and no purpose for it.

Illness is to be eliminated or reduced to the greatest extent possible by all physical means possible, by the application of medical science. The ultimate goal of medical science is the physical cure of illness.

The extent to which you resonate with these modern presuppositions will become clearer as we explore an older theology of illness found in the Book of Common Prayer 1662. We’ll consider one prayer and one priestly exhortation to the sick from “The Order for the Visitation of the Sick.”

1. For those interested in exploring a Biblical and Patristic approach to illness and healing, I suggest the following book. It is a challenging work, but it will abundantly repay the effort.
   
   https://www.amazon.com/Theology-Illness-Jean-Claude-Larchet/dp/0881412392/ref=sr_1_1?crid=J0RD88MLCSES&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.yt1mxRoANbRvqFDf5JUbhVDwVewsE50KYY0LeE4jw0fGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.coQTv2xhnCZ_ze

First, the exhortation made by the priest to the sick person:

DEARLY beloved, know this, that almighty God is the Lord of life and death, and of all things pertaining to them, such as youth, strength, health, age, weakness, and sickness. Wherefore, whatsoever your sickness is, know you certainly that it is God’s visitation. And for whatsoever cause this sickness is sent unto you — whether it be to try your patience, for the example of others, and that your faith may be found in the day of the Lord laudable, glorious, and honourable, to the increase of glory and endless felicity; or else it be sent unto you to correct and amend in you whatsoever doth offend the eyes of your heavenly Father — know you certainly that if you truly repent you of your sins, and bear your sickness patiently, trusting in God’s mercy for his dear Son Jesus Christ’s sake, and render unto him humble thanks for his fatherly visitation, submitting yourself wholly unto his will, it shall turn to your profit, and help you forward in the right way that leadeth unto everlasting life (The 1662 Book of Common Prayer: International Edition, InterVarsity Press (2021), p. 326).

What is the theology of illness expressly stated — not presupposed — in this exhortation?

All illness is under the sovereignty of God. While it affects our physical bodies and while there may be secondary material causes for it, all health, weakness, and sickness is under the Lordship of God. Further, it may be sent by God, at least in the sense of being allowed by him under his providential care of all things.

Because illness lies under the sovereignty of God, it has divine and spiritual meaning and purpose: to test and increase one’s patience; as an example for others; to make one’s faith laudable, glorious, and honourable; or as a spiritual correction and impetus to amendment of life.

Even more important than the elimination of illness is the use of illness for our spiritual welfare. We will certainly profit from it if we repent of our sins; bear the illness patiently; trust in God’s mercy; give him thanks in all things, even in the midst of the illness; and submit wholly to God’s will.

This is very different than our modern thinking about illness, and is not what you are likely to encounter in a doctor’s office or in the hospital. Now, none of this is intended to denigrate or diminish medical science. When I get sick, I am going to the doctor. But, it is to challenge our understanding of illness and to emphasize this essential distinction: the physicians who treat illnesses are primarily interested in cure of the body, while the elders who pray in the midst of illnesses are primarily interested in healing of the soul (or of the whole person, body and soul as God wills). Sometimes that healing includes physical cures and sometimes it does not. And that leads us to the prayer from the BCP 1662:

HEAR US, almighty and most merciful God and Saviour. Extend thy accustomed goodness to this thy servant, who is grieved with sickness. Sanctify, we beseech thee, this thy fatherly correction to him, that the sense of his weakness may add strength to his faith, and seriousness to his repentance, that, if it shall be thy good pleasure to restore him to his former health, he may lead the rest of his life in thy fear and to thy glory; or else give him grace so to take thy visitation, that after this painful life is ended, he may dwell with thee in life everlasting, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen (ibid, p. 325).

While the cure of the body is not absent from this prayer — we certainly hope it is God’s will to cure — it is subordinate to the healing of the soul. One may be healed/saved even though one dies. If so, the prayer for the sick will have done its good work. Now, back to James:

James 5:14–16 (ESV): 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.

The elders anoint and pray primarily for healing and salvation and secondarily for cure, as God wills. It is always appropriate to pray that the illness accomplishes God’s good and loving purpose, that it becomes a means of sanctification — of increase of faith, seriousness of repentance, and amendment of life, and that, if God wills, it ends with either bodily cure or a holy death that passes into life everlasting.

It is significant that James includes confession in this passage about healing prayer. Confession is an agent of healing for the soul. In the BCP 1662 there were two mentions of confession and absolution: in the Exhortation before Holy Communion and in the “Order for Visitation of the Sick.” One use is proactive and protective; we dare not partake of the Body and Blood of the Lord unworthily. The other use is restorative and healing. Either way, hearing confession and pronouncing absolution is an integral aspect of the pastoral care provided by the elders (bishops/priests) of the Church.

James closes his letter with a sobering reality: it is possible to wander away from the truth and to put one’s soul in danger of death. But he doesn’t end on this somber note. It is also possible to return; it is possible to be brought back by a faithful brother or sister, to have even a multitude of sins covered.

Conclusion

So, we close this very practical, boots-on-the-ground, instruction on Christian living — a how-to manual for the Sermon on the Mount with thankfulness for the life and ministry of St. James.

The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
Let us pray.

Grant, O God, that, following the example of your apostle James the Just, kinsman of our Lord, your Church may give itself continually to prayer and to the reconciliation of all who are at variance and enmity; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Note:
For those interested in a Biblical and Patristic approach to health, illness, prayer, and healing, I recommend the book The Theology of Illness by Lean-Claude Larchet, available through Amazon. It is a challenging work, but it will repay abundantly the effort required.