James 4:11-16 "If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say..."

 

Observation: Although the letter of James only says to be from "James, servant of God", Christian tradition claims it was from the hand of Jesus' younger brother, who led the church in Jerusalem for almost thirty years before being martyred. Maybe it's my imagination, but in his discussion about judgment in this passage, I can see the "family resemblance" in its similarity to Jesus' sermon on the mount. James' letter makes the interesting claim that if you speak evil against anyone, you are speaking evil against God's law and judging the law.   

Application: There's a very important theological reason why Jesus, James and others caution against judging others. To judge another person is to put ourselves in the place of God, which is to break the First Commandment, "You shall have no other gods before me." It's an important reminder to be humble. I'm not God. I'm a mortal. My perspective is limited, and my own "rap sheet" with regard to sin is far from clean. 

Still, at the risk of complicating things (I am great at that!), we sometimes reduce these weighty commands into simple and strict rules of etiquette. We've all heard "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." This can cause us to clam up and never speak out, never hold fellow believers accountable when their behavior is harmful to us and others. "Well, I'm not one to judge..."

There's a difference between judging someone, and holding them to account to live what they believe. Especially when we are in close enough of a relationship with them where we think they will listen, sometimes it is our duty to say, "Hey, have you thought about how what you said/did back there may have affected others? Have you prayed about how that squares with your faith?" This is more an art than a science, of course, and it's never a comfortable conversation. But to grow in faith, sometimes we have to leave the black and white world of "never ever say anything negative", into the gray world of mutual accountability, especially among people who profess to follow Jesus. 

Prayer: God, forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Keep me humble and grounded. And help me humbly speak the truth to those who need to hear it, even when they don't want to. Amen.