Husband, father, and Anglican priest living in the North Georgia Mountains. Sermons, reflections, and articles promoting the "Ancient Faith for Modern Times". Subscribe below to get the latest posts in your inbox.
That is the pattern of the Gospel itself. Christ does not wait for sinners to make themselves useful and then recruit the best candidates. He calls. He chooses. He forgives. He forms. He sends. Whatever faithfulness follows is the fruit of grace that came first.
Their obscurity does not mean their work was unimportant. It means importance and visibility are not the same thing. This truth is particularly encouraging for ordinary Christian vocation. Most believers will never become historically notable, nor is that the calling God has given them.
The greatest commandment tells us what God requires. Jesus' question tells us whom we must trust. We have failed to love God and neighbor as we ought, but the Son of David, who is David's Lord, has fulfilled the righteousness we lack and given himself for our salvation.
James could have said the same thing. By the grace of God, the unbelieving brother became a pillar. By the grace of God, the man who once did not believe became a witness to the Resurrection. By the grace of God, the man who knew Jesus according to the flesh came to know him as risen Lord.
James therefore gives us a vivid picture of grace coming first. He does not reason his way from family familiarity into Christian faith. The risen Christ comes to him. Before James becomes leader, reconciler, bishop, or martyr, he is the recipient of resurrection grace.
Jesus neither denies Caesar's authority nor makes it absolute. His opponents want to force him to choose between competing loyalties. Instead, he places earthly duty beneath the greater claim of God. First, then, what do we legitimately owe to civil government?