Sermon preached at Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church (Sioux Falls, SD) by Pr. Benjamin Tomczak.

James was wise and pious, but not apart from Christ. All his wisdom, all his piety, all his righteousness, all his just-ness, that came from the God who, James would write later, “give generously to all without finding fault.” And that first and greatest gift, is this gift James received all undeserving, a gift he wrote about in James 1:18, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be the firstfruits of all he created.” Go ahead and reread the letter of James, not just that verse, but all of them, remembering how James behaved here in John 7:1-5. Imagine the tears flowing down James cheeks as he recalls that first Easter, when his brother, the brother he taunted, the brother he called crazy came to him and said, “I was dead and now I am alive again. For you, James!”