Monday 4 November 2024 The Revd John A Young,

Monday 4 November 2024

James 4:  1 – 10

Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?  You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.  Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.  Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, ‘God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us’?  But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says,
‘God opposes the proud,
    but gives grace to the humble.’

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Reflection

Concupiscence is not a word often heard these days. I came across it many years ago in a systematic theology lecture by Professor Galloway of Glasgow University.

That word floated through my mind as I read this passage, and I wondered why? What exactly did it mean? Was I right in thinking that the Professor had said that St Augustine regarded it as the root of our inclination to sin? I reached for my trusty Chambers dictionary which defined it as ‘a violent desire: sexual appetite: lust’. OK so far, but the Professor hadn’t been lecturing us on our morals (I think).

Like any good ex librarian I started looking for word equivalents, and found out that ‘avarice’ and ‘covetousness’ were suggested; certainly more easily recognised and somewhat easier to spell.

When I could see ‘original sin’ lurking behind the word, I realised that there was no end to my desire to go down the highways and byways of my detective work. So I stopped.

I now knew why that word had risen to the surface of my memory. The letter of James is speaking about concupiscence as our besetting sin, and indeed of the human race; something that we have to struggle with, for it is capable of taking over our lives, displacing the rightful claim of devotion to our ‘three personed’ God.

Concupiscence’s effects can be seen everywhere – in international relations, in local politics, in church life, and in our own lives. The letter of James is right in seeing it as threat. For there is only one in whom we can confidently put trust, for our peace and benefit.

Prayer

You have made us for yourself, O Lord,
and our heart is restless until it rests in you.
Great are you, O Lord,
and exceedingly worthy of praise;
your power is immense,
and your wisdom beyond reckoning.
(from St Augustine Confessions)