“…and the Creek Don’t Rise”
I was at a family reunion in Kentucky—probably 8 or 9 years old—and someone was sharing about their plans for the rest of the summer. When they finished sharing, they paused, and then added: “Good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.” At the time, I didn’t understand the meaning of this phrase. My mom, who grew up in the hills of eastern Kentucky, later explained to me that the phrase had probably originated from a time when the early settlers had nothing other than the most basic dirt paths to take them from one place to another. Too much rain would flood the creeks in the “hollers,” and the flooded creeks would wash out the paths. “Good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise” was a way of acknowledging that while we may have expectations and plans for the future, we are not in control of the future. Maybe the creek will rise and wipe out the path we’d plotted. Or maybe our will for the future simply doesn’t match up with the good Lord’s will.
Speaking Evil Is Not God’s Will
In last week’s scripture, James addressed his audience in some harsh language. “Adulterers!” he cried, accusing his listeners of becoming too cozy with the selfish, greedy ways of the world. “You sinners” and “you double-minded,” he followed up, before urging his audience to repent with tears and mourning.
But in this week’s scripture, James suddenly softens his tone, calling his audience “brothers and sisters.” Listen to how he begins: “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters” (Ja 4:11). I think of how a parent might address a child who had wandered off and gotten lost. First they would express their fear and their anger in unfiltered terms, “How could you!” “What were you possibly thinking?” But then their tone softens as they sink into gratitude and a sort of sober seriousness. I hear something similar in James’ tone. Previously he’d been admonishing his audience for allowing themselves to be dragged into conflict with one another by way of their selfish and greedy ambition. But as he cools down from his initial outburst, we hear now from him a sober plea: “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters” (Ja 4:11).
It is a simple, if difficult, instruction. “Do not speak evil against one another.” I don’t know about you, but a part of me immediately reacts and wants to say, “But what if it’s justified?” But James gives no exceptions, no conditions, no “ifs,” ands,” or “buts.” Instead he doubles down and insists that this instruction is part of God’s law, and to transgress it willfully is to put oneself above God. Whoever speaks evil against others, he says, effectively “speaks evil against…[God’s] law” (Ja 4:11). Which part of God’s law James has in mind is not certain. He could be referring to the ancient laws in Leviticus that prohibit “go[ing] around as a slanderer” and instead command us to “love [our] neighbor” (Lev 19:16, 18). Or he could be referring to Jesus’ own words in the Sermon on the Mount: “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged” and “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be children of your father in heaven” (Matt 5:44; 7:1). In either case, it is clear for James that it is not God’s will for us to speak evil against others. To do so would be to write off what God has not written off, to judge and condemn the very same people whom Jesus Christ came to save.
Never in Control, Always Responsible
On the surface, it seems like James switches subjects rather suddenly, as he moves (in verse 13) from speaking evil against others to speaking boastfully or arrogantly about our plans for the future. But the underlying principle remains the same: not taking God’s place, not putting our will above God’s will.
In one sense, James’ instruction not to speak boastfully of the future is the flipside to Jesus’ instruction not to worry about tomorrow. Jesus was speaking those words to anxious hearts, to hearts that asked, “What if?”; James is speaking to greedy hearts, to hearts that boasted, “Just imagine…!” (cf. Ja 4:13). But both Jesus and James are saying the same thing: “Don’t think about tomorrow.” Either about what you might not have tomorrow, or about what you might gain tomorrow.
The problem with thinking about tomorrow is that it puts us into a mindset of control, which invariably leaves us at odds with God and reality. Talk to any wedding planner or event coordinator worth their salt, and one of the first things they’ll tell you is that things never go exactly according to plan. Whether it’s unexpected rain, a child tearing through the venue on a sugar high, a late arrival, a lost item, and so on—something is sure to go wrong.
Jesus and James both invite us out of a mindset of control and into a mindset or orientation of responsibility. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God” Jesus urges (Matt 6:33), which is a way of saying, “Live in the way of God whatever your circumstances.” James expresses a similar idea, albeit in a more critical tone: “Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin” (Ja 4:17). It is another way of saying, “Live well in the moment—do the next right thing.”
If I had to put into a nutshell the wisdom that James is expressing, which is actually a wisdom that echoes Jesus’ wisdom, it would go something like this: “I am never in control, but I am always responsible.”
And as Jesus assures us, when we live responsibly, we can trust that all our needs will be provided (cf. Matt 6:33).
“God, I Guess”
“Good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise” is perhaps a useful phrase for folks, a helpful reminder that they aren’t in control. But what I hear in today’s scripture is more than a reminder that we are not in control. James is not offering the simple message, “There is a God, and you’re not him”—however true and helpful that message may be. James is not imagining a puppeteer God, pulling the strings, calling the shots. James is, rather, pleading for his audience to live like God. For James, aligning ourselves with God’s will is not about making sure our wooden arms or wooden legs pop up when God pulls the string. It’s not about a detailed, linear, point-by-point plan that we have to follow or else. Aligning ourselves with God’s will is about living the way that God lives—“so that [we] may be children of [our] father in heaven,” as Jesus says (Matt 5:44).
When the Jesuit priest Greg Boyle began his gang rehabilitation ministry with former gang members in Los Angeles, he began to get a lot of local press. One day, a producer from 60 Minutes read about the ministry, about how Father Greg Boyle strove to give any former gang member (many of whom would have already spent time in prison) a second chance at life in the shape of not only a job but also a community of belonging. I’ll let Greg tell the rest of the story in his own words:
Mike
Wallace, also seeing the piece, wanted to do a report. I was assured that I’d
be getting “Good Mike.” These were the days when the running joke was “you know
you’re going to have a bad day when Mike Wallace and a 60 Minutes film
crew show up at your office.
Wallace arrived at the poorest parish in Los Angeles in the stretchest of limousines, stepped out of the car, wearing a flak jacket, covered with pockets, prepared, I suppose, for a journey into the jungle.
For all his initial insensitivity, toward the end of the visit, in a moment unrecorded, Wallace did say to me, “Can I admit something? I came here expecting monsters. But that’s not what I found.”
Later, in a recorded moment, we are sitting in a classroom filled with gang members…. Wallace points at me and says, “You won’t turn these guys in to the police.” Which seems quite silly to me at the time. I say something lame like, “I didn’t take my vows to the LAPD.” But then Wallace turns to a homie and grills him on this, saying over and over, “He won’t turn you in, will he?” And then he asks the homie, “Why is that? Why do you think he won’t turn you over to the police?” The kid just stares at Mike Wallace, shrugs, nonplussed, and says, “God…I guess.”
For Father Greg Boyle, aligning our will with God’s will and living the way that God lives, means, at the very least, not writing off the people whom God has not written off. It means “not speak[ing] evil against them” but instead showing them the same love, patience, and grace, that Jesus shows the shamed outcasts of his own day. (As Paul might put it, aligning our will with God’s will means coming to share the mindset or attitude of Christ.) Father Greg’s ministry has grown exponentially since the day of Mike Wallace’s visit, but as he will tell you, it’s not down to his business acumen or financial expertise. It’s not down to the control of anyone, really. It’s simply down to living responsibly in the way of God, seeking God’s kingdom. Clearly the gospel is meeting the hunger of a large, needful population there in Los Angeles. But, according to Greg, it wouldn’t make a difference if the ministry was just as small as when it had started. They would keep doing the same thing regardless… trusting that God’s will is a good place—the best place—to be.
Prayer
Your embrace of tax collectors and sinners
Scandalized the world
That spoke evil of tax collectors and sinners—
Grant us your faith
In the good will of God,
That we might live
Not seeking control
But to live responsibly
In the merciful and compassionate ways
Of our father in heaven:
Amen.
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