The second reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, September 12th, James 3:1-12 says…
My brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers, because we know that we teachers will be judged more strictly. We all make mistakes often, but those who don’t make mistakes with their words have reached full maturity. Like a bridled horse, they can control themselves entirely. When we bridle horses and put bits in their mouths to lead them wherever we want, we can control their whole bodies. Consider ships: They are so large that strong winds are needed to drive them. But pilots direct their ships wherever they want with a little rudder. In the same way, even though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts wildly. Think about this: A small flame can set a whole forest on fire. The tongue is a small flame of fire, a world of evil at work in us. It contaminates our entire lives. Because of it, the circle of life is set on fire. The tongue itself is set on fire by the flames of hell. People can tame and already have tamed every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish. No one can tame the tongue, though. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we both bless the Lord and Father and curse human beings made in God’s likeness. Blessing and cursing come from the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, it just shouldn’t be this way! Both fresh water and salt water don’t come from the same spring, do they? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree produce olives? Can a grapevine produce figs? Of course not, and fresh water doesn’t flow from a saltwater spring either.
The author of the book of James is not mincing words in this text. These are some strong statements about the damage that can be done with what we say. James says, “The tongue itself is set on fire by the flames of hell, it is a restless evil, it is full of poison, it contaminates our entire lives.” It sounds like James has had some experience with how problematic the tongue can be. Our words really do matter. We know this and yet it can be so easy to hurt one another with how we communicate.
Do you remember playing the game telephone as a child? In this game children get in a line and then the first person in the line whispers a word or phrase to the person to their right. This continues on down the line each person whispering the same phrase to the person to their right until it reaches the last player in the line and then the game ends with that person telling the group what they heard. And you know what happens— 9 times out of 10 what that last person hears is very different from what was originally said! This game teaches us a lot about the nature of gossip and how sometimes when we hear things down the line it is not always very reliable. And perhaps more than that this game teaches us that our words can often get very mixed up and there can be a very real difference in what is said and what is heard.
I’m reminded of a scene from the 2008 HBO miniseries John Adams. John Adams asks Benjamin Franklin, “Do you not believe in saying what you think?” Benjamin Franklin responds by saying, “No, I’m very much against it. Thinking aloud is a habit responsible for much of mankind’s misery.”
As Saint Paul School of Theology Professor of Preaching Casey Thornburgh Simon writes in her commentary about this passage from James, “In between the head and the heart is a stumbling block lurking in the shadows: the tongue.” Our words do indeed carry a lot of weight. People can very quickly latch on to what we say. As we should with every area of our lives it’s important for us to be thoughtful in how we approach how we communicate. What might happen if we tried to listen more and talk less? What if we asked ourselves before we spoke up, “what would Jesus do?” or “what would Jesus say?”
Another New Testament letter, 1 Thessalonians, contains these important words, “therefore encourage one another and build one another up.” Our tongue and words should also be directed to this task. James reminds us that it’s easy to tear down, but to build up takes some work and intentionality. What if we communicated in ways that reflected more love and grace and less criticism and judgement? What if our words encouraged health and healing instead of fear and distrust? Wouldn’t the world be a better place and our lives more joyful?