March 13
Just six verses today, plus some review.
Take a breather. Tomorrow there will be eight verses, then we’ll have a break!
Remember to keep listening to the audiobook as well. After today, you’ll have learned all of James 4! Try to recite along with that whole chapter as you listen.
1. Learn these six verses (6 minutes)
1. James 4:10
Loeb is walking through the home theater with the sari. The lights are turned out. Loeb tries to hide from the dark under the Sari by putting it on his head (which doesn’t work); but suddenly the light on the screen turns on, calming Loeb’s fear.
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
2. James 4:12
Loeb’s brothers want to burn the sari in the fireplace. But at this point, Loeb feels a sense of ownership over the sari, so he tells them: “I’m the king of the sari! This sari has only one lawgiver and judge. I get to save or destroy it if I so choose. Who are you to judge that?”
(Notice that Loeb is starting to get a bit arrogant at this point.)
“There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?”
3. James 4:13
Loeb is tired of dealing with his brothers; he wants to get some work done. Will they join him? “Come on guys, what do you say?” But they aren’t interested.
He goes to the office alone (just him and the sari) to get some work done. He doesn’t really like working on the computer at home, but he hopes for better work later on. Looking away from his computer, he looks down at the sari and thinks. Then he gets an idea. “Today… or maybe tomorrow… I’ll leave home, drive to a big town somewhere, and I’ll spend a year there selling saris! I’ll trade saris and make a big profit… Then I can stop this boring computer work at home.”
“Come now, you who say, s“Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—”
4. James 4:15
Loeb is shaken from the incident in the magenta hall, where the sari moved on its own in his hands and then vanished. It is clear this is a bizarre piece of fabric. He runs in the closet and says, “I know what I’ll do. I’ll grab my favorite coat and wear it. That will make me feel great and protect me from anything evil.”
But when he goes to the closet, the thing he grabs… is the sari! The sari speaks to him: “You shouldn’t have said that. Instead, you ought to say, “if the Lord wills, I will LIVE and grab this, wear that, etc.”.”
Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
5. James 4:16
The sari pulls the terrified Loeb into the birdcage and continues preaching at him. “As it is, you boast in your piggish arrogance, proud of your cleanliness and fashion. All such boasting is evil. Maybe just to shake things up, you should spend some time in the dirty birdcage to learn humility, instead of just living as things are all the time.”
“As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”
6. James 4:17
Loeb convinces the sari that the birdcage is too extreme, but they can finish their conversation in the basement. Brought this low, Loeb is repentant. He confesses that he knows that he shouldn’t boast like that, and that he should say “Lord-willing” when talking about the future.
The sari says, “Knowing the right thing isn’t quite good enough. So whoever knows the right thing to do and still fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
Finally, convinced that Loeb has learned his lesson, the sari stops preaching to Loeb and disappears for good, finishing off James 4.
“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
2. Recall the mnemonic stories for these old verses (2 minutes)
James 4:1
James 4:2a-c
James 4:3
James 4:5
James 4:6
James 4:7
James 4:8a-b
James 4:9