Transcript:

This passage goes like this, “Suppose someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes and a poor person in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the one wearing fine clothes and say here’s a good seat for you, but say to the one who is poor, you stand there or sit on the floor by my feet. Have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” On the surface that sounds fairly reasonable.

What’s James saying here?

When we talk about the letter of St James, it’s important to remember that James is concerned throughout his letter that our faith be real, and here in this passage, he’s telling us that we must have the faith which Jesus had and which Jesus shared with us. We can’t achieve this faith. It is a gift. It’s a gift from Jesus and it’s the only faith that will really produce true love. And to appreciate the kind of faith that Jesus had, we look at how he lived and we listen to his teaching. It’s clear, says James, that Jesus didn’t treat people according to their position in society, their wealth or their ability to return favours. And the verses that you just read for us, they give us obvious examples of what not to do. To behave like this, especially within the Christian community and wider society, is certainly not to have the faith of Jesus.

Now, it was somewhat normal at that time to think that God favoured the powerful, and that’s the reason why they were powerful, because God favoured them. But God is the one who hears the cry of the poor. The poor, like the rich, will be judged impartially according to their deeds. God’s special care for the poor, however, highlights God’s compassion and it also emphasizes the fact that it’s the oppressed who, knowing their need, cry out to God and are open to God’s response. The temptation of the rich besides the temptation to use their wealth to oppress others is that they will think that they can provide their own security. And so, in the Christian community, there must be no discrimination or favouritism based on status or wealth based on status or wealth. When Christians show favouritism to the rich, we’re guilty of prejudice and discrimination. James says that such Christians set themselves up as judges who judge not by divine law but by raw, self-serving motives. So the call for us from James is to see the beauty and the equality of all people and to recognize that we are one family under Christ.