James 2:1-17 (NRSV)
Read James 2:1-17 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 2My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? Verse 2For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, Verse 3and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," Verse 4have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Verse 5Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? Verse 6But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Verse 7Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
Verse 8You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Verse 9But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. Verse 10For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. Verse 11For the one who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. Verse 12So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. Verse 13For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
Verse 14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? Verse 15If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, Verse 16and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? Verse 17So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
Devotion
We do not honor the poor by making them rich as we are. There is also no specific reward to be earned beneath a vow of voluntary poverty. Nevertheless, our indifference to the plight of those who suffer the pain and powerlessness of hunger and loss will not escape God’s judgment. In James, faith is presented as a living power, inversely tied to the number of coins in one’s pocket and the size of the cushion at the bottom of the bank’s balance sheet. Does this really come as a surprise in a world whose deadly idols carry the unmistakable whiff of wealth? Gifted with live faith and as heirs of the promised kingdom, the poor of the world have things to teach us. They hold riches they are ready and willing to share. However, to receive them as God wills, we will have to work against the walls that keep growing, and the gaps that widen between us.
Prayer
Dearest Jesus, you must be for us or we are lost. Be for us a bridge between wealthy and poor, wise and foolish. Be for us the end to rivalry, envy, and the struggle we have to try to hold power over others. Be for us the one who makes all people free. Amen.