This past week we looked at James 2:1-13, where James, in very strong language, condemns any practice of showing favoritism to those with wealth at the expense of the poor. Two thoughts have stayed with me.
The first is that wealth is by no means the only criteria by which we show favoritism. Race, gender, age, occupation, and education-level are just a few others that creep in all too often in this world. And though James does not directly address these like he does preferential treatment based on wealth, they are also just as much not a part of what it means to live like Christ. It all goes back to viewing one another with Gospel eyes--no matter what our race, our income, our education level, gender, age, or occupation, we are all broken people in need of a savior...and no matter who we are, God loves each one of us more than we can ever comprehend. Using this as the basis for how we interact with others means that so many of the social divides in the world around us are simply no longer meaningful and certainly not helpful.
The second thought is that the call not to show favoritism to the poor goes well beyond simply trying to be nice to others and treating them as God would have us treat them. The reality, more than we might realize, is that the poor have at least as much to offer us in terms of how to live our faith as the rich. Our tendency, what the world tells us, is that only the rich have anything to offer us so we must cater to their whims and their desires. James, on the other hand, and Jesus himself, tell us the exact opposite. It is the poor that God has chosen to be rich in faith. It is in the poor that we see Jesus himself. It is in the poor that we catch a glimpse of the kingdom of heaven. So James says, "Why do you like the rich? They are the ones oppressing you, not the ones showing you what faith is..." It is the poor that have something to offer us.
This is what makes the writings of Shane Claiborne and his book Irresistible Revolution so powerful while reading James. Shane seeks out the last, the least, the lost, and intentionally lives among them--why? because he has something to offer them? No--he does it because the poor have something to offer him. They show him Jesus. They reveal the Kingdom of heaven. They express God's love.
One quick example: While I was interning at Crossroads Christian Reformed Church in San Marcos, California, a number of years ago, during every evening service a vanload of residents from a local drug and alcohol rehabilitation center arrived to join in the service. Initially this made everyone uncomfortable, and the residents dramatically changed the tenor of the service...but it wasn't long before they clearly began shaping the expression of faith that was taking place during those worship times. They were unavoidable expressions of both how broken each one of us is and also of how dependent we are upon God's love and redemption. They brought all of us closer to Christ simply by their presence.
Well, thanks for reading sermon #2 on this text...
Pastor Jay
Misadventure of the week: A recent exchange between Elizabeth and me:
Elizabeth, coming into my office in a rush: "Help! My computer is talking to me!"
Jay: "What do you mean, your computer's talking to you?"
Elizabeth: "It's suddenly telling me everything I've done"
Jay, wondering if this might be an act of the Holy Spirit: "You mean like all your secrets and everything?"
Elizabeth: "No, no, no...not like that..."
Turns out that somehow the Audio Navigator had been turned on so that it spoke all of the actions that were taking place and read whatever was on the screen under the cursor. We quickly resolved the problem, and are no longer turning to our computer for confessionals.
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