Read with Me
James 2:1-4 (HCSB)
My brothers, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. For example, a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor man dressed in dirty clothes also comes in. If you look with favor on the man wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a good place,” and yet you say to the poor man, “Stand over there,” or, “Sit here on the floor by my footstool,” haven’t you discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Listen with Me
James next turns to an issue that was subtly undermining the unity in many congregations: favoritism.
Even in those early days of the Church, there were people from all social strata in the kingdom. Both the wealthy and the poorest of the poor had found forgiveness in Jesus and were worshipping and fellowshipping in the churches.
The problems arose when new people came into the Church. There was an instinctive reaction to people based on societal norms at the time. If someone from one of the higher “classes” came into the congregation, clean and in fancy clothes, the first instinct of people was to treat them with special deference, bowing to them and offering them the best seats in the house.
But when a poor person came in, less clean and tidy, perhaps with the dirt of the street or of their trade clinging to them, in their one outfit of clothing, perhaps torn and worn, the reaction was completely different. There was no deference shown. They were merely shown to whatever space might be available, even if it was a space on the floor at someone’s feet.
James’ point is that difference in how a person was greeted, although informed by the norms of a heavily classed society, had no place in God’s kingdom. In God’s kingdom, there are no rich and poor, no high- and low-born. There are only equals, sinners saved by grace, transformed by the Holy Spirit, and moving and maturing toward Christlikeness. The greatest saint might be the one dressed in rags, and the still unrepentant sinner might be standing there in fine clothes and jewelry. Thus someone’s outer appearance is a very poor basis for determining their inward maturity or value.
James tells us that when we judge people based on their appearance, their possessions, or their reputations, and when we treat them kindly or harshly based on that judgment, it is an evil that must be repented of, and that must be rooted out of God’s Church.
Pray with Me
Father, this evil can still be detected in the Church today. In fact, those who have social position, or many fine possessions can even start to take the better treatment that they receive as an expectation, believing that their opinion should count more than someone with less standing and fewer assets. But, as You point out, what a person dresses in, what kind of house they live in, what kind of car they drive, and what schools their children attend are not good indicators of the value or maturity of the person, or of their opinions or ideas. The greatest saint of God could easily have the most humble outward appearance. Lord, help me to look at the heart of each person, not at their externals, and to treat each person as an equal as we all serve together in Your kingdom. Amen.