Today’s message from James seems pretty straight forward. Don’t show partiality to the rich. Way back when James was written, Christianity was mostly a poor person’s religion. So having someone with gold rings in your service was kind of a trophy for Jesus.[1] A prized catch. If you really look at the text, it’s saying not to be partial about anyone, rich or poor. It’s just that we are 1000% more likely to fawn over rich people than over poor.
And in a way, James provides some arguments for his insistence that we need faith and deeds. The rich are more likely to drag you into court. (James 2:6). If you treat a rich person well and a poor person poorly, are you loving your neighbor as yourself? Probably not, and if not, you’re breaking the royal law, the one that Jesus himself said was the big one.
This week John Panto sent a link to a Facebook post to the rest of the Deacons and me.[2] And I haven’t stopped thinking about it. It was about a new pastor arriving at a church, dressed as a homeless person, who didn’t get a warm welcome, and when it was time to introduce him to the church, described the welcome he got, saying that he saw a gathering of people but not a church of Jesus. And I take the point, we do welcome clean, well-dressed people more readily than we do dirty, smelly, poorly dressed ones. I can see that.
And it’s Facebook. I’m not sure how you could get any pastor through an interview process and not have anyone recognize him at any church. I’m not sure how you start the service without introducing the new pastor right up front, but ok, in a large church, maybe there’s a worship leader who gets the hymns going and people feeling in the spirit and then the pastor comes in. Bottom line I have my doubts about whether this really happened.
But let’s say it did. The comments on the page certainly give the impression that people think it did. Here’s what I struggled with. What kind of pastor says to a congregation that she has the right to deceive them to teach them a lesson? What kind of pastor says that she has the right to judge them and find them wanting? What kind of pastor says she has the right to test them and then let everyone know that they have failed the test? Right? Of all the lessons Jesus taught, he was only too clear that God is the judge, that there are more than enough deception and tests in this life. We don’t have the knowledge, perspective, or skills to judge one another. We need to take care of each other. So you get why I had such a “yuck” reaction to this post?
But here’s the kicker. When we show partiality, when we judge someone based on the world’s perspective, we’re taking on a role that isn’t ours. It’s God’s. When we’re not authentically ourselves, when we’re dressed up as someone we’re not, to make a point, we’re not who God made us to be. And we’re not giving other people the chance to honestly interact with us either. How can we help each other out, how can we be doers of the word, if we can’t tell what each other needs? James says we shouldn’t tell a hungry, cold person to “keep warm and eat their fill” if we’re not going to do anything about cold and hunger.
So, let me say right now, if you are cold and hungry and don’t really want to bring it up, come to me and I can help and no one has to know.
But you can also be exhausted by teenagers, or worried about being a good dad now that your kids are 5, 15, 25, 45. You can totally acknowledge that 4th grade is hard and man don’t we know it? You can say that memory loss is terrifying, or that being married to someone who is slipping away is terrifying. And we will not have solutions or complete solutions. But you will be part of an assembly who remembers who they are, and that they are not here to judge you, but to love you, like a brother or sister. To let you sit wherever you want and be welcomed. And not judged or deceived or tested. And where we remind each other that judging, deceiving and testing diminishes us far more than the people we look out at.
[1] William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter. (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), 65.
[2]https://www.facebook.com/groups/1189483282410681/permalink/1249204416438567/?mibextid=xfxF2i&rdid=X3HUf2w95fF5lSV2&share_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fshare%2Fp%2FRoD4KC6brN2E6XnU%2F%3Fmibextid%3DxfxF2i, accessed 6 Sept. 2024
And in a way, James provides some arguments for his insistence that we need faith and deeds. The rich are more likely to drag you into court. (James 2:6). If you treat a rich person well and a poor person poorly, are you loving your neighbor as yourself? Probably not, and if not, you’re breaking the royal law, the one that Jesus himself said was the big one.
This week John Panto sent a link to a Facebook post to the rest of the Deacons and me.[2] And I haven’t stopped thinking about it. It was about a new pastor arriving at a church, dressed as a homeless person, who didn’t get a warm welcome, and when it was time to introduce him to the church, described the welcome he got, saying that he saw a gathering of people but not a church of Jesus. And I take the point, we do welcome clean, well-dressed people more readily than we do dirty, smelly, poorly dressed ones. I can see that.
And it’s Facebook. I’m not sure how you could get any pastor through an interview process and not have anyone recognize him at any church. I’m not sure how you start the service without introducing the new pastor right up front, but ok, in a large church, maybe there’s a worship leader who gets the hymns going and people feeling in the spirit and then the pastor comes in. Bottom line I have my doubts about whether this really happened.
But let’s say it did. The comments on the page certainly give the impression that people think it did. Here’s what I struggled with. What kind of pastor says to a congregation that she has the right to deceive them to teach them a lesson? What kind of pastor says that she has the right to judge them and find them wanting? What kind of pastor says she has the right to test them and then let everyone know that they have failed the test? Right? Of all the lessons Jesus taught, he was only too clear that God is the judge, that there are more than enough deception and tests in this life. We don’t have the knowledge, perspective, or skills to judge one another. We need to take care of each other. So you get why I had such a “yuck” reaction to this post?
But here’s the kicker. When we show partiality, when we judge someone based on the world’s perspective, we’re taking on a role that isn’t ours. It’s God’s. When we’re not authentically ourselves, when we’re dressed up as someone we’re not, to make a point, we’re not who God made us to be. And we’re not giving other people the chance to honestly interact with us either. How can we help each other out, how can we be doers of the word, if we can’t tell what each other needs? James says we shouldn’t tell a hungry, cold person to “keep warm and eat their fill” if we’re not going to do anything about cold and hunger.
So, let me say right now, if you are cold and hungry and don’t really want to bring it up, come to me and I can help and no one has to know.
But you can also be exhausted by teenagers, or worried about being a good dad now that your kids are 5, 15, 25, 45. You can totally acknowledge that 4th grade is hard and man don’t we know it? You can say that memory loss is terrifying, or that being married to someone who is slipping away is terrifying. And we will not have solutions or complete solutions. But you will be part of an assembly who remembers who they are, and that they are not here to judge you, but to love you, like a brother or sister. To let you sit wherever you want and be welcomed. And not judged or deceived or tested. And where we remind each other that judging, deceiving and testing diminishes us far more than the people we look out at.
[1] William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter. (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), 65.
[2]https://www.facebook.com/groups/1189483282410681/permalink/1249204416438567/?mibextid=xfxF2i&rdid=X3HUf2w95fF5lSV2&share_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fshare%2Fp%2FRoD4KC6brN2E6XnU%2F%3Fmibextid%3DxfxF2i, accessed 6 Sept. 2024