James 2:1-7: a reflection

1My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality. 2For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in, 3and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool” 4haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him? 6But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you and personally drag you before the courts? 7Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?

James confronts a sin that had crept into the church: favoritism. He pictures two men entering the assembly, one richly dressed with a gold ring, one poor in shabby clothes, and the believers fawning over the rich man, giving him the good seat, while telling the poor man to stand aside or sit on the floor. Have you not, James asks, shown partiality and become judges with evil thoughts? He reminds them that God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom. To honor the rich and slight the poor is to dishonor those God has honored.

Notice the sin James names: showing partiality based on wealth and appearance. The believers were deferring to the impressive, the well-dressed and wealthy, while slighting the poor and shabby. It is a natural human instinct, to defer to those who seem important and overlook those who do not. But James calls it sin, a partiality that judges by outward things and dishonors the very people God has honored. In God's family, there is to be no such favoritism.

That is a searching word, because favoritism is so instinctive. We naturally defer to the impressive, the wealthy, the influential, and give less regard to the poor, the ordinary, the unimpressive. James calls us to root out this partiality, to honor all people equally, refusing to fawn over the impressive or slight the lowly. Examine your own instincts: do you show more regard to those who seem important, and less to those who do not? Treat every person with equal honor, remembering that God has chosen the poor to be rich in faith. In God's family, there is no place for favoritism; show none.

Lord, James confronted the sin of favoritism, of fawning over the rich and well-dressed while slighting the poor, and reminded us that you have chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith. Search my own instincts. I naturally defer to the impressive, the wealthy, the influential, and give less regard to the poor, the ordinary, the unimpressive. Root out that partiality in me. Help me honor every person equally, refusing to fawn over the impressive or slight the lowly, remembering that you have honored the poor. Let there be no favoritism in how I treat people, but the same regard for all, as those made in your image and beloved by you. Give me a heart free of partiality.