Not a
Problem but a Person
When I was growing up and my mom taught kindergarten and first grade, she would occasionally come home with stories from school. There was Bobby, who pushed a pencil up his nose and got an eraser lodged in one of his nostrils. There were Joe and Alex, who went missing one day during school, only to be discovered in the boys’ bathroom, standing in the toilets and laughing as they pushed the flushers with their feet. But usually, the stories had to do with students whom teachers might be tempted to identify as “problem students.”
I asked my mom recently about how she handled these students. She said that early on she had learned from other teachers that the best way, actually, was to avoid engaging the student in a battle of wills. There was no “winning” at the end of such a battle, even if for a moment the student did what you wanted. Instead, the best thing to do was to give the student a special task or responsibility. With one such student named Danny, my mom would regularly write a short note for a teacher somewhere else on the hallway and then ask Danny to please deliver it for her. The benefits of this little strategy were twofold. First, he would be temporarily removed from the classroom and whatever situation had triggered him. Second, and perhaps even more importantly, Danny would feel singled out in a good way; he would feel special and important. Because he was being treated not as a problem but as a person, not with bitterness and antagonism, but with respect and dignity.
“Do
You…Really Believe?”
1 My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? 2 For 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, 3 and 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,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
At the beginning of today’s scripture, James seems to express a value with which our culture is very acquainted. Namely, the equality of all human persons. Just over a week ago, our nation celebrated the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which near its beginning asserts: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
But upon closer inspection, James is calling for more than the adoption of an egalitarian mindset. To begin, notice the severity of his accusation: “My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?” (Ja 2:1). James effectively charges his audience with atheism, equating their preferential treatment of the rich with a rejection of Jesus’ teaching and way.
Remember that when Jesus begins his ministry, what makes him “go viral,” so to speak, is the table. At the table, religious leaders see him eating with tax collectors and sinners, getting friendly with the outlaws and outcasts (cf. Mark 2:16; Luke 5:30). Think about some of the specific standout “table moments.” There’s Jesus at the Pharisee’s house, where a woman identified by Luke as a “sinner”—which is probably code for “prostitute”—bathes Jesus with her tears and receives his forgiveness and peace (Luke 7:36-50). There’s Jesus inviting himself over to the home of the crooked and despised tax collector Zacchaeus, who subsequently is inspired to give away nearly all he has (Luke 19:1-10). There’s Jesus reminding his disciples that in the kingdom greatness means not lording it over others but serving others (Luke 22:24-27). The common thread among these table moments is not that Jesus treats everyone equally, but that he gives preferential attention and care to the very people who are disgraced and overlooked by society.
When James asks his fellow Christ-followers if they really believe in Jesus, he’s pointing out that there’s a difference between believing in Jesus and believing in Jesus’ ideas. Believing in Jesus can just mean, “Sure, I believe he’s God’s son and died for my sins and has the keys to heaven.” Anyone can believe in Jesus. As James will point out later, even the demons believe in Jesus (cf. Ja 2:19). But to really believe in Jesus is to believe in Jesus’ ideas. To really believe in Jesus is to say, “I believe that the ideas he taught”—things like turn the other cheek and don’t return evil for evil (Matt 5:39), like bless those who curse for you (Luke 6:28), like give to everyone who begs from you (Luke 6:30), like give pride of place to the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame (Luke 14:13)—“these ideas aren’t just some impossible ideals that will be realized on the other side of heaven, but are actually viable ideas that with God’s grace we can practice now.”
For James, to really believe in Jesus, to believe not just in Jesus as a password for heaven but in his ideas as a way of living here on earth, would mean receiving the “poor person” or the person in “dirty clothes” as Jesus did, as though they were a beloved child of God. James proceeds to expound on this idea, giving special emphasis to the virtues of the people on the margins….
“Heirs
of the Kingdom”
5 Listen, 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? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? 7 Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
Here James echoes one of Jesus’ most revolutionary—and uncomfortable—teachings, namely “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20). Whatever else it means, this short, simple assertion equates material poverty with the capacity for spiritual abundance. To have little in the way of possessions is to have hands open to receive God’s gifts.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that James goes on to talk about the rich in opposite terms, as those who oppress, as those who exercise control in the courts. He implies that to hold onto things is to have closed fists, to insist on getting one’s way, to be incapable of receiving God’s gifts.
It’s true, we could hear James to be drawing up a simple dichotomy: the poor are good, and the rich are bad. But I think that would be missing his point. He’s encouraging his fellow Christ-followers to see the world as Jesus saw the world, through a spiritual lens that is finely attuned to the dangers of possessions, power, and prestige. He’s pointing out that the people whom they are apparently overlooking or dismissing, the “poor” folks wearing “dirty clothes” (Ja 2:2), are in fact guides to the kingdom of God, while the people for whom they are rolling out the red carpet are especially susceptible to the insidious spiritual diseases of pride and greed. The point is not to label people as good or bad, but to become aware of the spiritual dimension of life. Better to have little and trust in God daily, than to have much and to treat God as a divine butler who does as one bids.
Mercy
versus Judgment
8 You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. 11 For 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. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
In these final words, as James warns against favoritism toward the rich and neglect of the poor, it becomes clear that he is espousing more than simple egalitarianism. He is saying more than just treat everyone the same. It’s easy to miss, but here James is giving voice to one of the gospel’s most scandalous propositions: God is not fair; God is merciful.
Notice how he does not call for equal treatment of rich and poor. Rather he begins with what he calls “the royal law,” an ancient verse from Leviticus that Jesus lifted up as a central commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18). By calling this the “royal law,” James indicates that this law of love is foundational to the kingdom of God. Lest there be any confusion about what “love” means or looks like—because, sadly, people throughout history have called all sorts of violent and coercive acts “love” on the basis of their outcomes—lest there be any confusion, James clarifies that love entails mercy. Indeed, he asserts that any behavior without mercy falls short of the royal law of love and will result in hurtful consequences. “Judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy” (Ja 2:13). If that strikes you as a contradiction—how could a God of mercy issue judgment without mercy?—then I applaud your thinking. Jesus makes very clear that our God is merciful to all, dispensing his care alike to the righteous and unrighteous (Matt 5:45; Luke 6:36). God is like the father to the prodigal son, treating us not according to our deeds, but according to his love (Luke 15:11-32). Judgment is not the reward or punishment doled out by a legalistic god, but rather the natural consequences of our action (or as Jesus liked to put it, the “fruit” of our deeds).
When Jesus says, “Judgement will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy,” he indicates that we choose which world we live in. There is a line in the Psalms addressed to God—“with the pure you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you show yourself perverse” (Ps 18:26)—which gets at this truth. We live in a world that reflects our own attitude. If we judge others, that judgment is a two-edged sword and will tear us down. If we are merciful to others, that mercy will draw us ourselves into God’s embrace. “Blessed are the merciful,” Jesus said, “for they will receive mercy” (Matt 5:7).
I think back to the hard-earned wisdom of elementary school teachers that my mom learned. If she saw her difficult students as problems, then she would have her hands full of problems. But if she saw them as children of God, as people in God’s image with gifts to share (however difficult it might be to see those gifts!)—if she treated them with dignity and entrusted them with responsibility, then she would have a classroom filled with children who were learning and growing. Those children would feel better, and so would she.
James’ final line, “Mercy triumphs over judgment,” is a defiant—and scandalous—proclamation of the gospel. It is the insistence, not only that mercy is a better way to live than judgment, but also that mercy will emerge victorious from the wreckage of judgment. Judgment does not restore; it can help to manage and control, but it does not heal. If the churches to whom James writes continue to judge the poor among them and only associate with the rich, then perhaps those churches will grow rich and big and famous. But they will also be forfeiting God’s kingdom and consigning themselves to the bitterness and conflict and empty striving of the world. They will be depriving themselves and others of the scandalous ingredient that makes God, God. Mercy. It is what heals us and others. It is what connects us with others. It is what leads us into God’s embrace.
Prayer
Who ate with tax collectors and sinners,
Who gave pride of place to the last and the least:
Inspire us by your scandalous mercy,
Which is not fair
…
So that we might love others and ourselves
And know the goodness of your kingdom.
Amen.
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