Poor[1] Ps 12; Prov 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23; Mark 7:24-37; James 2:1-17

Introduction   https://youtu.be/-eioYCWD1PU

If we have not thought of and interceded for the poor today  we are unlike the God of the Bible[2] who always hears the cry of the afflicted (Ps 22:24). Because “poverty” is a relative term we find it hard to think that most of us are in the top 10% of the world’s population in terms of assets and ease of living[3]. Most people in the world live in homes with many other residents[4], whilst 785m people[5] live without basic water supply and 2 billion drink contaminated water. And largely because of COVID [6] hundreds of millions of extra people are suffering from food insecurity. Scripture is emphatic, to ignore or despise the poor is to insult God their Maker (Prov 14:31; 17:5) who always behold his image in them[7].

In biblical times most of the population was agriculturally based subsistence farming, whilst many others were day-labourers dependent on daily pay (Matt 20:1-15). Unsurprisingly  there are several hundred references to poverty in the Old Testament and 1 in 16 verses in the New Testament refers to the poor[8]. Life’s conditions depended upon weather, national peace, and good health[9]. The people of Israel deeply understood they were dependent on divine favour in a way we can hardly imagine. When king and government were corrupt the poor suffered grievously [so their plight is the second most prominent theme in the prophets[10]. These are the socially and politically oppressed whose cries to God for justice[11] are heard (Job 34:28ff; Ps 12:5; 109:31; 140:12; Prov 22:22-23; Isa 10:2; Amos 2:6ff.) a final time will come when the God of Israel will act decisively for the poor (Isa 49:13; 57:14-21; 66:2; Zeph 2:3; 3:11). This time began with the coming of Jesus who brought good news to the poor not only by word (Luke 4:18-19; 7:22) but through the sort of healing outlined in today’s Gospel reading (Mark 7:24-37).

Whilst some people were poor through laziness (Prov 10:4)[12], scripture offers a wise God-centred perspective on wealth and poverty. “give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, 9 lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.” (Prov 30:8-9). Our reading from James is a concrete application of how we should view and treat the needy.

Exposition

vv. 1-4 “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

James is an extraordinary New Testament book, even though its author is almost certainly the brother of the Lord[13], this is the only place within the body of the letter (cf. James 1:1) where the name “Jesus” is mentioned. And it is mentioned in a most elevated way, “our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory”[14]. To “hold the faith in” Jesus means what James is commands is part of the substance of discipleship, a right attitude to the poor is part of what it means to be a Christian. “No partiality” means no discrimination or snobbery, no judging or evaluating anyone by external appearances. If we see the glory of the immortal God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor 4:6; 2 Tim 1:10)[15] how could be impressed by so-called influential people[16]. In my calling I have to deal with all manner and condition of people and I have long made it a point of prayer that whoever I am dealing with, uneducated, well educated, lowly, rich, I will treat them equally. James gives an illustration of something that was obviously a real issue in his day.

2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

“Clothes make the man.” is proverbial[17], but from a Christ-centred perspective it is a demonic attitude. How could anyone who believes that the fullness of humanity’s glory[18] resides incorruptibly in the life of Christ be swayed by perishing human appearances! A rich person walks into church followed by an apparent nobody, but since they are newcomers no-one knows what they are like on the inside[19]. James doesn’t hold back, he sees favouritism as sinful, making us “judges with evil thoughts”. This language is much stronger than “misogynist”, “transphobe”, “homophobe” and so on because James holds us accountable before God! “Evil” is an absolute term because it means opposing the will of God and it is used by James to rebuke his fellow Christians. Churches often show favouritism. When I used to go to conferences there were often seats in the front row reserved for pastors; which I generally declined[20].

5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonoured the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honourable name by which you were called?

“has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him” is an extraordinary statement. But it isn’t unique to James. Paul says to the Corinthians, “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” (1 Cor 1:26-29).  I remember as a young believer being in a tent meeting where the preacher remarked, “It’s not a sin to be rich.” Fair enough, the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were rich, as was Joseph of Arimathea etc. (Gen 14; 2; 31; Isa 53:9; John 19:38-41). But when someone in the congregation shouted out, “It’s a sin not to be rich.”, and the preacher failed to rebuke him, I knew I was in the midst of grievously false teaching. Does God have a “preferential option for the poor?”[21] Whilst it might scandalise us to think God shows favouritism in any way it does seem to be a fact that genuinely impoverished people are more likely to turn to heaven than those who have “received their consolation” in this world (Luke 6:24).

That in James’ situation, that the “rich” were using their power in court to punish the poorer Christians makes their showing favour to the wealthy seem even more puzzling. Culture however is a powerful force that we might not understand.

A visiting missionary from the U.K. was preaching from this passage to an ethnic group (Batak) in an Indonesia church, but when asked how this passage was relevant to them no one spoke. Later the leaders came to him confidentially and said that if they treated the rich people in the way James taught they’d never get their churches built. The missionary told them they had a choice between following their culture or obeying the Bible. I would have thought they might need help to understand that “church buildings” are really an innovation of Christian majority nations.

8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:1-13)

To show favouritism towards the wealthy is to break the law of God the King and is to become a sinner. Jesus declared, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” to be the second greatest commandment. To sin by discrimination makes us guilty of being in violation of the one indivisible will of the one God who has willed the whole law. [The Jews might have made a distinction between “heavy” and “light” parts of the law of God, but the Holy Spirit makes no such distinctions.] prejudice is unthinkingly everywhere. I was talking to a businessman recently who made a passing comment about Christians in menial[22] work as compared to believers in professional employment. I nearly jumped off my seat at him. Was Jesus in “menial” employment before he stated his public ministry? Is a cleaner in “menial” work? Have you ever met a brother or sister in Christ who hated being a doctor/lawyer because they did it to please their parents? I have. Is vocation or social class any indicator of godliness? Of course not!

What then does this final verse mean? “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”  When the poor are looked down on they are treated without mercy and those who so treat them are unlikely in turn to experience the kindness of God. “Mercy triumphs over judgement” has a two-fold application. First, it means that the recipients of mercy will be moved to show kindness to others who have yet to receive a fuller mercy, like the destitute. It also means that we can have confidence on the Day of Judgement (1 John 4:17). When the saintly Puritan Thomas Hooker lay dying somebody said to him, “Brother, you are going to receive the reward of your labours,” to which Hooker replied, “Brother, I am going to receive mercy.” The Australian federal government is notorious for trying hard not to show mercy to a range of asylum seekers and usually cuts the foreign aid budget and after six foreign aid budget cuts in a row has this year raised aid (9%)[23], probably to reduce the influence of China in the South Pacific. This will not draw forth the mercy of God. There is however a deeper dimension to poverty than anything I’ve talked about so far.

Poor for the Sake of Others

Paul says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” (2 Cor 8:9). The Word becoming “flesh” (John 1:14) meant a descent from the eternal glory of heaven and immersion into human weakness and disability. The poverty of Christ included voluntary hunger (Matt 4:2), thirst (John 19:28) and bearing our sorrows and diseases of the world (Isa 53:4). To “dishonour the poor man” (v.6) means, in the sight of God, to treat the needy in the way God’s Son was shamefully treated (Heb 12:2)[24] as a man without reputation[25]. When we see the poor person who cannot plead his own case, we see an image of ourselves who had no grounds to plead for the grace, mercy and righteousness from God. We had no foundation for the divine compassion, but Jesus came and formed the bridge between God’s love and our misery.  Christ turns our lost cause into a just cause and covers us with the breastplate of God’s own righteousness and with his own salvation and zeal (Isa 59:1ff.).  If Jesus stepped into the breach to plead for us we must be moved in him to plead the cause of the poor and wretched.

Even if the parable of the sheep and the goats where Christ says, “as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,6 you did it to me.” (Matt 25:31-46), is about how the nations treat persecuted Christians[26], it exposes a deep connection between the poor and Jesus so that to dishonour them is to dishonour Christ. Giving to poor Christians abroad is a very small percentage of all Christian giving[27] and reckoning with this fact demands a radical change of mindset.

Conclusion                                                                       

Considering the poor like God does requires involves being like Christ when he took no account of self in going to the cross. If in Gethsemane the Father asked Jesus to sacrifice all he had for the sake of our needs, we must prayerfully ask the Lord in prayer what he has given me to give up for the sake of the needy. Paul is clear about this, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labour, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” (Eph 4:28). And he describes the cheerful and generous believer, “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures for ever.’ (2 Cor 9:9). The more you give the more God will give to you. As they say, “No-one can outgive God.” Today is the day to begin to think of the poor as God does.