PART IV (Publish 9 October 23)
Thank you for spending some of your time today with me at the First Day podcast. Make sure you visit FirstDay.us and subscribe so you will be notified when a new episode drops.

Deuteronomy 10:17-21 reads,

“For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the LORD of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who does not show partiality or take a bribe. He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the stranger by giving him food and clothing. So show your love for the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. Your shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him, and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name. He is your glory, and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen.”

This passage should sound familiar, since it was used in the previous episode to help define what a “pure and undefiled religion” is to be. Yes, we are to care for the widows and orphans—the marginalized and the forgotten—but we cannot ignore our responsibility for the stranger, either.

Wouldn’t faith be so much easier if we only had to care for the people who were just like us, if we only had to love those who reciprocate our care and concern?

It is true that most of us live our lives mostly in the presence of people just like us—how diverse are our neighborhoods when you think about it?

This places comfortable boundaries around the definition of a neighbor. This is why Jesus had to change Peter’s assumed definition when he answered the question, “Who is my neighbor?” with the parable of the Good Samaritan.

But James doesn’t have to wait for Luke to share the story because—you guessed it—God had already commanded His people to care for the stranger and those unlike us.

I can’t help but think about the line in the Yes song Your Move (I’ve Seen All Good People): “Don’t surround yourself with yourself…”

Jon Anderson, Yes’ lead singer, said that they chose to use chess imagery as a metaphor for life’s spiritual challenges.

He says, “Life is a game of strategically placed situations presented to you, and you lave to learn to live with them and work with them.” In fact, the line, “Just remember that the goal is for us to capture all we want” is a reference to the rich and powerful victimizing the weak and the poor.

Ultimately, Christian living is about how we choose to respond to the people and circumstances that we encounter every day. And what we desire will direct our response often. I think that this is why James says in chapter one that we must put away the things of the old life, the filthiness and wickedness.

“I’ve seen all good people turn their heads to stay so satisfied…”

James chapter two begins, “My brothers and sisters, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.” I think he’d be asking, “Are you going to turn you head to stay satisfied?”

Indeed, it is an easier faith if we look away from anything that might cause us personal discomfort. With whom would it be easier for you to relate: the wealthy person or the poor one? Because this is precisely what James does.

Read verses 2-4
2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in bright clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in, 3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?

In verse 2:2 James gives his audience a choice: to relate to a wealthy person or to a poor one. Now remember that all this thus far in James’ letter is his attempt to help his fellow Christians endure through the trials of life: Trust and commit, rely upon God, love one another, and put away the old self.

James says we do this—we put the old away—by replacing it with the new, by proving ourselves “doers of the word, and not just hearers.”

So, we have to love one another, but we also have to love the stranger that we encounter. And in doing this, we cannot show partiality, because what partiality—or personal favoritism—really reveals is what is most important to our hearts: ourselves.

And if we want to endure the trials that we face, we must take our hearts off ourselves and focus them on others. Stop worrying about tomorrow, I think you’ll hear James say later in this letter.

Zechariah 3:3f (James 2:2)
2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in bright clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in…

Using one’s appearance to determine how you will interact with that person is a risky endeavor. James may have well had Zechariah 3:3 in mind, where the high priest Joshua, son of Jehozadak, who is later crowned by the prophet in Zechariah 6 , stands before the LORD “in filthy garments”. He is reclothed by the LORD and offered lordship over God’s house if he walks in God’s ways and serves Him. (Zechariah 3:4,7)

Reread verses 3, 4
3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil.

So what are we risking if we ignore the one “in dirty clothes”? Well, if Zechariah is to be believed, we might be ignoring an instrument of the LORD. James’ audience would have likely heard these words from the prophet—so knowing that the person in dirty clothes CAN BE RECLOTHED BY GOD would not be a novel idea.

Job 34:19 (James 2:5)
5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters: did God not choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

James would have his personal experiences with his Brother, of course, knowing His humble beginnings, but these are James’ personal experiences. Christians spread around the empire may have no way of connecting to them. But James doesn’t have to rely upon experience here; he has Elihu’s speech in defense of God’s actions as a reference, in particular, Job 34:19. But Elihu is arguing for more than equal regard here—so much more. This becomes evident beginning as quickly as the very next verse.
“In a moment they die, and at midnight people are shaken and pass away, and the powerful are taken away without a hand.” (20) Back in verse 18 God declares the kings and the nobles “worthless” and “wicked” because they hate justice and, unlike God, show partiality and regard the prominent and the rich. These “workers of injustice” (22) cannot hide from God, and “He sees all [their] steps.” (21)

Elihu continues by pointing out that their actions speak for themselves and that God “does not need to consider [them] further…He breaks in pieces the mighty without investigation.” (23a, 24a) And why is this? “Because they turned aside from following Him, and had no regard for any of His ways, so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him”. (27,28a)

So according to Elihu, being wealthy in this world is more than likely a hinderance to developing the righteousness of God.

Read verses 6,7
6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? 7 Do they not blaspheme the good name by which you have been called?

I can almost picture James rolling his eyes as he’s talking about the choice to court favor with the wealthy. Who is supporting Herod Agrippa I in his persecution of Jewish Christians if not the wealthy? They oppress Christians and blaspheme Jesus—the very person that makes them who they are.

Something else of note here is that James says that they “personally drag” the believers to court. This ties back into Elihu’s speech and indicates the state of their hearts.

No one is forcing them to act in this way. I think the idea is put today, “They’ll kill you for a quarter.” Oppression and the love of the world’s wealth is simply who they are. Ezekiel 18:12-13 concerns these people:

He who, “ 12 oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore a pledge, but raises his eyes to the idols and commits abomination, 13 lends money at interest and
takes interest; will he live? He will not live! He has committed all these abominations, he shall certainly be put to death; his blood will be on himself.”

Leviticus 19:18 (James 2:8)
8 If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well.

As mentioned earlier, James would have had the benefit of a collection of Jesus’ sayings and parables—likely including the one about the good Samaritan. Nevertheless, we cannot be sure. But what we can be sure of is that James and all the Christians to whom he is writing would be familiar with Leviticus—in particular Leviticus 19:18 , 33 and 34 . These, again, are repeated refrains throughout the bible.

Read verse 9: “But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as violators.”

So for James, merely by the act of showing partiality toward the wealthy, the Christian is committing sin and revealing what is truly in his or her heart.

Read verses 10,11
10 For whoever keeps the whole Law, yet stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “DO NOT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a violator of the Law.

Exodus 20:13f, Deuteronomy 5:17f (James 2:11)
11 For He who said, “DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “DO NOT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a violator of the Law.

James is referring to both Exodus 20:13, 14 and Deuteronomy 5:17,16. Breaking one part of the law breaks all of the law.

Read verse 12
12 So speak, and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom.

“So speak and so act” This repetition of command is James’ way of stressing the importance of controlling our speech and our actions. This is because Christians will be judged according to “the law of freedom.”

This law of freedom is not that we are free to do anything that we want to. We will be judged by Jesus’ gift of the freedom to love. It is the freedom to love the stranger and the poor and the lost and the marginalized as ourselves—regardless of who they are!

“The standard for judgement is the Torah—[the Law which Jesus did not come to destroy but to fulfill]—as it has been reinterpreted by the teaching of Jesus and captured in the law of love.” As the commentator states in the Sacra Pagina commentary.

Proverbs 21:13 (James 2:13)
13 For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

We have the benefit of Jesus’ sermon in Luke 6:37, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.” However, James may not; so again, he would turn to the Hebrew Bible and, this time, Proverbs 21:13.

So James’ advice to any of us who face some sort of struggle or trial in any part of our lives would seem to be an oxymoron. If we want to endure we have to stop spending our energy trying to free ourselves from them, but rather we should be focusing our hearts and minds on helping others to be free from theirs.
And on that, I want to thank you for tuning into First Day and participating in this journey through James. Reach out to me by email if you have in questions, or call or text if you have my number, and I look forward to our next meeting here in podcast land.

I’m Patick and you have been listening to the FirstDay podcast. Visit me at www.firstday.us. Blessing to you all.