[AI translation] What James says in this passage is so clear, so self-evident, that it hardly needs to be explained, only read well, carefully, thought over and over again, engraved in our hearts, so that we do not forget it when it is necessary. I don't want to explain this Word, but rather to open up the compact, hard words a little, like the branches of a dense bush, so that we can see better what is here! He speaks of something that is very common among us, something we know very well ourselves: the separation of persons. So let's listen to what he says about it.He starts from an incident that you have obviously heard about or seen in the church, namely at its meeting for worship. In a small room or hall, the congregation is already assembled, and the service begins. Suddenly the door opens and in walks a poor man, torn from a branch, bad-looking, wrinkled, worn. His hands, his clothes are dirty, his face tired, exhausted. People turn around after him. Who comes here so late to worship and is not even properly dressed?! And this man feels that all eyes are on him, and he hears comments here and there. Someone then says to him curtly, "Stop here, by the door!"-perhaps a kind-hearted soul will push a stool in front of him, on which he has just rested his feet. The faithful look at him with great reverence, nod their heads respectfully, and with great politeness push him forward, preferably showing him an armchair, saying that a place is reserved for him, come here.
It is certainly not a fictitious story, but an example taken from life, namely from the Christian church, which distresses James very much. (It has happened here, too, that on a great feast in a crowded church, a seat was reserved for a latecomer, and when others wanted to sit on that seat, he would not allow it, saying that it was taken. (Do you know that people have already left our church because of such an incident?!) - But much more serious than this is the incident that James describes, because it expresses not only a bad custom, but a very un-Christian spirit. James calls it, in short, impersonal harassment. This means that the person chooses how we treat him, how we relate to him, the person's appearance, his financial situation, his social position, his education, determines the extent and limits of our courtesy, politeness and love towards him.
He says: 'People, you have come together for worship, to profess your faith in Christ, to be strengthened by him, to draw strength from the power radiated by his presence. You bear the holy name of Christ, that you have lived in the grace of forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life: and yet you can make such a distinction between one man and another? That a rich man is more to you than a poor man? How can you reconcile this with your faith in Christ? How will you worship in this way? What is your prayer, your psalm-singing, your preaching worth? You are seeking communion with Jesus Christ, but can he be there in the midst of you in such a worship service where this can happen? Where you gather with such a spirit? What kind of faith do you have if you are personal believers? Yes, there is something of that kind of harsh rebuke in the words of James when he writes, "Brethren, let there be no impersonalism in your faith which is in the Lord of glory, our Jesus Christ." (James 2:1)
Now let us not try to evade the validity of the Word by saying that such things do not happen in our church, that in our church there is no separate place for the rich and the poor, for the man with the golden ring and the man in beggars' rags. Yes: if in this church of stone there is no such distinction, but dare we say that there is none in that other church, in our hearts?! Do we not hold up there a higher and a lower place for one man and another? Do we really welcome with equal warm smiles those who come to us for help and those who come to us for help? Would we be so alien to the spirit of personal separation? Who brings us love and who expects love from us? Who can be of use to me, and who can be of use to me? Often we don't even realize how much we are personal selectors! We are not even aware of how much we prefer the educated, well-dressed, respectable, influential person to the poor, the despised, simple person. Just think how differently we greet the tramp begging at our door with a different face, a different gesture, a different tone of voice, a different spirit, than the notability [gentility] announced for the first visit! We no longer even notice how much our attitude and behaviour towards people is influenced by the appearance, thinking, outlook, social position, appearance and inner life of the person we are dealing with in the tram, in the market, in the office or anywhere else. We don't even think about it, and yet it is clear from our behaviour that this is just a so-called ordinary person, who does not deserve the same respect, the same respectful tip of the hat as another person. Or: he is not as pretty, he does not deserve as much kindness and courtesy as another, who is prettier. We classify people quite naturally into sympathetic, antipathetic; valuable, worthless; believers, unbelievers; friend, foe; educated, uneducated and treat them accordingly. That is to say, we do in our hearts the same thing that the church of old did in the days of James: to the brightly dressed we say, you sit here comfortably, - and to the poor we say, you stand there, pull yourself up in a corner.
Well, it is natural to him who does not know "the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (James 2:8) And here the question becomes very broad, the root of all the miseries of human coexistence is in this word: discrimination. This is why the world is so inhospitable, cold, cold, homeless. Hence the gaps between people, societies, nations. The low man feels looked down upon, despised, ignored - the high man feels envied, flattered. None of them gets what they need, what makes them live, what makes them breathe freely: selfless, true love. For neither is it true love to say to the man in shining apparel, "You sit here nicely," for this cordiality is not addressed to him, but to his shining apparel, his golden ring. Personalised love is not love, but the opposite: selfishness, flattery for selfish interests. It is not, therefore, a trivial matter, which we could easily get over, but, he says, a violation of the royal law of love.
And he also says, "If any man keep the whole law, but sin against one, he is guilty of the transgression of the whole." (James 2:10) To break one commandment is to break the whole law. Whoever crosses a fence in only one place has nevertheless transgressed and is forbidden. It is useless to console yourself by saying that it is good, I cannot love this or that person, group or people, but I respect God's will in other things! For example: I do not commit adultery, I do not steal, I do not hurt anyone - I am blameless. Well, not so, says James. And this one thing, this single-minded attitude, this single-minded spirit, betrays your whole being: that your integrity in other things is a sham! Your whole piety, your whole piety, your whole faith is false! Your worship is not worship.
He who exalts the rich at the expense of the poor, the socially, materially, educationally, religiously rich at the expense of the poor in the same respect, can his faith in God be true faith? For it says, "Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?" God judges the other way around, as we do: He has chosen the poor, stooping down to those from whom we shrink, condescending to those whom we despise. God's testimony was made complete when Jesus Christ, being rich in Christ, became poor, so that we might be made rich through His poverty. Born in manger, a stateless fugitive, He died on the cross to become the brother of the truly poor. If we want to be united to Christ, it should be precisely in our commitment to fraternity with the poorest. Whoever is truly one with Christ, whoever is in Christ by faith, Jesus has taken him down with him into the abyss, to the place where the despised, the despised, the despised, the poor, the poor are. For in the eyes of God we are all alike beggars, poor, ragged, nothing, who can live only by His great mercy. Even the rich man of whom James speaks, with his gold rings and his shining garments, is a wretch in God's sight, a poor man in need of mercy. Before the judgment seat of God, he is not helped by a gold ring, by rank, by manners, but only by the mercy of Jesus Christ on all the poor and miserable.
How good it is that God has shown Himself in Jesus Christ and stood by the poor, for that is what we all are! Poor, miserable, sinners. So why can't we become brothers and sisters with the other poor, loving the poor as ourselves? Let there be no personal discrimination in our faith, which is in the Lord of glory, Jesus Christ! It is incompatible with faith in Christ! He who lives by the mercy of God communicated in Jesus Christ cannot have an unmerciful heart for the poor! Or if he is unmerciful, it is a sign that he has not yet tasted the divine mercy that gives him life. This is why James concludes by saying, "...judgment is unmerciful to him who does not show mercy." (James 2:13a) Jesus has already pronounced this judgment on the unmerciful man, thus: I do not know you, I do not have fellowship with you, "for I was hungry and you did not give me food; I was thirsty and you did not give me drink; I was a stranger and you did not receive me; I was naked and you did not clothe me; I was sick and a prisoner and you did not visit me." (Mt 25,42-43)
But this is not the last word of James, but this: "Mercy triumphs over judgment." (Jas 2:13b) The merciful heart triumphs over judgment. Behold, our Lord has communicated His mercy, His grace, to us without partiality; in the power of the broken body and shed blood of Jesus, His mercy triumphs over all judgment. Accepted, refilled with this mercy, we can return from this cold world a different person. With the warmth of His mercy, His helping love for all people, without discrimination!
Have mercy, Lord God, on me now!
Have mercy, Lord God, on me now,
For in you, O Lord, my soul trusts,
And in you, Lord, my heart rests.
My heart is ready to sing to you,
Ready now to give great thanks for your goodness,
And to confess thee above all things,
To praise your holy name for ever.
(Canto 256, verses 1 and 6)
Amen
Date: 10 May 1953.
Lesson
Jak 2,1-13