In the New Testament, James 2:1-13 provides a nice supporting text to those with a certain contemporary bent, along the lines of, “If you are compassionate, and especially if you claim to be a follower of Jesus, you will surely care about the unfortunate among us by showing them generosity.”
If you read the text in one of the translations that is more readable for a modern (I am partial to the New Living Translation) and not flawed by social agenda addiction, the clear teaching there is that our contaminated (see Genesis 3) natures tend to show a higher level of favoritism to certain classes of people while ignoring (at least) certain other classes. And the passage is explicit in placing special focus on the treatment of rich vs. poor.
I say amen! One whose treatment of others is modified up for the merely well-off (or “privileged”) while being callous toward the merely down-and-out (or “marginalized”) is clearly in need of some heart surgery. Such a person seems to be misfiring with regard to whatever goodness or right(eous)ness or justice or compassion s/he has (or claims to have).
At least that’s the case if s/he claims to be a “Christian.”
Why do I put the word “Christian” in quotes? There is a more thorough explanation coming up soon, but some clarification is required here. In the Book of Acts, Chapter 11, we learn of the first use of the word “Christian” – referring to those who were seriously seeking to follow Jesus Christ as their Deliverer and Premier. Think Christling. The new label was needed because the dawn of the A.D. age (Please learn to detest “C.E.”) had complicated the culturally volatile boundaries separating Jew and gentile. Most of the early followers of Christ came from Jewish beginnings, meaning the one group was now separated into two: Jews left unaffected by Jesus at the time, and Jews whose lives were significantly impacted by Jesus. This divide became even more complex (and volatile) when the followers of Jesus became increasingly gentile (non-Jews). Originally, the designation “Christian” was used to distinguish the new non-Jewish devotees of Christ from the original base group, the Jewish devotees. This all might seem like so much trivial cultural prejudice to us, but imagine now if a large group of atheist scientists or leftist academics or fundamentalist Muslims began to see their ranks being altered (compromised?) by a new movement of serious religious believers, right-wing university professors, or converts to Judaism. New words, and new uses of old words, would multiply exponentially and with great intensity.
The main point: The word “Christian” started out as a label for people who were so serious in their devotion to Jesus Christ that they were willing to pay a high price (ridicule, excommunication, thievery, eventually murder) at the hands of their old tribal neighbors. This is a far cry from the many trivial or devilish uses of the word in our era. The word can now be used in countless vague and trivial ways, without censor. Thus: “Christian” (in quotes). There is a busy Department of Language and Semantics in Hell.
But what is “rich”? And what is “poor”? How easy it is to reduce the meanings (and this the passage in James) to mere matters of wealth. Easy for two reasons: (1) Almost no one, not even among those who are well-off, think of themselves as “rich.” The “poor” of first-world nations live in apartments and houses, drive cars, own televisions and indoor plumbing with warm water, several changes in clothing, and enough food to be overweight. If we define “rich” as having so much that we are forced to look inward to find the primary causes of our habitual discontent, then we are a culture of routine entitlement. That is, rich people, and the migration numbers prove it. (2) If we “care about the poor” in the non-nuanced conventional use of the phrase, then we get to walk away feeling virtuous, especially in contrast to those wicked “rich” (in the non-nuanced conventional use of the word).
Beware of the claim that one cares about the “marginalized.” In our day, this is very often a marxist-like revolutionary agenda that merely replaced class envy (which did not work in capitalist cultures due to what I summarized above) with race and gender envy (and the increasingly bizarre grievance variations that have followed).
The “community organizers” (Stalin started out as one) still stir up grievances and self-righteous resentment on one end, and motherly “compassion” on the other. The problem?: Inside dark and moist kitchen cabinets, those morally superior cockroaches are still trying to take over the house, and they’re paying lesser pests to do most of the infesting.
Make no mistake: a genuine follower of Jesus Christ has learned to throw much conventional religion out with the bloody bathwater. The Crucified and Risen One is not just “a great religious teacher.” He is everything that is truly Good, and every idea that is truly life-giving. It is the well-meaning-unwell-doing pretenders or their decievees that keep religiosity alive in iterations as new as post-modern trans-humanism and as old as the Garden of Eden and the tower of Babel.
Back to the main intent of James chapter 2, I propose a radical redefining of some of these cultural sensitivities regarding the rich and poor, etc., e.g.:
Lets use the example of what is perhaps the most common prejudicial injustice that is experienced routinely all around us – without being given the label. Physically attractive people are subject to specially favored treatment in infinite ways all the time. Does the prejudice not show itself in social gatherings? Hiring practices? Political elections? Sibling rivalries? Cliques?
If a reader here does not recognize the many societal “injustices” that could be righted by abandoning our discrimination along these lines, drop me a line. Let’s go deeper together.
“…to have more than you need of some generally desirable thing that someone in your sphere of influence (your “neighbor” in the biblical meaning) is severely lacking. Intelligence? Education? Health? Youth? “Maturity”? Language usage? Gender? Military service? Diet? Weight? Accomplishments? Quantity of friends and associates? Sense of pride? Encounters with nature? Pet ownership? (I kid you not!) Social skills? Clothing? The list is very long.
So if you believe yourself to be concerned with goodness, fairness, justice, kindness, I ask that you read James 2:1-13 with slightly different glasses. Here are two possible helps:
