my brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. [james 2:1]
one of the pulls of our flesh is to seek out who we believe is worthy of our time and energy. we make all kinds of excuses for not talking to or showing love to our neighbors, coworkers, fellow students or strangers. deep down, we don’t believe that we are part of God’s plan to reach poor people, unattractive people, homeless people and other marginalized people on the fringe.
to my shame, i have sinned in this way. i have i greeted a well-dressed, ‘nice’ family in the foyer at church–and neglected to introduce myself to someone who looked like they were homeless.
the brother of Jesus bases the command in james 2:1 in a statement about the character of God later in the chapter:
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? but you have dishonored the poor man. [jame 2:5-6]
our impartiality is rooted in the impartiality of God–i have a friend and mentor named dave who always prays that he would see people the way that God sees them: dave has so many in his circle who have chronic illnesses, who are marginalized, severely disabled and hurting, and that makes his prayer more profound–God the Father creates sovereignly and beautifully and for his own glory! what if each person i encountered i saw with God’s eyes–i would not be tempted to ignore or show dishonor to anyone.
Jesus tells us who will be blessed:
and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
“blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons[a] of God.
“blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. [matthew 5:2-12]
God does not see the way that we do. let us pray for his eyes to see without impartiality, so that we do not dishonor the name of his Son, Jesus, the Lord of Glory!
~ce