James 2:5-7 “Listen, dear friends. Isn’t it clear by now that God operates quite differently? He chose the worlds ‘s down-and-out as the kingdom’s first citizens, with full rights and privilieges. This kingdom is promised to anyone who loves God. And here you are abusing these same citizens! Isn’t it the high and mighty who eploit you, who use the courts to rob you blind? Aren’t they the ones who scorn the new name -“Christian”-used in your baptisms?”
In August 1973, four people were kidnapped by bank robbers in the Swedish capital of Stockholm. Over the course of six days, those kidnapped developed a kind of sympathy for their captors, so much so that one of them expressed fear of the police who eventually rescued them. This phenomenon became known as “Stockholm Syndrome.”
For those downtrodden by society in the days of the early church, the message of Christianity was revolutionary! Women, slaves, the poor of both sexes – all suddenly learned that God loved them and that Jesus had died for them just as much as for the rich. In those days, rich people paraded through the streets with guards, trumpeters, and all kind of attendants. It was the rich who lent out money and it was the rich who were ever ready to haul the poor off to court, there to extract the last penny. It was the rich who could have people beaten and their small households broken up if they failed to pay debts. It was the rich who might even force a family to sell a son or daughter into slavery. In many places, women were little better than slaves and slaves were considered as being barely human. No wonder then, that many of the early converts were slaves and women! This was the first time anybody had given them a sense of self – worth. At the same time evidently, many wealthy people started out by despising the name “Christian” and why not? This was the movement that was creating social upheaval. As those who benefitted from the status quo, the rich had no wish to see anything change.
Ironically, at the same time the poor and lowly born were being abused, they also developed a kind of Stockholm Syndrome sympathy for their abusers, the rich. Many poor people evidently felt obliged to give the rich whatever they wished, and this extended to the church. By the time James was writing this epistle, it was evidently quite common to give rich people seats of honor in the front of the church, while sending the poor people to the back. (You could argue that this was not Stockholm Syndrome, but simply fear of reprisals once church ended and everyone was back out on the street!)
What James teaches us is that God is not impressed by wealth, power, or social position. Why should God be impressed? He created all of us and knew us when we were fetuses in our mothers’ wombs. New born babies are cute but not particularly impressive! No, God’s kingdom consists of those who love Him, regardless of their social or financial status. We are given full rights and privileges in the kingdom of God through our acceptance of Jesus’ blood sacrifice for us at Calvary.
Throughout this entire epistle, James is urging us, wooing us, and scolding us – all with the goal of having us examine our hearts and our motives. “The Kingdom of God is coming,” says James, “but are you behaving as a citizen of that Kingdom? Do your actions truly measure up to the principles you claim to hold dear?”
PRAYER: Father God, help us not to discriminate but to love equally, without regard for social or financial status. Teach us to value others as You value us. We thank You for loving us and for giving us the power to fulfill Your will for our lives. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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