Wednesday March 23, 2022

Do not discriminate between people

My brothers, do not mix considerations of people with faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, Lord of glory. James 2:1

In our Western civilization, almost everyone agrees that it is contrary to "humanism" to make distinctions between people, i.e. to take into consideration wealth, ethnic origin or family, social rank, to adopt a benevolent attitude or not towards the people we meet. This does not mean that the behavior of most people changes. How many people claim to be hostile to racism while resenting the proximity of certain foreigners !

It is for much better reasons that James recommends that we not mingle personal considerations in our relationships between Christians : it is because this way of doing things is incompatible with "the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, Lord of glory". The word faith here designates the adhesion of believers to Christianity, or rather the fact that they are part of another world, the kingdom of God of which Jesus Christ is the Lord of glory. The kingdom of God, in fact, is governed by different laws from those of the world in which we live and of which Satan is the prince. The motivation that animates the subjects of Jesus Christ and the goal that they seek to achieve are also quite the opposite of those of the people of this world.

What drives them is the desire to appear, to always possess more, to dominate others, to satisfy their passions. The Christian, on the other hand, remembers what the Lord said : "That which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination before God" (Luke 16:15). What he seeks is to reproduce the process of self-sacrifice and service of his Master, he who, in his love, had as his only desire to serve God and men whatever it cost him.

Thus, in this verse and the following ones, James develops what he wrote at the end of the preceding chapter concerning "pure and spotless religious service before God the Father" : "to visit orphans and widows in their affliction", that is to come to the aid of those who are in a situation of weakness.

Source (Pleasing the Lord)