SPRING 2002
   
 
SCRIPTURE STUDY
BY RON LONDEN
Playing favorites
“My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, ‘Here’s a good seat for you,’ but say to the poor man, ‘You stand there’ or, ‘Sit on the floor by my feet,’ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
— James 2:1-4
ven though racism stains our nation’s history —and, tragically, not just our distant history—I cannot think of a single person or group that would voluntarily accept that label.
Even the most blatantly racist organization will come up with some kind of argument why they are not prejudiced on the basis of race.

But while racism is completely out of favor—if not out of practice—the seeds of subtler forms of discrimination continue to flower. People who would never admit to racial prejudice will often openly practice prejudice based on social or economic class.

The problem isn’t new. James addresses the same issue squarely in his letter written almost 2,000 years ago. When the church caters to the rich, it endorses the world’s sinful view that human worth is a function of net worth. In truth, the whole Bible is permeated with the aroma of God’s special concern for the poor. And while the poor aren’t necessarily morally superior to the rich, their condition of poverty makes them less likely to be self sufficient—and thus self-satisfied. After all, economically, some of us are poor, some of us are rich, most of us are in-between. But spiritually, we are all paupers: desperate, destitute, unable to provide a single good thing for ourselves.

Our desire as Christians ought to be to see people as God sees them, determined by the inside, not by outward appearances.
In truth, the whole Bible is permeated with the aroma of God’s special concern for the poor. And while the poor aren’t necessarily morally superior to the rich, their condition of poverty makes them less likely to be self sufficient—and thus self-satisfied.

The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center provided a tragic and poignant moment of hope in the divide between rich and poor. Because the victims of the trade center attack were mostly well-off stockbrokers, it might have been tempting to pay more attention to the victims because of their status. Or even perhaps less attention, thinking that victims and survivors had the means to pick up the pieces of their lives on their own. But the enormity of the event wiped away both kinds of prejudice in a broad swath of American compassion.

But one story tells more: After the towers collapsed, victims ran in every direction, covered head to toe in dust and ash. Many even had lost their shoes in the mad dash to escape down the stairs of the towers. Confused and overwhelmed by the events, a few of the stockbrokers ended up seeking shelter in a nearly Union Rescue Mission.

Upon seeing the devastated stockbrokers, many of the homeless clients immediately ran to their lockers to give the victims their clothing and their shoes. Even though these stockbrokers probably made more money in a year than these homeless people would ever make in a lifetime, basic compassion demanded an immediate response.

One wonders, had the circumstances been reversed, would the stockbrokers have given up their shoes?

Would I have?
A World Too Small
Hillery Smith-Garrison
A Mighty Fortress