The Book of James - 7
Justice for the Poor
James is very like an Old Testament prophet in his strong condemnation of the way rich people treated the poor in his own day. After all, James was a Jew and the brother of Jesus, so he knew how both the Hebrew prophets and Jesus spoke out against the oppression of the poor. He could quite possibly have heard Jesus say: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” and “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy”, sayings which Matthew records in chapter 5 of his Gospel in what we know as The Sermon on the Mount. He would also know the great prophetic book of Isaiah opens with words like: “Stop doing wrong, learn to do right. Seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” So when he saw rich people dragging poor people into law courts simply because as rich people they had the power to do so, he was indignant. “You have insulted the poor”, he cries out in chapter 2 verse 6. You have dishonoured them, you haven’t treated them with dignity. One of the wonderful things about the Christian gospel is that it treats everyone, even the lowliest in society, as having equal value in God’s sight.
Further on in this letter James, in chapter 5 verses 4 to 6, expresses again his indignation at oppression of the poor by the rich. He saw how some rich farmers were treating their workmen. He saw the men sweating in the fields gathering in the harvest. He saw them at the end of a day’s work going to the master’s house for their wages only to be turned away with nothing. He writes: “Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.”
We must ask ourselves, “Why it is that wherever we look in the world the poor are often oppressed by the rich and powerful?” It was so in the days of the Old Testament prophets, it was so in Jesus’ day, it was so in James’ day and it is so today. The answer is that the oppression of the poor by the rich and powerful is just one indication among many of what is wrong with humanity. The Bible calls it sin. James shows that sin is refusing to follow God’s law of holiness, righteousness and love and he even goes so far as to say that if we break only one part of God’s law, we have broken it all. For example, God’s law spoken first in the Old Testament and repeated by Jesus shows that it is wrong to commit adultery. Now, says James, if we do not commit adultery but hate our fellow man, then we are guilty of breaking the whole law. It’s rather like if you have a beautiful jug, or plate or pot in your house that has a tiny, very thin crack in it, then that jug is not perfect, it has been broken. Even what seems a little thing, like showing favouritism, is sin, says James in chapter 2 verse 9. It is a sin because it is not loving perfectly someone whom God loves. God has no favourites. The Old Testament prophets made this very clear when they prophesied that Israel would be punished along with all others if they broke God’s law of love and holiness. In Psalm 145 verse 9 the writer says: “The Lord is good to ALL; he has compassion on ALL he has made.”
The fact is that all of us have broken God’s law. So what can we do about it? James helps us to see that there is hope for us. He says in chapter 2 verse 13: “Mercy triumphs over judgement” and in chapter 5 verse 11: “God is full of mercy and compassion.” What we must do, says James, is humble ourselves and submit to God. That is true for those who oppress the poor. It is also true for you and me.
Because of Christ’s death on the cross, mercy is offered to us. As we receive his mercy to cover our sins of lack of love to others and to God and our sins of selfishness in so many ways, God brings us back to Himself. We can now become, like James himself, “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” That’s chapter 1 verse 1 of this letter.
So there we have it. God’s uncompromising judgement against the ill treatment of the poor.
Here are three thoughts from this section of James’ Letter:
- Keep the royal law found in Scripture: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Chapter 2 verse 8.
- Don’t show favouritism. Chapter 2 verse 3.
- Mercy triumphs over judgement. Chapter 2 verse 13.