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James 2:1-10 (11-13), 14-17
Proper 18B
“Faith without works is dead.” In a world where so many things divide Christians, nearly all sides unite to claim this famous verse for themselves. Both “progressives” and “traditionalists” cling tenaciously to this profession. While some see it as a call to a strict(er) obedience to God in response to God’s grace, others focus on…
James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17
Proper 18B
When I hear James tell his brothers and sisters in Christ in this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson not to “show favoritism” (1), I’m tempted to respond, “That’s easier said than done.” Favoritism isn’t, after all, both common and dangerous. It’s also terribly difficult to eradicate. Favoritism is an at least perceived fact of daily life. Almost…
James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17
Proper 18B
In God’s Politics Jim Wallis describes an experiment a seminarian once conducted. He cut every text about the poor out of an old Bible. It took him, Wallis reports, “a very long time.” “When,” concludes Wallis, “the zealous seminarian was done with all his editorial cuts, that old Bible would hardly hold together, it was…
James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17
Proper 18B
Comments and Observations In this age of growing income inequality, when the gap between the 1% and the 99% seems to widen daily, these words of James 2 are a hot button text. We’ll have to be careful how we push the button. If we blunt the message of this text because we don’t want…
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