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“My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favouritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?”
I am constantly being teased by my children about favourites, each accusing me of seeing the other as favourite: whose concert I went to; whom we visited at uni; etc., etc. Luckily, I know they jest – I do actually love each equally, and they know that our dog Pippin really is the favourite and always comes first anyway! But, seriously, favouritism isn’t just a family thing, a small thing. We’ve seen over the past few weeks the bigger picture of favouritism. Where who is more valued, who is seen as more worthy is played out on a national and a global scale. Where favouritism is used to keep people in their place, to provide a scapegoat for difficult situations. Keep housing for our own people! Health care for us first, let the others pay or go elsewhere! Our jobs for our people! And the coverage of disasters or wars – we keep a tally of the days of the war in Ukraine, and rightly so, but how long has Yemen been at war? Or Sudan? Or the conflicts in the DRC? The news media do seem to have favourites when it comes to news reporting. And nations use favouritism to reduce spending, to promote agendas: charity begins at home, with our people, our group, people like us!
In our readings today we have such favouritism being challenged. Overtly in James’ letter, “My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favouritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?” but also in our Gospel reading. “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Words of Jesus, which could seem quite shocking if taken at face value. Is Jesus really denying his help to people of a different race? Of a different grouping? Is he really calling them dogs?! Or is something else happening here? Is he challenging those around him, those who follow him? Asking them to consider their ideas, their attitudes? Shocking them by speaking out loud things they may have only considered internally, perhaps unconsciously. I’m only here for one group, the rest of you must go elsewhere! The woman he is speaking to certainly responds to this challenge: “Even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs”. Yes, she says, challenging the status quo, we are worthy to be considered, we are not just dogs hiding under the table hoping for scraps from the rich man’s feast. And Jesus heals her daughter willingly, heals her from a distance: his power reaches out and heals: her faith is fully rewarded. His love reaches beyond our limited horizons.
“My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favouritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?” James here, like Jesus, challenges our prejudices. Challenges the times we walk on by, judge others. James picks up Jesus’ challenge, the challenge by which he taught his disciples to look again at those whom they rejected – just as he did in the parable of the Good Samaritan: a Samaritan, good!? The Levite, Pharisee, others, just walk by unheeding? Jesus, through his preaching and ministry, his acts of love and compassion, his response to the faith of those around him, showed that God is impartial, that God so loved the whole world that God sent Jesus to be the light to lighten the Gentiles, to be the glory of all people. To show that God is for all creation. God is not confined to one group, to one denomination, to one country or people, but is there for all. James makes this plain: we cannot say we really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if we show favouritism, if we act with partiality towards one group of people, to those who dress nicely or look and behave like us. Charity doesn’t begin at home, with those we identify with, with those we know. It begins with need, with those in need, whoever and wherever they are. If God has a bias, then, as Moltmann puts it, as James reiterates, that bias is in favour of the poor and oppressed, because humanity certainly doesn’t show them favouritism. As Proverbs tells us, rich and poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all. There is no difference, we are all created in the image of God. We are all equally and unconditionally loved by God. But we are also tasked to protect and help those who are poor, not rob them, not make them feel worse, not give them the dregs, make them sit lower, push them aside in favour of those who are rich, those who have power, those who might be able to do something for us. The poor, as much as the rich, perhaps more so, are our neighbour. And we have a duty to them, because of our faith, because of the love of God to us, and to them. We have a duty not to be hypocritical and pour blessings on those who have nothing whilst telling them, “go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill”, even though they actually have nothing! Our faith requires us to show God’s love, to be impartial, to overcome our prejudices and favouritisms and to love those in need as ourselves. Because faith by itself, if it has no works, if it is just words with no love, no compassion, no action, is dead.
We are to welcome all, to care for all equally, just as God welcomes and cares for all equally. Just as Jesus welcomed and cared for all who came to him, or to whom he went. He spoke to all, women, the sick, the despised, the outcast, the deaf, lepers, those whose ailments separated them from society, and brought them home. Just as he meets us where we are, all of us, and brings us home. And we are to do likewise, to share God’s love, our love, with all and show this in our lives, following the example of Christ, the one who reached out to all he met, who touched those who were unclean and mixed with those others rejected. So, we must live out God’s impartiality in our lives, following his example and obeying his command, seen in the life, ministry and mission of God’s Son. Amen.
The Revd Jackie Sellin