James 2:1-10, 14-17 It’s what’s on the inside that matters

Love your neighbour as yourself

These days image counts for a lot. Politicians have spin doctors to create the perfect photo opportunity whenever possible. Celebrities and stars have lifestyle gurus, and even we can’t escape from this pressure, with TV programmes and magazine articles devoted to how we should dress, and so forth. We live in a world where appearance matters. But as Christians we believe something different. We believe that what matters is not our outward appearance but what is our hearts that matters. The trouble is we all at one time or another, make judgements (and assumptions) about people, because of the way they dress, or speak, the colour of their skin, their age, their sex, etc.. This is what James accuses the church of doing in his letter. He accuses people of favouritism, of favouring the well dressed over the ragged, those who look good over those who smell bad.

I imagine that we would say we’re not like that. But I wonder, are there people within our community who we are inclined to ignore? When you go into town, and see a homeless person sitting on the street, what is your immediate reaction? Or when you see a gang of youths hanging around on a street corner, what’s your first thought. Are there people on the world stage we’re inclined to push aside or forget? James suggests in his letter than as Christians we are measured and judged by how we treat other people. My dear brothers and sisters… never think some people are more important than others… “Love your neighbour as you love yourself.” If you obey this law, you are doing right. But if you treat one person as being more important than another, you are sinning. You are guilty of breaking God’s law. How do we achieve this? Love starts at home, it starts with those people who we see day by day. Mother Teresa, when asked how she could help the poor and destitute of Calcutta said this, she said, “Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.” And if we begin to see Jesus is each person, it will help us to see them as God sees them, and to love them. Because every person is made in the image of God, and that gives them a dignity and respect, that no one can take from them. Mother Teresa also said that. If you judge people, if you show favouritism, then you have no time to love them. What I have sometimes found helpful is to consider WWJD, (What Would Jesus Do?), how would he treat this person, what would he say, what would he do in this situation, to show that person that they are of infinite worth? If we are committed to doing this as Christians, it will change the way we treat others, because we’ll start to see Jesus in each person.