God Has No Favorites

In today’s first reading, James 2: 1-9, St. James challenges us in terms of how we would treat a poor person and a wealthy individual both entering our assembly or entering into our presence. Would we show deference to the wealthy person and ignore the poor—much worse send the poor away in disgust? St. James then reminds us that the poor are “rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom.” Not that the wealthy cannot be “rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom,” but in “discarding,” or ignoring the poor in preference to the rich, I am engaging in sinful behaviors. In fact, I am, in such a instance, poorer, much poorer, than the ragged, plain-clothed individual. God has no favorites, St. James reminds me. I am no better off than any other person nor is anyone else better off than me. All of us--the rich and the poor, the employed and the unemployed, blue-collared workers and garbage collectors, farmers and executives, doctors and domestic workers--are totally dependent upon the mercy of God. We all stand before Him as sinners, heirs of the Kingdom only because of God’s mercy. Lord, may I welcome the poor and learn from them. May I realize that we stand on the same playing field, are on the same journey to the Promised Land, waiting the same reward for our dependence upon You, our humility, our faith, our love, our trust, our repentance and the good works we do here on earth in proclaiming and building up Your Kingdom.