We are called to live in communion with each other without reserve or prejudice because that is how God loves and shows mercy to us.
8 If you really fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. James 2:8-9.
The Letter of James was written somewhere between 40-60 AD and is the clearest example in the New Testament, of the kind of Jewish wisdom literature that we find in the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiasticus and Wisdom. It contains short statements and observations for living wisely and behaving well amid the trials and difficulties of life. It encourages its readers, (believers living within, and outside of Israel – the Diaspora) to be strong in their faith and to work for the common good. At the heart of this Letter is the importance of community cohesion.
James, criticises his community for discriminating against other people, including their fellow believers on superficial grounds when God loves everyone equally. The sin of ‘partiality’ originally addressed in the books of Leviticus 19:15-18 and Deuteronomy 15 as part of the social obligations of the Law is highlighted by Jesus in the Synoptic gospels as a moral concern. Jesus tells the ‘Parable of the Wedding Feast’ (Matthew 22:1-14) to show that anyone can and should be invited to the celebration, not just the wealthy and important. The Pharisees then test Jesus on the tax laws and Caesar’s tribute when they begin saying: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God.” (Matthew 22:15-22; Mark 12:13-17 and Luke 20:20-26). This challenge to partiality is further developed by Paul in Romans 2 and Galatians 2:6.
We are encouraged to live in communion with each other without reserve or prejudice because that is how God loves and shows mercy to us. This is the ‘royal law’ that the Scriptures refer to and insist upon if we are to call ourselves Christians. This commandment must work at every level of society and in all our different relationships: at home; in school and work; in our parishes and wider communities. Christ came to break down all the walls of hostility that divided the rich from the poor, the outcast from the Pharisee, the young from the old, the Jew from the Gentile, the citizen from the migrant. He made friends with many
so-called ‘enemies.’ Around Jesus all were welcome, no-one was left out from his forgiving, healing embrace.
This text has rich multi-cultural implications for our parishes today. The Universal Church has an inherent and God‑given diversity. This diversity is experienced at the parish level and in the worldwide reach of the Catholic Church. In our technologically advanced age, our neighbour is both next door and living on another continent. ‘To love our neighbour as our self’, means more than simple kindness over the fence. It requires compassion and hospitality across the ether as part of our commitment to global welfare.
When we show no partiality, when we do not discriminate against another person, we bring about the Kingdom of God here on earth. After Jesus had died, Paul sought for a unity in diversity, a relationship in Christ that both transcended and affirmed one’s ethnicity, gender, and status. Every person in each of the house churches he founded had formed an identity apart from Christ and then in Christ. The early Church, during the times in which James wrote this Letter clearly defied the cultural and religious norms. This new Church was being built, not on a received social-political or economic agenda, but on the all-inclusive gospel of Jesus Christ.
In the places where we live and pray, there are numerous churches of different traditions and with different social and ethnic mixes. It is part of our life and culture that we want to choose where we live and what we do, and therefore where we pray and worship. Christians in Paul and James’ times did not have such choices, they had to engage in the diversity of those who were ‘in Christ’. We are called to engage in this same diversity, to work towards community cohesion in our parishes and communities, and to be that reconciling voice when we see the sin of partiality raising its hand.
When we follow Christ, we are challenged to separate ourselves from sin but never from other people. God’s grace which came through Jesus, makes this new Kingdom possible. The life of discipleship is not the security of a small group of like-minded companions. Rather it is an invitation to live free from fear and prejudiced views of others, welcoming them instead, as brothers and sisters in the one Christ.
Our model for community wellbeing has to be as diverse and as extensive as the good news Jesus preached.
