Sunday Best
We certainly do notice how people dress, don't we?
My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you? You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.[ For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.] What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. - James 2:1-10, [11-13], 14-17
Everyone used to put on their Sunday best to go to church.
Even the poor dressed up, possibly with the only suitable clothing they possessed.
It was not out of a sense of pride, but out of respect for God, for this is God's house. But by appearance, everyone was equal.
Yes, people knew who was poor and who was wealthy. Community by community, though, the economic gap between them was different. Poverty and wealth are relative.
People will disagree with me because they focus on the extremes, but if you happen to be at the low end of that spectrum within your community, you know it.
The kids may not realize where they are on the economic spectrum because they tend to have friends in the same economic class. It is only when they go to a larger school that they start to see major differences.
James gives us a hypothetical view of a noticeable difference because he wants us to question ourselves.
Are we more likely to accept someone of means than someone in need?
It depends on the community. If you are rejected by a wealthy community because of where you live (and this has happened to me) you don't go there. Instead you go where you are accepted.
It just happens to be that poorer communities are more accepting than wealthy ones.
Then again, if someone doesn't wear their Sunday best in a poor community, it may turn some heads.
More to come...