Monday, 17th Week of Ordinary Time

James 2:1-13
Morning Prayer

When we use the Rite I Eucharist, we begin with Jesus’s summary of the Jewish law, of which the second great commandment is: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  So James quotes this “royal law” of Jesus.  But writing to “the twelve tribes in the Dispersion” (1:1), James’s audience is one of Jewish Christians.  And so, James doesn’t just cite Jesus’s citation of Leviticus 19:18.  He explains what it practically means to love your neighbor as yourself.

When James implores his readers to “show no partiality,” he is quoting Lev. 19:15.  This demand of impartial treatment makes it clear that the first step to loving one’s neighbor is to treat them no differently than you would want to be treated.  Love is not an emotion; it is a concrete action on behalf of others.  It also turns out that James and Leviticus share the same concern about where “partial” treatment is likely to occur.  “[H]as not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom?” James asks.  “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great,” the people of Israel are commanded (19:15).  To love one’s neighbor as oneself is to not let the wealthy use their wealth to get special treatment from those who enact the law, execute the law, and judge the law.

This is where things get tricky.  Love of neighbor is not just a matter of personal charity.  It is first and foremost a matter of justice.  Love of neighbor is not apolitical.  In a democratic society like ours, that means debate and disagreement between Christians of good faith.  But if James is right, then we cannot avoid this debate.  For instance, one of the biggest issues in the Alabama Legislature this year was a proposal to eliminate the sales tax for groceries, and to replace the lost revenue by eliminating a state tax deduction for higher-income taxpayers.  Here is the most balanced story on the issue that I could find.  For those of us who “hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ;” how should that faith guide us as citizens who govern through our elected representatives?  How do we enact our love of our neighbors?