Faith, Love and Neighbor
James 2:14-16 talks about faith and deeds. James starts off by asking what good is faith if there are no deeds to accompany it? Then he says this in verses 15-16:
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?
I was reading a commentary on this passage years ago, and there were some things said there that have stuck with me. Remember when Moses was at the burning bush, and God was telling him I want you to go to Pharaoh and tell him “let my people go”? And Moses kept coming up with excuses not to go? Moses eventually fessed up that he didn’t want to do it, and he finally said in Exodus 4:13 - ”please send someone else to do it” In a subtle way, that’s what is happening in James’ scenario here. The speaker is wishing well to the person in need - “I wish you well. Keep warm and well fed”. But notice in saying this the speaker is mimicking Moses by saying “let someone else keep you warm and well fed.” The phrasing of the statement makes it clear that the speaker isn’t going to be the one to help the one in need. The speaker is all for it, but the speaker wants someone else to do the warming and feeding.
That kind of point, as made by James, can be convicting. How often do we wish well for others, or want well for others? And compare that to how often do we actually do things to help others? I suspect there is some level of disparity there. I know there is for me, personally. James is saying that wishing well for others doesn’t do much if you’re not actually doing something to help that person. As he says in the passage - “what good is it?” What good are well wishes? They’re nice sentiments, but some tangible help is really what James wants the Christians to do.
Continuing to think on this passage, I’ve begun to see another angle - also convicting, and maybe more - so than what James had to say. In the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37, in the lead up to the parable, an expert in the law asks Jesus, “who is my neighbor?” That’s verse 29. Luke also adds in his narrative, the expert wanted to justify himself with his question. Luke doesn’t say it, but we can probably safely assume the expert wanted to justify his NOT having to help his neighbor.
Whenever we go looking for reasons (maybe we could also say “excuses'“) for why we do not need to help someone, we become like the expert in the law. We are that person in James who is not helping. Even worse, in this case, we’re not even appearing to have well wishes for the person in need. The second greatest commandment, that the expert cited in his discussion with Jesus, is to love your neighbor as yourself. But if we’re not helping when our neighbor needs help, we are not loving our neighbor. I’ve heard Walter Brueggemann put it this way - when we classify others as a liability, a threat, or a competitor, we move them out of the category of neighbor, and in our doing so, we feel “justified” in not treating them as our neighbor. We feel “justified” in not loving them or helping them. We feel “justified” in not even having to love that person. Sadly, we seem to feel ‘justified” that the person in need is not human. Jesus is telling the expert that there is no occasion where we can consider someone in need to not be our neighbor. James is saying then that our faith needs to be accompanied by deeds to help our neighbor, and we do not need to rely on, or hope someone else helps the person in need.
When we treat all of our human family as our neighbor, we will love them, and we will help them. We will not look for reasons to justify ourselves for not helping them. We will not wish them well, and hope someone else takes care of their problems. We will be the people who are the ones helping those in need. And in so doing, we are doing our part to accomplish what Jesus prayed for in the Lord’s prayer - that we are bringing the kingdom of God to earth, as it is in heaven.
-Mike Hendricks
