James 2 JUDGING WITH EVIL INTENT

James says that we should not stereotype or judge with bias toward one person and against another. I'm sure most of us fight against that natural tendency, especially on Sundays. However, I think that the scenario that James describes is still very common today, without conscious attention to the Holy Spirit's leading.

Let me draw the scene: I am greeting people on Sunday morning, and from across the room I see an attractive, well-dressed young couple. I also see someone who evidently walked here, with shabby clothes and an unkempt appearance. Which one will I talk to more enthusiastically? Which will I offer to sit with? Which one am I more likely to invite to my house for Sunday dinner? Which do I secretly want to be friends with?

James is rather ungracious in the way he judges us for our natural behavior, don't you think? He says that we have "evil motives" in treating someone with favoritism. I wouldn't say my motives are evil as such, I would say they are natural. After all, church growth experts for years have been telling us that homogenous churches grow best. People are simply more attracted to people who are like themselves (or who they want to think themselves to be most like, perhaps). Besides, I tell myself, my life is full already. I don't need another high maintenance relationship.

For as natural ("fleshly") as that sounds, can you see the "evil" in it? Really, what I am saying is that I want someone who will give to me (or to my church), rather than someone to whom I must give. I want to invest in someone who will at least give back to me equally what I gave to him or her. But I don't want to put myself out, or to enter into a so-called friendship with someone who needs counseling, finances, and who will up and leave after I have been milked dry of my energy and resources.

Still doesn't sound evil? Consider Jesus. What did we ever "give" to Him? What does He get out of His relationship to us? He treats us each as if we were lovely, but we are the ones who put Him on the cross. He came to heal all those who came to Him, to feed all those in the crowd, to die for the sins of the whole world. Jesus told us specifically to invite to dinner those who could never return the favor, didn't He?

Why is there so little teaching on this subject today? And why is the church so segregated? Are the two related? Do we have a huge blind spot that we simply have never noticed before?

For as radical as we are as a church, I have seen my "evil" story played out almost on a weekly basis at cciph! I myself fall prey to trying to "sell" our church to those people whom I think will respond philosophically. I am enthused to see college students, because they are intelligent and educated, and they will think like me. I am enthused to see apparently-wealthy people, because if they are generous, they could help my church. I like attractive people, because they look like me! (Well, I think so)

I think this attitude is one of the worst, most heinous, secrets of the modern church! Theoretically, we want our church to be multi-cultural, but our own attitude is like going to the zoo: see another culture, get a five-minute sampling of it, and then go back to our comfort zone. But Jesus calls us to JOIN one another's cultures, not just visit briefly. If our community is to be a place of uncommon unity, it must begin with the way we treat strangers! Red, yellow, black, white, Appalachian, African, Latino, German, northern, southern, urban, rural, we are ONE! Jesus, let us be one!
-ken