Overlooked
James 2:1-8, 12-17
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James 2:1-8, 12-17 (NRSV):
1 My (friends), do not claim the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory while showing partiality. 2 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, 3 and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here in a good place, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved (friends). 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? 6 But you have dishonored the poor person. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into the courts? 7 Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you? 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.
12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. 14 What good is it, my (friends), if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it? 15 If a (friend) is naked and lacks daily food 16 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? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
Queries:
What did you need that you didn’t get?
Why didn’t you get that?
What was that like?
Can anything be done?
What do you need that you aren’t getting?
Why aren’t you getting that?
What’s that like?
Can anything be done?