24 February 2022
Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire.
From James 5:1-6, NRSV
In the time that James was writing, the Church in Jerusalem was having some cash flow problems and needed the help of other churches. This may help to explain why James is so strong in his warnings to the rich who presumably were not paying their fair share. It is not so much the possession of wealth that James warns against but the means by which it has been obtained. James goes on to suggest that selfishness and cheating has allowed some to amass wealth at the expense of others who have been mistreated in the process.
- Do you think the rich deserved the miseries that James warned of?
- Is James’s warning still relevant?
Pray for a more just sharing of the earth’s resources and for a world in which poverty will be eradicated.
