James
5:1 ¶ Go to now, ye rich men,
weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments
are motheaten. 3 Your gold and silver is
cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat
your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who
have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and
the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the
earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of
slaughter. 6 Ye have condemned and
killed the just; and he doth not resist you. 7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the
coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of
the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter
rain. 8 Be ye also patient; stablish
your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. 9 Grudge not one against another, brethren,
lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. 10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have
spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of
patience. 11 Behold, we count them happy
which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of
the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
In James
day the rich were not hindered by any Constitution or Bill of Rights that
protected the common man. The rich were only held back by their own good
character or by the favor of a ruler or authority. The rich could be abusive
and exploitative to the poorer person without any law to prevent them. However,
there were certain standards that elevated a Roman citizen such as the right to
face their accusers in a trial.
Here is an
indictment of the powerful wealthy of the Roman and Judean world of the first
century. Pay for workmen is held back and, in fact, they are guilty of
murdering the just and innocent. James encourages the oppressed laboring class,
the innocent victims of depredations, to patiently wait for the Lord to avenge
the wrongs done to them. The return of Christ is always right around the corner
and we are to wait expectantly.
Titus
2:11 ¶ For the grace of God that
bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12
Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the
glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem
us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of
good works.
God will
hold these wicked, powerful men to account, but their victims may have to wait
until Christ returns. This is a bitter pill for the suffering to swallow. I am
reminded of the rich and powerful in socialist countries who stole from and
slaughtered millions of their own countrymen in the 20th century.
The assumption in this first part of James, chapter 5, is that we live in a
hostile world with people in power who would harm us if they are able. We
should always be mindful of that and look to the Lord our God for deliverance
and justice.
Don’t
fight among and abuse each other but see to the prophets’ patience in your
behavior and in your heart. Let us remember that Christ did not resist His
murder. It is hard for us to accept if applied to our lives. Aren’t you
grateful you were born in a country with protections from the powerful? God
expresses tender mercy and He does pity us in our condition of which He is
fully aware, having shared it with us in His walk as one of us on the earth.
No comments:
Post a Comment