JAMES 5:1-6 WEALTH – FOR BETTER OR WORSE
1 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.
It is difficult to be humble and rich at the same time. Success breeds pride and the most obvious measure of success is material wealth. This prideful attitude can be manifested in oppression and disregard on one side and as a patronizing superiority toward the “less fortunate” on the other. In addition, when one lives with excess, he comes to believe that it is not possible to live without it. Thus his dependence on his material possessions grows at the expense of his dependence on God. Sadly this scenario is not that different in or out of the church.
From Amos’ “cows of Bashan” (Amos 4:1-2) to the rich young ruler of the Gospels (Matthew 19:15-24) to the teachers of Timothy’s church (1 Timothy 6:9-10), wealth has ever been a distraction from our walk with God, and therefore under his judgment. As St. Paul wrote to Timothy, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6:10). Wealth is not an evil in itself, but rather presents us with an opportunity to lose our humble dependence upon God. Timothy is further instructed to “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17).
The central message of St. James is that we are called to live in humble submission to God, and this submission must be exclusive. He is the sovereign Creator and he has created us for a purpose. Not only has he given us a purpose, but he has provided us with the resources necessary for the community of believers to achieve that purpose. Our wealth is given to us as a community resource, not in the way of the communes of the 1960s, but through the faithful stewardship of those members of the Body who are wealthy for the proper functioning of the whole Body. Our wealth, no matter how extensive or limited, is to be a tool for service rather than an instrument for power.
Father, all I have comes from you. Inspire me to use these gifts for the furtherance of your will in the world. Empower me to break from my dependence upon my possessions so that I may employ them in the holy calling of your Church. Grow in me a spiritually healthy humility that will increase my knowledge of my dependence upon you. Amen.