Rich in Hope

A Reflection on the Second Reading for Sunday, September 29th, 2024:
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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James
5.1-6

​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.

You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

Well, this is a cheery Second Reading.

Actually, it doesn’t seem so bad when I first read it. It’s easy for me to skim through this reading and think, “Wow, glad I don’t have a yacht or anything. I’d hate to be one of those people Jesus is talking to here…!” (Cue the “wiping my brow with relief” gif.)

Like the rich man in the temple, it’s so easy for me to find comfort in my smug dismissal of this warning as being for “those people.” Because it’s a lot less comfortable to consider to whom Jesus is actually speaking in this passage. 

Of course, it sounds pretty straightforward: He specifically addresses “you rich people.” But does God actually hate or distrust those with material wealth? Does having money or worldly property make you inherently sinful or incapable of goodness? We don’t have a God who would dislike or dismiss those who have success on earth. 

When Jesus preaches against “rich people,” He’s not actually disparaging their material wealth. He’s condemning their devotion to their wealth, their belief that money and material possessions are the most important thing in the world, something for which we should strive above all else. We’ve probably all heard the scripture (mis)quote, “Money is the root of all evil”; the actual quote (from 1 Timothy 6:10) is, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.” Money is not the problem – the love of money is the problem. Wandering away from the faith in the pursuit of richness is the problem. If we really want to get down to brass tacks, wandering away from the faith in pursuit of anything else is the problem.

Oof.

I know that I’m quite rich by global standards, living as I do in comfort in a developed nation with significant social supports. But even if that weren’t the case, I would be a long way from being “safe” from this passage. Jesus is not condemning people with a certain bank balance. He’s condemning prioritizing things other than His love and the building of the Kingdom of God. He’s condemning acting in ways that don’t support a professed devotion to Him. He’s condemning lots of things that, yes, I unthinkingly do all the time. 

But, as always, I can take comfort in knowing that He is not condemning me. I can take comfort in knowing that we have a merciful God who wants what is best for me and won’t rest until He calls it forth. This reading seems bleak, but hope is not lost. Jesus is our hope, as long as we choose to pursue and rely on Him.

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​Elizabeth Craig

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