In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
It was a beautiful sunny Sunday morning, the congregation had just settled into their service and had begun to sing the first hymn, when their attention was disturbed by a young man who was aimlessly wandering down the aisle.
He was unkempt, and there was a subtle, yet unpleasant aroma around him, some ignored him and carried on singing, while others had a look of disdain on their faces. They could see that he was looking for a place to sit, but was struggling to see anywhere, so he simply walked to the very end of the aisle, and sat on the floor right there.
As the hymn ended, there were some murmurings as people took their place, and this ceased as people watched the churchwarden make his way down the young man. You could see in some eyes was the look of satisfaction, they all knew what the churchwarden was going to do, he was going to get him to leave, so their time in church wasn’t disturbed.
As he got to the young man, he bent over as if he was going to talk to him, but he continued in his descent, and simply sat next to him, so that he could share his service book with him, and the service continued, with the look of unapproving astonishment on some people’s faces.
While this is just a story, it emphasises the point that James is making in the epistle very well for us, how do we treat people, and does their demeanour change the way that we look at them? We may think this only happens to some people, which itself is our own unconscious bias at work, but this kind of thing can happen to anyone of us.
A couple of years ago I was in a position not unlike our young man in the story, you see I needed a new suit, and Mikki and I were on leave and had decided to go into Manchester as it was somewhere she had never been to before, you know what I’m like when I’m off duty especially in summer, shorts, t-shirt and often flip flops, and after visiting a couple of museums on our way back to the car, we walked past Moss Bros. so, I suggested that we popped in so I could have a look for a suit.
I had been looking around for about 5 or 10 minutes, and while we were the only people in there, none of the three assistants on duty acknowledged or approached me.
Eventually, I found a suit I liked, and asked one of the assistants if they had my size, and was greeted with and abrupt no, so feeling unwelcome we left.
Funnily enough about a week later I was in Manchester for a meeting, fully attired in my clericals, so I decided to perform an experiment. So, I popped back in, within 30 seconds of walking through the door the assistant who didn’t want to know me the week before immediately greeted me and was now by my side asking how he could help, saddened by what I witnessed I politely thanked him and left.
James in our epistle this morning reminds us that we should not judge another because of their outward appearance, instead we should be looking beyond the outer to the whole person and get to know them, because we never know what is there below the surface.
Each of these people is a child of, and loved by God, and as James rightly reminds us, that ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself’ and continues by warning of showing partiality, instead calling us to demonstrate mercy instead of judgement, and reminds us of that which we considered last week, that we must be hearers and doers of the word, by ensuring that our faith produces works, otherwise what’s the point?
Now you may be wondering well how does this sit with our Gospel this morning? Readers could be forgiven for thinking that Christ was rude to the Syrophoenician woman when she asked for his help. In one sense yes, it could be seen in this way, but we also need to remember that at this point in his ministry his goal was to teach the house of Israel about who he was, and this gentile woman was not Hebrew.
But notice how when she replied to Him, He recognised within her the strength of faith that she had. The woman, knew who Christ was, she knew He could heal her daughter, and she wasn’t about to give up because she wasn’t a Hebrew.
Christ looked deep within this woman, he saw not only the deep need that she had, to protect her daughter, but that she was willing to do whatever was needed to receive his blessing, and because of this He healed her daughter, and she went away knowing that that personal encounter that she had with Christ had not only changed her, but had also saved her daughter.
This healing is then followed by another, a deaf man, who after being touched by Christ is able to hear, and as a result of this is now able to speak clearly. In of itself this miracle appears to be no different from the other healings that Christ has performed, but Hooker suggests that this healing is to be seen not just as the restoration of hearing, but that there is a suggestion that this miracle, due to the way that it was performed in private was to help us to think about how we are enabled to hear spiritually, so that just as James alludes to we can be doers of the word, because we hear the words of Christ himself, and act upon them.
The scripture today should give us pause for thought, do we strive to live out the faith we proclaim in all its fullness, or are we attracted to the possibilities and trappings of wealth, power and position by only associating with those, who through our own unconscious bias may further our progression in life?
Paul in his letter to the Galatians says ‘As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.’
If we are to follow in the steps of our saviour, then we must continually challenge ourselves to be like him in our dealings with others, not judging others from what they wear, or how they act, but by looking deep under the surface to give the opportunity to get to know this child of God before us.
To wonder in awe at the gifts they have been blessed with, to enable them to reach the fullness of life in Christ, and allow them to help us to do the same, so that we don’t end up entrenched in a place where we are unable to reach our full potential.
The stories I told at the beginning reminds us that we should all show hospitality to others, judging a book by its cover is one of the worst things we can do.
I went to another suit shop dressed exactly the same, and the chap who helped me looked past what he saw, and gave me excellent service.
The Churchwarden looked past what others saw, and through the simple act of sitting with him, welcomed a brother in faith into the house of God so that he could worship with others, and have the opportunity to be part of the family of God.
The book of proverbs say – ‘Some give freely, yet grow all the richer;
others withhold what is due, and only suffer want. A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water.’
Our actions will always speak louder than our words, and how we demonstrate our faith in action will remain in the heart and mind of another long after the event itself.
Amen.
