He hears your cry!

As mentioned before there are clear examples of James being influenced by the words of his brother and Lord, Jesus, especially his teachings on the poor and the oppressed in society. Drawing much from the Sermon on the Mount James expands more fully and does not hold back in the challenge he brings.

We live in an unjust world. It always has been since the beginning of time. We only have to turn on the news to see it. We will do so today and it will be there again, injustice.

Times though have always been bad, and what we read here with the people James is writing to, is a similar situation. They’re living in an unjust time. Being treated unjustly.

So begins the encouragement.

“Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on 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 workers 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 the innocent one, who was not opposing you.” (James 5 v 1-6)

James is following the style of writing that Jewish culture would teach. ‘Now listen” or “Come now..” This could make us think James is speaking to the rich he is warning. But he isn’t. He is using a rhetorical device used by the OT prophets. This wasn’t James speaking in a way that would call the people to repentance so much, but rather an encouragement to God’s people, an encouragement not to fear those that threatened them. James is saying as if it were “don’t become like them, for they are on dangerous ground.” James doesn’t pull any punches which gives us an understanding of the pain that these people have caused.

There is misery coming. All will face justice. There will be a time when everyone has to face justice. The people hearing James would have been pleased to hear that. That justice will come and those persecuting will have to deal with the consequences of their actions.

He is saying misery is upon you, already what you have is wasting away. Your wealth is rotting. What you counted on you are losing. Your clothes are being eaten by moths. Your gold and silver are corroded. James is giving an imagery of what they think is all powerful is not so. Not even the gold which they think is unable to rust will last. They are not as secure as they think. Your flesh is eaten, meaning that not only their possessions but they themselves will be destroyed. They face death, and not a blessed hopeful one either.

Why? They hoarded their wealth, living in luxurious self-indulgence. Being wealthy isn’t wrong. But these were people who didn’t use their wealth for others and they have absolutely no thought of using it for God and His kingdom. And they were treating people awfully.

They have mistreated people. They became fat off other people’s efforts and they treated these people poorly. They overworked and underpaid them. They defrauded those who worked for them.

They have murdered the innocent. In the Jewish world to deprive a person of what they are due is equal to killing them. The murder is probably something to do with the framers ending up in prison because they could not pay the land-rent to their wealthy landowners because these very same people were defrauding them of their wages.

It is akin to the terrible suffering of the brick-factory workers of India and Pakistan who end up generationally held by what was at the beginning a small loan taken out by a late relative but due to the horrendous percentage interest means it will be generations before the family are freed, if ever.

God has heard the cry. God – the Lord Almighty. The real power lies with him, not with those who abuse, who mistreat, who lie and hurt. He is the all-powerful one. The Lord Almighty hears the cry of the harvester. He hears the cry of the sexually and physically abused. He hears the cry from those suffering under a terrorist regime. He hears the cry from those who are struggling due to being a financial slave to the loan-shark. He hears the cry of those who are trafficked across the world.

He hears your cry, James says.

Today, He hears our cry too. We have a God who knows what it is like to suffer, and who did not want a world of suffering for us. He meets us in suffering doesn’t abandon us.

We live in an unjust world and it can be really tough at times. But you can do this, you can thrive and flourish because it is not all that it seems. Justice will come and justice will prevail.