Bible reading: James 2:1-10.

Many of us will have seen the homeless man who’s camping in the bus shelter in front of St Philip Evans church; I know nothing about him except his name which, I believe, is Matthew Chapman. I do know that the relevant social services have been called to offer him support, I know that the Food Bank people who meet in the church hall have helped him, I know that the volunteers in the Churches Together Shop have invited him to have a free lunch whenever he wishes, although he hasn’t taken them up on that. So he hasn’t been ignored.

But I wonder what we’d do if he turned up on Sunday morning for a service? Bearing in mind that homeless people are often a bit grubby, unshaven, and unkempt, how would we welcome him at the door and what would we do if he came and sat next to us? I suspect that we’d probably grit our teeth, do the right thing, shake his hand and say “hallo”; however we might shuffle a little bit down the pew if we felt he was sitting a bit too close to us, and we’d might be a bit wary of having a nice little chat with him after the service. Am I right? I think so!

Let me now give you a different scenario. How would we respond if we were told that King Charles was going to be worshipping with us? Would we give the church carpets a special Hoovering, would we spring clean the toilets (or at least the “ensuite” one), would we all turn out in our best clothes, would we make sure to reserve him a parking space, would we escort him to the best pew in the church (wherever that is) or give him a specially comfy chair to sit on? I guess that we would do those things as a mark of respect (although one or two folk might just stand outside with placards saying “Not my king!”). What we almost certainly wouldn’t do is simply treat him like any other visitor.

James, who wrote today’s Bible passage, would be very cross if he saw us acting in this way. I’m not saying that he was a Socialist or a Communist (as neither had been invented), but he certainly had no time for flummery, servility or status in the Church. I don’t know if the people who James was writing to had too much respect for status, but he certainly gave them have a good dressing-down in his letter: they were making snap judgements of people based on their outward appearance, they were creating distinctions and divisions in the Church where everyone is equal before God, they were dishonouring poor people who are loved by God, they were in fact breaking the whole spirit of the “royal law” which, from Leviticus to Jesus, had said, “Love your neighbour as yourself”. James clearly wanted to make his readers feel thoroughly ashamed of themselves!

It would be helpful to know the social mix of the people James was writing to. We don’t know, of course; but it’s more than likely that most of them came from humble backgrounds or may even have been slaves. I say this for two reasons. One is that there was a very clear class system in the Roman Empire. At the top were the Emperor, his retinue and the rich landowners, while at the bottom were slaves (and there were a lot of them). However the majority of folk were what we’d think of as “poor”: they owned no land, had few personal possessions, and spent all their income on life’s necessities. We can also note what Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth: “Think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth”. The Church was mostly made up of “little people” who were used to deferring to their supposed “superiors” – but Christ had established a new order.

We might have expected James’ readers to identify with the destitute man who entered their church. That’s because he could have been one of them, unable to work because of injury, or who’d had a poor harvest, or who was simply experiencing a run of bad luck. But they didn’t: they preferred to give their attention to the man who dazzled them by appearing to possess everything they lacked. He embodied all their hopes and desires: just imagine, someone like him in their church! Perhaps he could even offer them jobs! But, as one writer puts it, “In their eagerness to curry favour with the well-off, they slighted the one with whom they should have been in solidarity”. We might be reminded of Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus, in which worldly wealth and status are seen to have no value after death.

“Why”, we may well ask, “are so many people obsessed – or at least concerned – by status?” That’s a good question. One business writer believes that status is a universal human drive. He writes, “From the playground to the workplace, human beings organize themselves into groups. Within those groups, we want to be recognized and feel valued. Status is your rank relative to other people: your position within the group and the social prestige you have in the eyes of others. It’s also about how you see your value and worth within the group”. This writer goes on to say that “attention to social status is literally hardwired into our brains”. Another author, a Nobel prize-winning economist no less, echoes this view: “Apart from economic payoffs”, he says, “social status seems to be the most important incentive and motivating force of social behaviour”. So when Jesus said that the greatest would be the least and first would be the last; and when Paul wrote that there was no difference between Jew and Gentile, slave and free man, they were was turning ordinary human attitudes upside-down.

I mentioned St Paul earlier; and, as an aside, it’s interesting to look at his views on status. When we do, we need to remember that he was a Pharisee who, in Jewish terms, were an educated middle-class group of people often trying to climb further up the social ladder. He also had the coveted status of being a fully-fledged Roman citizen. As a Christian, Paul seems to downplay his status, saying that he was “less than the least of all the Lord’s people” and “did not deserve to be called an apostle, because he persecuted the Church”. However he had no hesitation in saying that he was superior to the so-called “super-apostles”, popular teachers who false teaching was, he believed, ruining the churches. Nor, when he was arrested for causing riots and disturbances, did he hesitate to claim his legal rights as a Roman citizen, demanding respectful treatment and using his right to be tried before Caesar himself. Paul may not have expected people to bow and scrape before him: but he did expect people to listen to him. So: was status really unimportant to him? I’m not entirely convinced!

It would be easy for us to look at this story and say, “Yes, of course churches should be places where everyone, regardless of appearance, is welcome”. For we all know that that’s true, we all know that Jesus made a point of reaching out to people who were looked down on or ignored by others. But I think we need to go a bit deeper than that, and look at the whole issue of status, sought and prized by so many people. I suspect that many people look to the trappings of status – whether they be a top-of-the-range car with a personalised number-plate, or a wardrobe full of designer clothing, or a house with a cinema in the basement and Old Masters on the walls, or whatever, not just because these are nice things to have, but because they actually feel insecure and need to demonstrate to the world around that they’ve “arrived”. I rather like the story of the Earl of Somewhere who walked around his estate in tatty old clothes because “everyone there knew who he was”, and did the same in London because “no-one there knew who he was” – he felt secure in his status and didn’t need to prove it, whether to other people or himself.

Alfred Thomas was a Llanedeyrn man, whose distinguished political career included building the Llanishen water reservoir, pushing for the University College of South Wales to be located in Cardiff rather than Swansea, helping to fund the School of Medicine and supporting the foundation of the National Museum, of which he became the first President. He was Mayor of Cardiff and later served as the MP for East Glamorgan for many years, being elevated to the peerage in 1912 as the first Lord Pontypridd. Thomas was a devout Christian, a member of Tabernacl Chapel in The Hayes who served as Sunday School Superintendent and as a deacon – a post which he regarded as his highest honour. When Thomas became a peer, Tabernacl’s minister, the Rev. Charles Davies, faced a problem, as he wanted to reserve the title “Lord” for God alone. How could he overcome his difficulty? He did it by calling Alfred Thomas (in Welsh of course) “our brother Lord Pontypridd”, with the emphasis firmly on the word “brother” rather than on “lord”. I don’t know what Alfred Thomas thought of that, but I’m sure that James would have approved!

Christians ought to be humble people: as Peter wrote in his letter, “Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because ‘God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble’.” Even Jesus said that he did not seek glory for himself; and of course his mother Mary, in the “Magnificat”, declared that God “has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts, brought down rulers from their thrones, lifted up the humble, filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty”. Christians also ought to be unconcerned with their status in society – which isn’t to say that we must live in poverty, being constantly ground down by the rich and powerful. We need to remember not only that we all, irrespective of who we are, are equal before God and have only been saved by his grace; we must also remember that we have been raised up by him to be priests and kings.

Christ has turned human values upside-down. The highest in society becomes the lowest, the first becomes the last, all are unique and equal in God’s sight. Let’s put that into practice in the church and welcome lords and ladies, business executives and bus drivers, toilet cleaners and tramps, well-dressed and dowdy, in exactly the same way. That might not be easy for you or for me; but as Christians we have no choice. After all, it’s what the Bible tells us we must do.