The Audience of James
My dear friends, the first reading today is very interesting. St James is addressing the Jews, who were known for their commercial abilities and expertise in business and trade. As such, they changed cities and developed the economies of the areas they lived in. To that effect, countries offered them citizenship to reside and trade in their localities. But the quest to make more money and the wealth they had acquired pushed them beyond expectations in planning their daily activities without due reference and consultation to God. And it is within this context that they say to each other: ‘today and tomorrow, we are off to this or that town; we are going to spend a year there, trading, and making some money’ (James 4:13).
The Sin of Pride
James confronts the pride and arrogance in the above statement of his audience because they conclude their plans without acknowledging God’s sovereign authority and power over them. This is also the problem of our age and time. They now play God and act as if they have power over their future -a sign of self-sufficiency and autonomy that they have acquired out of the ‘progress’ they have made in wealth. Their pride, which is a great vice, now makes them act in a manner as if sharing power and authority with God. This is what James is condemning as the bible warns: ‘remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other’ (Is 46:9).
We are not meant to share honor with God nor compete for supremacy with him. We are only finite beings and His creatures, while He is the Alpha and Omega, the author and finisher of our lives. We must give Him the honor that is due to him. For He has the sovereign power over everything now and forever. Hence, James warns his listeners: ‘You cannot know what will happen tomorrow’ (James 4:14). He urged them to stop boasting and to understand that the power to know the future belongs to God alone.
The Right Teaching
The Apostle James did not stop at that. Rather, he went on to instruct his audience to commit their life and future into the hands of God because our life is dependent on Him alone. He teaches his audience not to claim powers to run their affairs outside the being of God. We do not have the ability to know what will happen in the nearest future or even the next minute. He warned them not to overlook our dependence on God, but to always anchor everything we do in His powers. We should say like St Paul: ‘if it is the Lord’s will, we shall still be alive to do this or that.’ This is how we need to entrust all our plans and aspirations into the hands of the Lord, the giver of life.
He warned them not to be proud over their wealth nor boast over their achievement for they have no knowledge of what a day may bring forth for them. Thus, he continues: ‘anyone who knows the right thing to do and doesn’t do it commits a sin (James 4:17). Finally, he called on his audience to live and trust in divine providence and power. Thus the Scripture says: ‘blessed are those who put their trust in the Lord; whose trust is in the Lord’ (Jeremiah 17:7).
James, certainly, is not against having goods of this world as businessmen and women. He only wants to let us know that we should have the correct attitude towards them. The plans we make without due reference to God is what he is condemning. Planning is not something evil. It is even recommended in the scripture: Luke 14: 28-32; Rom 15: 20-28. But he wants us to plan or do things in total surrender to the will of God. And this is the right way to live and do things in our relationship with God.
Peace be with you.
