NOTES for Jam 5:1-6

¹Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

²Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

³Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

⁴Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

⁵Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

⁶Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

And this is about us too... We so want to say: how can this possibly have anything to do with me?! I have hardly ever seen any money at all, and what little I have—can that really be called money? Can that be called wealth?

And yet this is about us. James is not saying that the mere possession of money terribly hinders one’s relationship with God. He is speaking about what happens when a person relies on wealth and considers that wealth his support. It is then that, for the sake of this wealth, he forgets God and robs his neighbors... And when wealth is treated in this way, it rusts. But wait, can gold rust? That is precisely the point. Each of us has treasures that can rust and perish if we place our hope in them, rely on them alone, think about them more than about our neighbors and God, and love them more than the Lord... What are these treasures? For one person, they are gifts and abilities. For another, time; for someone else, freedom. In short, such treasures are whatever we would be unable to give up right now. And now, honestly, let us remember what constitutes such wealth for us—and reread the passage once more.

Other notes

For Jam 5:1-9

¹Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

²Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

³Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

⁵Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

⁶Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

⁷Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

⁸Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

⁹Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

The apostle James uses the metaphor of rusted gold and silver to point not to the material side... Read more

The apostle James uses the metaphor of rusted gold and silver to point not to the material side of life, but to the goals and meaning of every kind of accumulation. Accumulated experience, fame and recognition as a specialist, a great public figure, success in business, academic degrees - these are the very gold and silver that rust and will be a testimony against us. And the goals we set for ourselves are our treasure. They mean very little for the future. None of the successes of this world is required in order to love our neighbors, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. And for a believer, a churchgoing person who reads the Gospel, awareness of the smallness and inconspicuousness of our successes before the world and before God must become fundamental. When the Apostle says, "Lament and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into gloom," he calls us to pay attention to the fact that we strive for joy and merriment, that we drive difficult and heavy thoughts away from ourselves. But there is no joy in the world. We carry joy in our hearts. And this joy is from God. He alone can grant it to us. Yet we look in this world for a substitute for relationship with Him. And we understand that we must do good, we feel the need for it, but the mercy we have shown and the help we have given do not bring us joy if through them we do not glorify God and thank Him for the opportunity to help and to be near someone in need.

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NOTES for Jam 5:1-6

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Readings for 23 May 2002

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