James 5:1-5 A Warning to the Rich Oppressors

That worked well I thought. Here's the next paragraph according to the NRSV:

Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

-- James 5:1-5

In keeping with earlier concerns about using alternate translations:

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 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. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. (NIV)

Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your 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. Behold, 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. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. (Good King Jimmy)

Well now, you rich! Lament, weep for the miseries that are coming to you. Your wealth is rotting, your clothes are all moth-eaten. All your gold and your silver are corroding away, and the same corrosion will be a witness against you and eat into your body. It is like a fire which you have stored up for the final days. Can you hear crying out against you the wages which you kept back from the labourers mowing your fields? The cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord Sabaoth. On earth you have had a life of comfort and luxury; in the time of slaughter you went on eating to your heart's content. (New Jerusalem)

Re: James 4:13-17

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money." Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.
-- James 4:13-17 (NRSV)


The defining lines in this verse for me are these: "...Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. "

We don't know what the future will bring. Our lives are so temporary. Almost all of us alive today will be gone in 100 years or less. Living as though God exists in us, perhaps a reasonable goal is that we are we able to fully appreciate this very moment. When I consider this very moment, I recognize its perfection, just the way it is, with not one thing needing to be different. To be fully mindful of God's presence, and the rich blessing of this present moment eliminates much fear and suffering.

"What is your life?..." This passage suggests that our life is illusory, and even this illusion will vanish in time. To accept the temporary and illusory nature of this life creates humility, and encourages us to drop any arrogance, and live a manner in which the God in us speaks.

This whole verse seems to teach us that it is not enough to talk about faith, but that we must live it with God in each moment.

Anyone Who Knows (James 4:17)

Well. The experiment seems to have been a success with postings ranging from personal response to outlining the echoes elsewhere in scripture this passage hooks up to.

Personally, the one line in this passage and indeed in the entire letter, that resonates most for me is this:

Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.

-- James 4:13-17 (NRSV)

I have mentioned fear before.

When I do a survey of my sins or my failures my weaknesses my challenges: I do not see the bad things that I do. I see the good things I left undone.

I see a woman rushing for the bus from the my seat warm inside and say nothing to the bus driver. I do not put the laundry on or do the dishes piling in the sink. I forget to tell my wife I love her. I vote with my ballot but not my wallet nor with my volunteer labour. I do not express my feelings, thoughts, hopes, needs, and then, I resent others for not living up to my expectations.

I do not create. I dabble. I dream of writing that great book, that amazing article, a poem, a short story. I write it but do not send it out. Or start it without finishing.

I will be remembered --

if at all -- not as lost
Violent souls, but only as the hollow men

-- T.S. Elliot

But with God all things are possible. I need only stop reserving the right to say, No Thank-you, when I call of Christ's Spirit for guidance and direction.

Marjorie on James 4:13-17

Foreward: I see that Crystal and RW have already posted on this and I have not read their posts yet so that my own will be unaffected by what they've written. This may be a mistake that I correct in the future. My response is based only on my personal reaction and is limited by that. I'm sure I'll learn more about the background of this passage from other posts.

Taken simply, this passage says to me that one should always realize God's supremacy. It is not by our planning that we accomplish anything but by God's grace. I've never been much of a long-term planner, so I love this idea. I know many people who have far reaching plans and visions as to what their future should hold. I don't (I've never known what I'd be when I grow up and still don't), I've oftened wondered if this was a shortcoming on my part (perhaps I'm an underachiever) but I realize that my way has its advantages as well. I am trying to live in the moment and enjoy it fully for we can never know what tomorrow or even the next moment will bring. Also, what happens when life deviates from our plan? It seems an invitation to disappointment. Painting myself positively as I am wont to do, I also think that by not planning I'm practicing a sort of humility, I cannot predict the future, I do not know where I am going but I am happy to go where the Lord leads me (Psalm 23 now running through my head). Of course, I'm sure that those who enjoy planning are equally as able to recognize and respect God's supremacy.

It seems to me that there is a disconnect with the last sentence -- anyone, then, who knows the right thing and fails to do it commits sin. Though I suppose it might make sense with regard to those who plan, that they should have flexibility in their plans to allow them to do the right thing, even when that deviates from their plan.

This passage reminds me of the announcement of my brother's ordination. It began "God willing" and continued with the time and place of the ordination. My husband (who is no great admirer of the Church) snickered at this, but its clearly in keeping with this passage.

4th of James 13-17

James is reminding the reader of the old lessons already learned in Proverbs.

Go to now, ye that say,
Today or tomorrow we will go
into such a city, and continue
there a year, and buy and sell,
and get gain.

Whereas ye know not
what shall be on the morrow.
For what is your life? It is even
a vapour, that appeareth for a
little time, and then vanisheth
away

For that ye ought to say,
If the Lord will, we shall live,
and do this, or that.

This is one complete thought. The "ye" of "ye that say" merely forgot to consider the idea of "God Willing."

James is admonishing them for forgetting the right order and reminding them of the Proverb 27:1 "Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."

"God willing, we shall succeed" is simply gospel order. They forgot that.

But now ye rejoice in
your boastings: all such rejoicing
is evil.

Therefore to him that
knoweth to do good, and
doeth it not, to him it is sin.

(This is why when football players dance in the end-zone they are being foolish).

Continue the comparison of this to the following as Proverbs 27:2 continues: "Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips."

Again, after the manner in which I've been reading James, the writer is reminding people to be humble about their business, remember that successes and comforts and gain are mercies to you. Be thankful of them and recognize your life could be a thousand times worse; Therefore worship God and quit taking your life for granted.

In other, harsher words - especially if you have been a success - you need to get your butt into meeting on Sunday and shut up.

I have always felt that we men, especially, need the discipline of meeting. The way society is, we are for some reason given all this status and power by virtue of our gender. It's totally stupid but there it is. And if you look at some of us, especially the successful fellows, we emit self-sufficient power.

But we are not self-sufficient. We are full of hubris and self-worship. I think this is everyone, but from my experience in business - especially we men. We need to humble ourselves. And a few of us need to be humiliated, too.