Pastor Chris’ Corona Quarantine Epistles to the Flock of AIC Ngong Road, in Dispersion and Isolation. 64th. Edition.
Dear Ambassadors of Christ,
Today we deal with the second part of handling wealth. Yesterday we looked at Hoarding what you Do not Need (James 5:1-3). Today we look at Holding what others Have Earned (5:4-6). Fraudulent Deals (v. 4). It is a pity that people who have more money than they know what to do with still cheat the poor. The example given here is of farmworkers. The society of James’ day was largely agrarian, but the same could be said for the industrialized modern economy.
Cheating the poor is easy because their need often puts them in a position where they cannot bargain. One does not have to pay anything – no, the trick is to pay but pay little. This problem has become global and is best demonstrated in the garment industry. Big fashion and sportswear multinationals set up shop in the place with the cheapest labor. The wages are legal because they are negotiated with governments and labor unions. However, the wages paid to the workers are immoral, when compared to the profits the companies are making. It is easy to leave it there and accuse the multinationals of exploitation. But what of the house help? The lady who comes to do your laundry? The “mama mboga” who sells vegetables at the corner stall? Do we bargain them down to prices and wages that are barely survival standard? What do we lose if we pay five shillings more?
Often, paying a fair wage does not dent the luxurious lifestyle we want to preserve, but not paying it can mean hunger, disease, and destitution for many families. Fattening Day (v. 5). James likens the pleasure and luxury enjoyed at the expense of the poor to fattening oneself in the day of slaughter. The image is actually tragi-comic. Picture animals on a farm. One animal eats more than its fair share of feed while preventing others from accessing their share. What this animal does not know is that when the farmer wants meat, he will choose the fattest animal! The day of judgment (slaughter) is coming. No need to fatten yourself.
Fairness Dearth (v. 6). James here says hoarding what one does not need and holding back wages others have earned is condemnation and murder of the just, who offers no resistance. Anyone who is familiar with the Bible should be disturbed by this analogy. It echoes the image of our Lord Jesus himself, who “was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” Isaiah 53:7); “who when he was reviled, did not revile in return; when he suffered he did not threaten” (1 Peter 2:23). God is partial to the poor. Injustice to anyone, but especially to the poor, is like poking a finger in the eye of God.
We need to remedy our deficiency in the FQ – fairness quotient. It all goes back to what we saw earlier, that we ought to love our neighbor as ourselves (2:9).
Your Loving Pastor Chris.