James 2

1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;

3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the grand clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:

4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?

7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well:

9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Between the Lines

John 2:1-11

New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Changes Water Into Wine

2 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, ² and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

⁴ “Woman,^[a] why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶ Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.^[b]

⁷ Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

⁸ Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, ⁹ and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside ¹⁰ and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

¹¹ What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Day 3: A symbol seen many times to recognize the death and resurrection, most famously of Jesus.

Wedding: The church is described as the Bride of Christ many times in the Bible.

Wine: Represents His Blood during the last supper.

Washing – same as Baptism washed us clean, the washing of His blood redeems us of the stains of our sins.

Draw some out – We’ve been set aside by God, separated from the world, sanctified from our past, removed from the path of destruction. It is both an action HE did for us and one we must do for ourselves by choosing to follow Him.

Saved the Best – The last shall be first and the First shall be last. We are all inheritors of His Kingdom, regardless of how long we’ve served, it only matters that we did.

Black Walnut Oil

My mother and father used to make me take Black Walnut Oil years ago. Worst tasting stuff. Ever. Period. Most horrible taste I can imagine, even though they had ‘hidden’ it in juice. It’s like dirt, and bark, and all things bitter. (So much so that I cringe years later... )But it kept me from getting sick. Something in it was good for me, something that to my young eyes was hidden by the immediately horrible taste. My parents saw through that though, they knew that no matter how bad it was, I needed it, and did their best to mask it, even if it was always leaving a bitter coating on my tongue.

Why am I telling you this? Because it is relevant. You're the parent, not the friend, so sometimes parents have to make their kids do things we don't want, for our own good. No matter how bad we say it tastes, no matter how ‘unfair’ we claim it is, you know it is better for us. God has told you to do it. So if you have to put a bitter taste in your kids’ mouths, so be it. We’ll remember it years later, but we’ll also learn to see how it helped us. That bitter medicine today, be it a cell phone taken away, a laptop being monitored, a door staying open, a party we don’t attend, a youth group we are dragged to every week, whatever it is, it is saving our souls from sickness later on.

You’re the parent – same as God is our Father. You are not just a source of resources, you are not just a support system, an ATM, or ‘the old man’. You are our leader, so act like one. Too many kids are lost to the world because the parents ‘didn’t want to be a hypocrite.’ God has given you these children, and He has told you how to raise them. Your past is irrelevant in this, for these are the gifts God has given you, and they are just as likely to turn on Him as they are to serve Him, it all depends on YOU. Are you going to be their “friend?” Give them sodas? Or their parents? And slip in some black walnut oil in their juice?

Relevance to the 21C

He asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”  Luke 10:29-37

The story of the Good Samaritan could be retold as...

After a shoot out, a Blood saw a Crip had been hurt pretty bad. All his buddies had ditched the moment the cop sirens sounded, leaving him to die on the side walk. Even though the Crip was a sworn enemy and was more dead than alive, the Blood took him to the ICU, paid all his medical bills and his rent for the next few months, and went on.

A retired Al Qaeda operative saw that someone had been in a car wreck. Tons of cars slowed down to see what happened, but none had stopped to help. Despite the 'WWJD' stickers and American flags all over the back, he pulled over to help him, payed for the tow truck and all the damage to the car, and went on.

Or...
A Mac fanboy learns his monstrous ex's Windows laptop broken after her little brother spilled milk all over it. Even though they'd been fighting even before they broke up and hadn't spoken in months since she'd cheated on him, he pays to retrieve all her lost data and buys her a new one, and went on with his merry life.

We forget how RELEVANT the Bible can be. These parables Jesus told were given to the people in a way they would understand, same as I have humorously attempted to do here. The lessons He taught so long ago still have the power to make a huge impact on our lives today, if we learn to seek out the meaning and are willing to apply it to the choices we make everyday.

With my Love and His -