First Presbyterian Church
Good Names
Sermon for September 10, 2006
by Pastor Susan Barnes

The book of Proverbs is full of brief descriptions of the way the world is, and advice for how we should respond to the world. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 16, 22-23.

1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.

2 The rich and the poor have this in common: the LORD is the maker of them all.

8 Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of anger will fail.

9 Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor.

16 Oppressing the poor in order to enrich oneself, and giving to the rich, will lead only to loss.

22 Do not rob the poor because they are poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate; 23 for the LORD pleads their cause and despoils of life those who despoil them.

This ends our reading from Proverbs.

The early Roman Empire had many clubs, guilds, and associations; some related to occupation or profession, some related to status or office, or ethnicity. These voluntary associations depended on the generosity of wealthy individuals, who acted as patrons. The association would thank its patron by making inscriptions, granting honorary titles, or commissioning statues. We know this because the stone inscriptions and statues have survived to this day. So Romans would be accustomed to kissing up to possible patrons, and this custom spilled over into the early church. I think this is what James is speaking against. We'll be reading from my translation. Listen for the word of God as it is found in James 2:1-10, 14-17.

1 My brothers and sisters, are you in your acts of favoritism keeping faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? 2 For if a person with gold rings and in splendid clothing comes into your synagogue, and if a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in, 3 and if you show more respect to the one wearing splendid clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the poor one you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," 4 haven't you made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Hasn't God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love God? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Isn't it the rich who exploit you and drag you into court? 7 Isn't it they who blaspheme the good name that was invoked over you?

8 You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 9 But if you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become answerable for all of it.

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is scarcely clothed and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?

17 So faith by itself, if it has no deeds, is dead.

Anthem: Praise the Lord with Jubilant Song

Proverbs mentions that a good name is better than riches. In this verse, ‘name' means reputation, honor, and integrity. In the middle east of the Bible, names carried power. In the middle east of today, names still carry power.

Last week I read about men in Iraq changing their names: “To have to hide one's name is considered deeply shameful. But with sectarian violence surging, Iraqis fear that the name on an identification card, passport or other document could become an instant death sentence if seen by the wrong people.” That's because some first names and tribal names indicate whether a person is Sunni or Shiite.

“Stories abound of Iraqi civilians being stopped at checkpoints by militiamen, insurgents or uniformed men, and having their identification cards scrutinized. They are then taken away or executed on the spot if they have a suspect name or a hometown dominated by the rival sect. In Baghdad, Shiite death squads - sometimes in police uniform - operate many of the illegal checkpoints, Iraqi and American officials say.” 1

“If your name is Omar you're likely a Sunni Muslim, named after a seventh-century imam despised by Shiites. If you're Amar or Aamer, pronounced almost the same, you could be from either sect. If you're Ali, you're probably Shiite.

As a result, many Iraqis have started carrying two [identification cards] —a real one, and a fake one linking them to the rival sect.” 2

The cost of new identification, forged or official, is ten times what it was before the war in Iraq. Some parents are changing their children's names to protect them. It's hard to imagine a child named after a religious leader being in danger simply because of his name.

When I read about the war in Iraq, it is one tragedy after another. All I can do is pray. Pray for the soldiers, and for their families, and pray for the people there, and pray for peace. Violence is not a good answer to the unfairness of the world.

I read a description of the stories in the old testament, also known as the Hebrew Bible. It goes like this: “The Hebrew Bible is above all realistic. It is realistic in its assessment of the human condition, and it is realistic in its assessment of how men and women react to that condition. It starts from the position that it is a fact of life that some are more fortunate than others. This may not be fair, but then why should life be fair? The Hebrew Bible, accepting this premise, concentrates rather on the question: How do we respond to the unfairness of life? How do we respond to the privilege of being chosen, of being the favorite child, say, and how do we respond to the disappointment of being rejected, of not being the parents' favorite?

…in the end, the only thing that can truly heal and console us is not the voice of consolation but the voice of reality. That is the way the world is, it says, neither fair nor equitable. How are you going to live so as to be contented and fulfilled? [The Bible] shows us various forms of response to these questions.” 3

And so we read in Proverbs that the Lord makes the rich and the poor, those who sow injustice will reap calamity, those who oppress the poor will end up losing. Those who are generous will be blessed. Those verses were for the rich.

Our new testament reading was addressed to those who weren't rich. James advised the early Christians not to try to cultivate the members of the wealthy class, but to remember the sins of the wealthy class; they are the ones taking the Christians to court. They were the ones blaspheming the name of Christ.

In Hebrew tradition, as we see in Proverbs, the covenant people are to recognize a good name is worth more than wealth. Even though this is an ancient idea, and not new at all, we human beings still struggle with it and look up to those who are wealthy, whether or not they are worth our admiration.

It's natural for us to prefer to have rich friends when we are very needy. Or when we are very greedy. So James reminded the church members they were rich enough. They could afford to help the needy, so they shouldn't turn them away. They weren't in desperate need of patrons to assist them. He also reminds them that their behavior toward the rich doesn't demonstrate their faith in Christ. Honoring all people equally does.

He calls the golden rule, “love your neighbor as yourself,” the royal law. I think he was imagining “Love thy neighbor” being the law of God's realm. This text reminds me of the line in the musical My Fair Lady about two men treating people equally: Colonel Pickering treats an impoverished flower girl like a duchess and Professor Henry Higgins treats a duchess like a flower girl. He behaves disrespectfully toward everyone, regardless of their station in life.

The point of the royal law is to treat everyone as people of value, and not to make distinctions between who is worth treating well and who is not.

But it's difficult not to judge other people. I remember working with a bunch of seminary students of different denominations and ages. One woman and her husband were retired. They invited us to their large urban house for dinner. The couple had furnished their house with items purchased on their travels around the world. One young man found all that wealth too much for him; he couldn't appreciate her hospitality and graciousness; he was too full of judgment. I was sorry for him; he muttered to me he was forcing himself to be civil. He left as soon as he could. He missed out on our fellowship because he couldn't keep himself from making judgments.

I have some friends who both had steady jobs in an economically depressed city. They were the richest and best educated people in their church, although in the larger church, they were just economically average. It would have been easy for them to throw their weight around and get things done their way. But they knew how destructive that would be to the life of the church. So they both were very cautious about what they said and did, in order to follow James' advice and keep “faith with our glorious Lord Jesus.”

I think they could do that because they were secure in their faith, and valued the life of the church. They valued the other members' contributions, and added theirs to it.

When we start with the premise that we have enough, that God will provide for our needs, then we are free to welcome people, whether or not they are rich, and whether or not we are rich. When we recognize that we have received the gospel, we know that we have something to contribute, even to those who appear to have everything: we have the good name of Christ. Amen.

1 Wong, Edward, “To stay alive, Iraqis change their names.” The New York Times, Sept. 6, 2006.

2 Childress, Sarah, “Iraq: a Deadly Name Game,” Newsweek, July 17, 2006.

3Times Literary Supplement (tls.timesonline, co.uk), 2/24/06, quoted in Context, September 2006, p. 4-5.