James 2:1-9 / Mark 8:27-33 (2020)
The Church waits in hope for the second coming of Christ.
Yet we also know that Christ is present among us where two or three are gathered in His name.
But concretely speaking, how do we know that?
Well today's 1st reading gives us a concrete situation in which we have to judge for ourselves as to who we see Christ in.
In the 1st reading, St. James warns us against using two different standards for people and in doing have we turned ourselves into corrupt judges.
We tend to classify people into rich and poor, and we tend to favour the rich and ignore the poor.
Yet in whom is Christ present? Where is He in flesh and blood?
St. James continued by saying that it was those who are poor according to the world that God chose, to be rich in faith and to be the heirs to the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him.
He continued by saying that in spite of this, we have no respect for anybody who is poor.
And he also had something startling to say about the rich, which we have to ask ourselves whether it is true.
Yet in judging people and categorizing them into rich and poor and favouring the rich is indeed to play into the hands of the devil.
So it was not that shocking that Jesus rebuked Peter and said to him - Get behind me Satan! Because the way you think is not God's way but man's.
Christ is present in the poor as well as in those who think in God's way.
May we always know what is the way of God and walk in that way.