The cornerstone of Lutheran theology is that you are saved by grace through faith, and not by works. The Epistle of St. James seems to challenge this theology. James writes: 

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food,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? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” James 2:14-17.

What a stinging criticism! Consider the weight of this implication. Ask yourself if you are guilty of ever sending someone away without attending to their physical needs. Ask yourself if you have turned a blind eye to the poverty and desperation of someone and rested in your own material comfort. If so, then James would have you wonder if your faith isn’t faith at all, but something dead. 

James criticizes the behavior of treating some people favorably at church based on their wealth. He indicates to his audience that they treat people with a lot of money better than people who are poor. He calls this foolish behavior, because it was the rich who were quick to haul someone to court for committing some small error. James says that it is the rich who oppress you. James’ is addressing all different kinds of people in the church whether they have money or not. 

To the poor James says, “You give special treatment to the very people who exploit you. You claim to have faith that God will save you, but you don’t live as if it were true. You are paralyzed with fear, and you willingly silence yourself and close your own eyes and ears to the truth. Call it willful ignorance and inaction. James dares you to prove that you have faith by unmuting yourself and daring to speak the truth, even in uncomfortable or awkward situations. To this wealth and power he dares them to open their eyes

Theologian Miguel de la Torre writes about a hermeneutical privilege of the oppressed. What he means be that is the person or people who really have the best insight into the ways things are; are the poor and powerless. Think about the schoolyard playground. Which kid on the playgrounds truly understands the character of all the other students. It’s the kid who gets picked on. They know who is cruel and who is kind. They know who protects and who picks on. That’s the hermeneutical privilege of the oppressed. Then consider the playground bully. The kid with the most power and influence who almost always gets what they want. They are blind to the character of everyone around them, because they all just get out of the way and give the bully what they want. James sees this behavior happening and he basically says two things:

If you have a lot of power, then you should really try to open your eyes to better understand everyone else.If you don’t have a lot of power you need to speak up and share the truth so that others may understand

One such person who did have faith was the Syrophoenician woman described in the Gospel of Mark chapter seven. This story may throw you for a spin because Jesus comes off looking kind of biased. First of all he doesn’t want to be seen even entering the house, probably because it was not a Jewish house. Secondly, he calls this woman a dog, and tries to minimize her request as irrelevant to his mission to save Jewish people. But she persisted. Rather than challenging Jesus’ reasons or language she cunningly appropriates his label of “dog,” and pleads with him: even dogs get a few scraps that fall from the table. Surely you can give this dog a tiny scrap. Something that is small for you is big for me. Jesus doesn’t get mad at this. Rather he is impressed, and calls her a woman of great faith. She does exactly what James challenges you to do. She proves her faith by unmuti