No Ordinary People

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? - James 2:1-4

It’s so tempting to treat human beings differently, isn’t it? We want something back in our interactions with others - whether it’s some sort of financial benefit or social privilege or even if it’s just the feeling of being ‘important’ by being around someone of greater stature than ourselves. And yet, as James points out, this is just another forming of being judgmental - of treating one human being as more important than another.

What would it look like today to deeply embrace that everyone you meet is made in the image of God? How would that affect how you interact with people at school or in the elevator or at the dinner table?

Take a few moments to reflect on these words by C.S. Lewis. Let them sink in. Sit with them and the implications of what they say, along with what James has said. Let this be your runway into your day today.

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations- these are mortal, and their life is to ours the life of a gnat. But it is immortals that we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit- immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have from the outset, taken each other seriously- no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feelings for the sin despite which we love the sinner- no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. - C. S. Lewis