Book of Common Prayer

2 My brothers, you believe in our Lord, the wonderful Jesus Christ. So you must not think one man is better than another.

² A man comes in to your church meeting. He has a gold ring and wears fine clothes. A poor man also comes in. He wears old clothes.

³ You look at the man who wears fine clothes. And you say to him, `Sit here on this good chair.' But you say to the poor man, `Stand over there,' or you say, `Sit on the floor by my feet.'

⁴ If you do these things, you think some people are better than others. You are wrong when you judge people this way.

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers. God has chosen people who are poor in this world. They believe very much. They will have a place in the kingdom which he has promised to give to those who love him.

⁶ But you made the poor man ashamed. Is it not the rich people who trouble you? Are not they the ones who take you to court?

⁷ Are not they the ones who say wrong things about the good name you have?

⁸ The holy writings say, `Love your neighbour as you love yourself.' If you obey this law of your King you do well.

⁹ But if you think one man is better than another, that is wrong. The law says you are a bad person.

¹⁰ Anyone who obeys the law, but then breaks one of the laws, has broken all the laws.

¹¹ God made the law, `Do not use sex wrongly.' God also made the law, `Do not kill'. If you do not have wrong sex, but you kill, you have broken the law.

¹² There is a law that makes people free. It is the law of showing kindness. Always talk and live like men who will be judged by that law.

¹³ When God judges, he will not be kind to a person who has not been kind. It is better to be kind than it is to judge people.

¹⁰ `Anyone who can be trusted in a little matter can also be trusted in a big matter. Anyone who does wrong in a very little matter will do wrong also in a big matter.

¹¹ So if you could not be trusted to use money, which is bad, who will trust you to use true riches?

¹² If you could not be trusted with what belonged to another person, who will give you something for yourself?

¹³ No servant can work for two masters. He will hate one and love the other. Or he will obey one and despise the other. You cannot work for both God and money.'

¹⁴ The Pharisees loved money. They heard all these things. They made fun of him.

¹⁵ He said to them, `You try to make men think you are all right. But God knows your hearts. What men think is fine, God hates.

¹⁶ `The Law and the Prophets gave God's word until John came. Since then, the good news of God's kingdom has been told. And now everyone tries hard to get into the kingdom.

¹⁷ It would be easier to take away the sky and the earth than for the smallest part of the law to fall.'

¹⁸ `If a man sends away his wife and marries another woman, he commits adultery. And if the man marries a woman who has been sent away by her husband, he commits adultery.'