I have been in a house in Dallas, a large beautiful house that sits probably on five

Transcription

1 Luke 16:19-31 I have been in a house in Dallas, a large beautiful house that sits probably on five acres; tall wrought iron gates open to a long stone driveway that circles around a huge fountain in the front of the mansion. And as you drive in you could park in one of ten enclosed spaces off to the left, away from the house, or in one of the three places to the right, under the high carport and opposite the side entrance to the home. That s correct: a 13-car garage. I have been in larger homes- I have been in a Frank Lloyd Wright home, which was very cool- but a thirteen-car garage is the tops so far in my life. The reason I mention this is because our passage makes note of the poor man Lazarus sitting at the gates of the rich man s house. And it does not matter what era you may live in, people with gates you must pass through to enter their property are wealthy. So I was thinking about someone-could be anyone- driving onto the grounds of this estate in Dallas, and as he waited for the gates to swing open, seeing Lazarus lying off to the side with the dogs all around him. And I wondered, wouldn t you notice that? How would that affect you? Suppose you pull out of your normal driveway one morning, wouldn t you see if a person was

2 lying there? And what if he was there when you returned that afternoon; and again the next day? Well, my guess is, you would call the police, that is the prudent thing. But it misses the point of the parable. One of the big questions this story calls us to confront is how does a poor man, lying there ill and starving, become invisible? Is it, that after a period of time, we stop seeing? That it becomes a familiar sight, and loses its horror? We might be able to convince ourselves that he isn t really there, or perhaps we can persuade ourselves that his poverty and hunger and sickness are his own fault. The rich man in this story had seen Lazarus, saw him every day most likely, and yet was somehow able to look right past him. But he knew himknew to speak his name in the afterlife and ask for a favor. In our parable are these characters, the rich man and Lazarus, and then in the blissful realm, Abraham. But all good storytellers know there is another, unspoken character, the audience. Today the extra character is us in this room studying this passage; in Luke s day, towards the end of the first century, there were his readers, a Christian community that might struggle to understand the deeper meanings of the story and the call to discipleship, as do we. We are characters because our life experiences and our culture and our own biases will cause us to hear and interpret

3 the parable in different ways. But we are only the fifth characters, because we should recognize the fourth character in the context of the story which Jesus tells. In verse 14 we can read that the Pharisees were present, and the Pharisees, as the fourth character, are what give this parable its point and its climax. Actually, verse 14 says that the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, scoffed at him, scoffed because Jesus had just spoken the words, you cannot serve two masters, you cannot love God and money. Obviously, they believed that a person could love God and money, though only a superior person would be capable of separating the two, of maintaining the correct degree of intellectual and spiritual tension between them. We need to remember that Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees here, and perhaps should ask ourselves if in some ways we, too, as characters of the story, are Pharisees. With this background in mind, we can consider the text. It s a simple story. We are told in few words of the vast separation between the rich man and the poor man, even though they perhaps saw one another every day. It is a great chasm of misunderstanding and distrust that separates them, that separates riches from poverty- that divides even well-off or comfortable from hunger. And when the two men die, the one is taken to Abraham s bosom, to the blessed realm, and the other

4 finds himself in the torment of Hades. Thus are their situations perfectly reversed, though the chasm between them remains. But we can learn a great deal from what the scripture doesn t say. We are told only that he is rich and lives very well, but that Lazarus is starving and ill. We are not told that the rich man is a monster, or that Lazarus was a devout, religious man. It appears that we are to understand that they go to their rewards- Lazarus to Abraham s bosom simply because of the terrible suffering during his lifetime, and the rich man to hell for this single reason, because he does not help the poor man. What are we to make of that? That lovers of money- think Pharisees- and maybe think seriously about us and our response to the poor, because one need not be filthy rich to love money- that lovers of money cannot also love God. Even though the rich man and Lazarus live their lives on earth, and still later in the afterlife, divided by this great chasm, yet they are connected. On earth they were neighbors and each could see the other, and in eternity still they are able to behold the bliss or the suffering of one another. The point is that the great everlasting divide cannot be crossed, but while we live the chasm that separates rich from poor, have from have-not, the well-fed from the hungry, can and must be crossed. And the parable implies that those of us who have received the good

5 things in our lives are the ones who must, out of compassion, span that vast space or experience ourselves the agony of the far side of the chasm. It may require a change of attitude, maybe a different perspective on what religion is for. But it can get us involved in the loving work of Jesus Christ, and may make friends for us of those who are different, and may get us on that happier side of the great chasm that separates life from death. Some scholars think that Lazarus resting in the bosom of Abraham is a reference to the Messianic Feast, which is itself a sign that the Kingdom of God has come, the age of peace, when the hurting are healed and the hungry are filled. If this is so, then the passage has great implications for how we do communion. Just consider who is the honored guest at the table in heaven: the poor man in Abraham s bosom, the starving, forgotten man of the parable, the man from the wrong side of the chasm, but at the table- where is celebrated the mercy and love of God and the rule of God over everything, he is brought to the blessed side. The table of fellowship spans the great divide and welcomes all people and makes them one. Let us consider that our Lord provides the feast and invites all creatures here; it is our joy and our task to share it.

6 We might be happy to see the rich man learning to care for someone else when he asks Abraham in verses 27 and 28 to send Lazarus back to warn his family lest they also come into this place of torment. So maybe he has learned compassion at last, even if it is too late for him. But Abraham responds that they have the law and the writings of the prophets, and if they do not heed the teaching of scripture, even a resurrection will not convince them. What does he mean? The Jewish community in the 1 st century- maybe in every century- were serious about Holy Scripture, and yet in this passage they are the bad guys. It must mean that they misunderstood scripture. And it means this: that neither the rich man nor his brothers nor the Pharisees, to whom this story was told, are permitted to develop a theology from only the convenient passages of scripture and so justify their blindness to the pain of others. If they were to read some portion of the Bible like Deuteronomy 28, and find statements like this, if you obey the Lord and do the commandments, then the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, and blessed shall you be, and see them as a sign that they lived under God s favor; but saw the poor to be under God s curse and suffering as punishment for their sin, because of Biblical statements like this (also from Deuteronomy 28), if you do not obey the Lord, then curses shall

7 come upon you, and you will be oppressed and there shall be no one to help, then they have misinterpreted scripture. And thus ignoring the hurt and hunger of others is an easy step to take. That attitude of convenient religion is most certainly still with us today. We may talk about piety and holiness and morality, all good things, but until we feed and clothe the poor and the hungry, it is vain speech, and may even put us in the same agonizing situation as the rich man. Alms-giving and tithing can never overcome the great chasm that separates God s children from one another. But perhaps it can be overcome by humble, selfless discipleship, by taking heed of the great commandments of the Bible- by coming to see that God wishes to bless and not curse all creatures- and by living in this way: loving God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves (Luke 10:25-28). Let us keep open eyes to see the suffering around us. For the chasm that divides us is created by nothing else than our refusal to love one another.