Sept. 29, 2013, 19th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 16:19-31

19 "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
    22 "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In hell,[a] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'
    25 "But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'
    27 "He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'
    29 "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'
    30 " 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
    31"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "

“Faith Is For Living”

The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus does not tell us it is a crime to be rich.
Or that those who have a good time of it here will get their suffering in eternity.

It sounds like it does, but it doesn’t!
Nor does it give us a clear picture of the way it is in heaven.
Anymore than our jokes about heaven do.

“To use this story as warrant for a doctrine of a brimstone hell, or to deduce from it the dogma of the absolute and irrevocable separation of the good and the bad hereafter, is to transplant it violently from its native soil of parable to a barren literalism where it cannot live.”
Parables of Jesus, Geo. Buttrick, p. 140

The point of the parable is that life is to be lived, not evaded.  The rich man was guilty of evasion; running away from real life into his pretend world where he didn’t have to see Lazarus - really see him.  He was afraid of the smell of poverty and used his riches to evade facing the poverty all around him.

Like it or not, we are the rich man.  We too run away from life, evading those places and people where our God has chosen to meet us, even as God meets us in the man Jesus who said, “What so ever you do for the least of these, you do it unto me.”

Living in the Kingdom of God is not a matter of having heaven all figured out; or the mysteries of death and eternity solved.  It is a matter of loosing oneself in life, giving oneself away, hurting with those who hurt, weeping with those who weep, laughing with those who laugh, and discovering that life comes not by evading but by jumping in.

This takes faith; faith which comes by hearing the Word of God, and doing it.
Faith is for living, not just for dying.


“Live For More Than Being Rich”

The parable of The Rich man and Lazarus is about indifference and idolatry; about how easily we ‘miss the mark’ for which life and possessions are intended.

We prize winning, having, owning, possessing, controlling, dominating, enjoying, yes,even wasting.  With Tivia we “wish I were a rich man” and live the illusion that money will solve all our problems.  Yet nothing could be more false.  For, “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”

The purpose of life is NOT to acquire wealth; the purpose of life is to “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.  To take hold of eternal life, to which you were called and for which you were made.”  I Tim 6:11

That is, do something which makes a difference in the Kingdom of God; not just makes a buck.

The rich man lived his whole life for the wrong reason.  He became an indifferent, cold hearted man who couldn’t see or hear God’s call through Lazarus to live for more then being rich.

Jesus is challenging our indifference which leads to idolatry which leads to a whole life of wasted energy, of missing the mark, or living for the wrong reason.

Jesus is calling us to live by grace; that is, to live, as Mother Teresa says, not doing great things, but doing ” small things with great love”.