Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
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Scripture |
Luke 16:19-31 19“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. 24 He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ 27 He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house-- 28 for I have five brothers--that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ 30 He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”
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Devotional |
As parables of Jesus this is the least familiar of all parables. This parable is not difficult to understand but it could be the most difficult to hear. Jesus is informing us that our riches will not save us. Even thought the Rich Man and Lazarus seem to be fairly close in terms of distance, Lazarus seems to be invisible the rich man. Do walls not only separate but also make others invisible to us? Robert Frost in “Mending Wall” describes the wall: And on a day we meet to walk the line The wall does not make us enemies but simply makes it easy to not notice the suffering of others. Lazarus longed to satisfy his hunger with the rich man’s leftovers, just the crumbs from his table. Johann Baptist Metz has called our attention to invisible suffering. For Metz , such attentiveness lies at the heart of Christian spirituality. He invites us into a God-mysticism with an increasing readiness to perceive, a mysticism of open eyes that sees more and not less. It is a mysticism that especially makes visible and inconvenient suffering, and-convenient or not-pays attention to it and takes responsibility for it, for the sake of a God who is a friend of human beings. 1 Johann Baptist Metz, at the age of sixteen was taken out of school and forced into the German army. The company commander sent him to battalion headquarters with a message. When he returned to his company, he found only dead, over a hundred young men had died. Metz experienced suffering first hand. Metz calls us to be attentive to the poor and suffering person who is before us. Lazarus is not a threat to the rich man. He does not desire to take or own the rich mans’ property. Lazarus is looking only for the leftover from the rich man’s table. This parable teaches the trickle down economics does not work. Before I built a wall I'd ask to know Wall builders tend to place God on their side of the wall. Their claim is to be closer to God. Perhaps the walls we have drawn between us and them instead are walls between us and God. The wall is not between you and me but between me and God-you and God. 1 Johann Baptist Metz , A Passion for God: The Mystical-Political Dimension of Christianity. Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1998. p.163 |