1 Timothy 6:11-16
Luke 16:19–31
The Word we have just heard is really a continuation of the Word from last Sunday. The theme is wealth and money and what place it has in the Kingdom. We hear again today from the 8th century prophet Amos and Luke simply continues Jesus’ message about mammon with another striking, clear parable about a rich man and a poor man.
When Luke presents the Gospel of the Lord, he picks up on images that contrast. This leads to the longstanding biblical theme of reversal. That is God’s reversal of human expectations, customs and practices. We hear it in simple phrases like “the first shall be last and the last shall be first.” God chooses whom he wills. Our task is to listen carefully and get in line with it.
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus is based on contrasts that end in reversal. Note from the very beginning that the rich man is not given a name, but the poor man is. How true. We talk about street people or the bag lady. Do we ever hear their names? But you can be sure that the wealthy are known by name. So, the first contrast. Then there is the clothing. The rich man’s clothing is given in detail. It is purple. This is a luxury item. Getting this dye for the purple would involve an import item. His undergarments are made of fine linen bleached white. You can tell that he did not frequent the secondhand clothing store, Dollar General or Walmart. Men’s designer clothes for him, Gucci shoes and a Rolex watch. The only thing about the poor man’s clothing is that he is covered, “covered with sores” that is. He has open wounds but not leprosy.
Another contrast is the food. The rich man dines sumptuously each day. We know that there is plenty to go around because left over scraps are thrown on the floor for whoever, the servants. It is Amos who fills in the meal scene for us with his description of stall-fattened lambs and calves, wine in abundance, music and the cosmetics needed to impress and smell sweet. This sumptuous dining, we are told is every day! A picture of luxury. The poor man, he cannot even get to the table. And as for food, it seems the street dogs are taking him for food by licking his open sores. These are feral dogs roaming the streets, not cute loveable puppies. Dogs were not pets in the Middle East culture. So, food for the poor man remains only a desire, a wish not a reality. It is beyond him as he is outside. It would seem that the rich man does not even know of Lazarus’ existence.
Now comes a transition where the contrasts move to reversal. There is one thing both the unnamed rich man and Lazarus have in common: they both die. But here we must take note: the rich man is simply buried, no further ado. But Lazarus is carried by angels to the bosom of Abraham. Abraham is also someone they both have in common. For Lazarus, Abraham is now his host. The bosom of Abraham is an image for being at table in the Kingdom with the patriarchs. Abraham in the Hebrew tradition was the epitome of hospitality. He would never allow anyone to pass by without inviting them in and sharing food with him. So strong is this image that tradition places Abraham as the host at the heavenly table. It is there that Lazarus can be found….the man of sores sits with the patriarch himself. The hint is that he is reclining not at the end of the table but directly opposite Abraham…the position of honor. Now the rich man is at no table and instead is in torment in flames….
Since the rich man and Lazarus have Abraham in common, a dialogue begins with Father Abraham. The rich man wants a drop of water. Contrast the poor man who would have liked just a scrap on the floor! But notice two things, the rich man now seems to know the name of Lazarus and he wants him to be an errand boy. So the rich man cannot be said to be ignorant of the poor man. He just ignored him, did not bother to go to is gate to welcome. The rich man lived in his own world.
Abraham now makes clear the great reversal. You were blessed before and Lazarus not; now he is being comforted, wined and dined we might say, and you are suffering thirst. Implication: you did not share your blessing before and now you want the poor man to share his blessing!
The rich man does not get it. He wants to make sure his brothers don’t get the same fate. Send Lazarus to warn them, Lazarus is not a messenger boy. The rich man is still not admitting Lazarus. In reality he is thinking of looking after his own; blood matters. He somehow has forgotten that he is not the only son of Abraham. The poor man is also Abraham’s son. The rich man limited who truly belonged to the family of Abraham and hence deserved attention when life was hard for them.
Abraham’s answer is clear. They are not getting any special messenger to wake them up. You don’t need a big show from the dead to tell you what to do. You have Moses and the prophets. There you will hear what your responsibility is to the poor and less fortunate. There you will read how the God of the covenant looks out for the needy and lost, the forgotten…those pushed aside. The psalm we sang makes that clear.
It seems that Amos hits the nail on the head as to what is happening here. Woe to the complacent! That is the underlying issue. Wealth and luxury has made you indifferent to other members of the covenant family, of the children of God, of those created in God’s image. You no longer see those lying at your doors. You care nothing that wealth has blinded you to the collapse of society.
The Prophet, to whom Jesus refers us today, and Jesus’ own vivid, clear parable make us open our eyes to see the implications of our economic system, our consumer society, our putting personal pleasure first. Amos and Jesus both challenge us to our complacency regarding our planet earth, our poor and indigent and the systems that have brought us to where we are today in a fragile world, whether it be war, again, the disparity of wealth throughout the world and the lack of understanding our relationship with nature. The irony is: the mandate to action doesn’t require something dramatic or even new. The call to open our eyes has been there since long ago in our own Judeo-Christian tradition.
The choice is complacency and indifference or being motivated to act in accord with the Kingdom of God. Our God keeps faith with those who are oppressed and bowed down. In the end, they will be in the bosom of Abraham. Does the life you and I are living lead to complacency or to a hand offering our blessings to all members of both the new and old covenant and beyond?
~Prior, Fr. Joel Macul, OSB