Luke 16.19-end
‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. 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.” 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. 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.” He said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.” Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.” He said, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” 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.” ‘
When I was a curate about two and a half years ago, I was invited to visit our sister diocese in Lahore in Pakistan by Bishop Irfan Jameel. I and my fellow curates were given a tour of his diocese. We spent a lot of time visiting churches and schools and were sometimes on the road for hours.
Sometimes, we would get caught in traffic, usually in the city. P{eople would come up to our mini-bus, usually women, knocking on our window. We were told by our drivers to ignore them, that they were beggars. I stared straight ahead and didn’t make eye contact. I tried not to think about the fact that was ignoring somebody who was obviously in a very difficult situation; who, like me has been made in God’s image, and is loved and cherished by him.
I remember another situation recently when I was watching a YouTube video and an advert came up for a charity, that showed a child crying in agony because he hadn’t eaten in days and there was no food he could have. I forced myself to watch it and see the suffering that people, even the youngest children, go through. It brought me to tears
I confess that I haven’t spent much time reflecting on the experience from Pakistan until now, but now that I do I don’t know what I should feel. On the one hand, I had money in my pocket that I could give to them. On the other, I was in a different country with different customs and traditions; we were told by our drivers (who are Christians) to ignore them.
But if I was that beggar, what would I think about humanity, what would I think about the those rich westerners who ‘walked on by’.
What would Lazarus think of the rich man dressed in purple eating his fill every day, and wanting desperately for the scraps that fell from his table. Would he think ‘if I was in the rich man’s situation, I would be generous with what I have. If I saw a man poor and suffering and full of wounds, I would help him.
Throughout the scriptures, I have said this before, but God has a preference for the poor, the lowly, the week, the lost. In fact, if you think about it, it is those basic principles that have created our modern world, where healthcare and education are priority and the idea of universal human rights enshrined in law. These are Christian ideas. They come from being made in God’s image and his preferential care for the poor the sick and the struggling. I spend some time studying Luke’s gospel a few years ago and in this gospel the plight of the poor is prioritised. And note that, there is no sense in which as has been stated by politicians these days, the poor and the underserved poor… there is simply the poor.
Yet our attitudes can be so ingrained and so stubborn
‘its their own fault,’
‘if I give to them they will only spend it on drugs,’
‘they obviously don’t work hard enough;
My newest excuse is this “I don’t carry cash on me anymore, I’m sorry.” How convenient of me!
Some would say ‘but I deserve the wealth and the money that I have. It is mine!’ This is the attitude of the Pharisees, and it is an attitude with some justification. In the book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament, if you obey God, then you will be blessed in war and on the land. In other words, material goods come to those who obey God, and the opposite for those who disobey God, they are under God’s curse, and so all kinds of bad things happen to them. In this context, It makes sense that the rich man would do nothing to help Lazarus, as he must be being punished by God for some wrong that he had done.
This view of wealth and poverty is not Jesus’ view, indeed the opposite seems to be true, following the prophets, it’s the poor who are under God’s special care, and the rich are warned to be generous and just with what they have been given.
Jesus came to bring. In his famous manifesto from Luke Chapter four, Jesus is in the synagogue in Nazareth, he takes the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and quotes.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Some might say, well, it doesn’t matter that they are poor, after all, they will be rewarded in heaven by God, they will be cared for and looked after by him. Lazarus clearly suffered in life, but he is standing next to Abraham when he dies, he is with him in the heavenly realms, so what’s the problem?
This doesn’t wash, and there is a reason for it, the reason for it is in the Lord’s Prayer. Which we will say in a few minutes during the communion prayer.
“Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done,
On earth, as it is in heaven.”
The prayer of Jesus, is that his kingdom comes to earth now in our day and age, to work for justice now, to help the poor now. Why else would we pray for his kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. Why else would he say of the words of the prophet Isaiah ‘today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. This isn’t a prayer that says ‘one day the poor will have it alright’ (though of course, they will when God ultimately puts everything right in the final judgement) but rather, to work for those who have less than us now.
What then do we do? It’s a question only we as individuals can answer, after all the bible does not say what kind of government we should have (we are currently having an experiment in a different form of government and economic policy that we are used to.) It only says that there should be justice for the oppressed, the poor and the destitute, because that is what God’s kingdom looks like.
At the end of the story the rich man begs Abraham to send Lazarus to help him, but he can’t because of the great chasm between them. Send him to warn my family them that they won’t also end up in torment, he says. Abraham says, no, they have Moses and the Prophets (the same prophets as I mentioned, throughout the Old Testament tell the rich to look after the poor).
Our actions in this life really do matter. Kindness and generosity, love and care have eternal consequences, so does the opposite.
But ultimately we do this because we are made in God’s image; because we have a generous God and he wants us to live up to our namesake, and be like him.
God calls us to a relationship of abundance with him, of blessing, of fullness. God has been so generous to us. Just this week I have been blown away in my own life by a real answer to prayer and a real blessing for my family. God loves being generous, its in his nature. And he wants us to do the same ‘God loves a cheerful giver’ says Paul. We give because we have been given the greatest gift of all, salvation in Jesus Christ, through his death and resurrection.
We aren’t to look on those with less than us and rationalise their situations In our own mind to excuse ourselves form acting, No! We are to look upon them as we would a beloved brother or sister and child and say, ‘brother, sister, let me serve you, let me be as Christ to you.’
And here’s the thing as well. One day, we may be in the situation of Lazarus ourselves. There is no guarantee of keeping riches in this world, look at the economic situation we are in right now, where people who would have been getting by happily or been relatively comfortable have become affected by forces completely beyond their control, and are now struggling.
To do nothing is to invite the same judgement that the rich man in our story received, and if we think we can have the excuse of ‘we didn’t know’ well… Abraham tells us, as he did to the rich man, we have Moses and the prophets who warned us..
But as I say, God calls us to a relationship of abundance with him. To share what we have with others, to give happily, knowing that God will bless us, “seek ye first the kingdom of God” Jesus says, “and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.”
Todays epistle reading is from Saint Paul’s first letter to Timothy, and he puts the point across perfectly:
“Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that 24 can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.
Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honour and eternal dominion. Amen.
As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 19thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life."
May we have the grace to do the same.
Amen
