WHEN RICHES GET IN OUR WAY
Luke 16:19-31
If we do not use what wealth we have the way God wants, what will happen to us? The story presents this question. There it sits, in the mind of Jesus, and in the history of our Christian faith. The question: if we do not use what wealth we have the way God wants, what will happen to us?
The first step in answering the question is to retell the story. It is a forbidding story, yet there are points where Jesus tells the story with a sense of irony. The rich man lived in a house with a wall around it. And in the wall was a gate to the highway outside. The rich man dressed in purple and fine linen. Purple was an expensive dye used by those who could afford it for their outerwear, and the linen referred to silk underwear. So we see this caricature of a rich man: purple outside, silk underwear on the inside.
Outside the gate sat a sick and lame beggar. Every morning friends placed him there. By the Law of Moses the rich were commanded to give enough coins to poor to keep them from starving. That was their welfare system. This poor man was named Lazarus. The name Lazarus means, in Hebrew, "the one whom God helps." But it did not seem God helped this man very much. Lazarus lay there day after day, eating scraps of garbage. The story mentions dogs. I would think the dogs would attack Lazarus when he pulled a few scraps of garbage to himself. The text says, however, "Even the dogs would come and lick his sores." The Arabic text of the Greek, which is the oldest translation of the New Testament, uses two words--"kai alla"--meaning literally, "and, but," with a sense of "in contrast." So, the sense of the words is that whereas humans did not help Lazarus, the dogs did, licking his wounds and sores. Recent scientific investigation has shown that the saliva of dogs contains "endogenous peptide antibiotics" which assist in healing. Jesus told the story to say, "The animals cared for Lazarus more than did humans."
Then Lazarus died. Father Abraham, the founder of the Jewish faith some 1600 years earlier, took him into heaven. The text says Lazarus now rested in the bosom of Abraham; the word for "bosom" also means a sofa or couch that is shaped like a bowl, holding the person in luxurious comfort. So, the one whom God cared about now enjoys a life of comfort.
The rich man also dies. The angels do not take him to Father Abraham. He goes to an existence called Hades where he is surrounded by flames. He looks far away into the heavens and sees Lazarus with Abraham. He plays the ethnic card, reminding Abraham that he, too, is a Jew. "Father Abraham" he calls out, begging that Lazarus dip the end of his finger in water and wet the rich man's swollen tongue. It did not enter his mind that the poor man at his gates was a Jew to whom he had some kinship. Now that he is the one who needs water he hopes their national and religious kinship will inspire Abraham to be merciful. But Father Abraham is not impressed with the argument of nationality or religion. He responds, "Child, remember that during your lifetime you received many good things, and Lazarus in like manner many evil things, and now he is comforted here, and you are in agony." Justice, not favoritism prevails.
So, the rich man begs Abraham to send a messenger to his five brothers, warning them to be charitable. But Abraham reminds him that Jews have the Law of Moses and the prophets that tell them to be merciful and just. If they won't heed their own religion, they won't listen to the voice of a spirit. With that this dark story ends. The rich man in Hades; Lazarus in heaven. The question in the text is answered.
After I thought about the story I realized that I might be closer to the rich man than I first assumed. Perhaps if I came out of the gate and had seen Lazarus and I would have said, "What can I do for him? He is so poor, and so lame, that anything I did would really do little." Or, I would have said, "He is typical of the larger problem: too many beggars. You just have to learn to ignore problems that you can't solve." So I have to be careful about judging the rich man.
Now, what conclusions can we draw from the story? First, what we do with this life matters. Poor, or having some wealth, what we do and what happens to us matters to God. If we are like Lazarus, we still matter to God. If we have been cast aside and ignored, God cares. And conversely, if, like the rich man, we believe that our wealth belongs only to us, God will not be part of that self-deception. At some time, we have to answer to God. So, our lives matter even though we are poor; what we do matters with whatever wealth we have.
Second conclusion: Let us beware of the corrupting power of wealth. Neither Scripture nor Jesus condemns wealth, but Scripture looks at the way we use the wealth we have. It is possible we will lose the image of God in us, the imprint of God in our souls, if we are possessed, not by the Spirit of God, but by our possessions.
This dispossession of our souls by our possessions can happen in the nation. How does this happen? We have heard accusations thrown at banks, financial institutions, major corporations, government oversight agencies, foolish borrowing, foolish lending, and ponzi schemes that stole the savings of thousands. There is also theological explanation. I am engaged in a project of reading the Institutes of the Christian Religion, by John Calvin, the French theologian who wrote this major theological text for Reformed Churches some 500 years ago. Under his interpretation of the commandment, "thou shalt not steal," he commented: "Now there are many kinds of theft. One consists of violence, when another's goods are stolen by force....A second kind consists of malicious deceit, when they are carried off by craftiness, when a man's goods are snatched from him by seemingly legal means...let this be our constant aim: faithfully to help all men by our counsel and aid them to keep what is theirs, in so far as we can...." (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2.8.45, 46). What is called for, says Calvin, is to think of others. In the nation greed replaced responsibility to others. That is the second conclusion we could draw: the corrupting power of wealth.
Third conclusion: the beggar is at our gate. Because of modern communications, our young people know how near the gate is and that the poor are right outside. They now head off to work in villages, to learn foreign languages, to teach better agriculture and health care, to take on the challenges of global warming. You have noticed in our orders of worship news reports about the work our national church is involved in. This church knows that the beggar is at the gate. This church knows that justice and mercy go hand-in-glove.
Three conclusions: our life here affects our life in eternity; God calls us to use whatever wealth we have responsibly; and mission is at the gate. The story is the warning that God expects a certain direction and purpose in our lives, and there are consequences should we ignore God.
That is the dark side of the story. But let's not stop there. Let's turn the story around. Say that one day the rich man left his mansion, accompanied by his bodyguard and went to an investment meeting with others to talk about their holdings. The meeting went on later than expected and it was dark when he came home. Lazarus was still there, lying in the shadows of the gate. When the rich man neared his home three thieves jumped out, killed the body guard, knocked the rich man unconscious, and took his purse, his rings, his purple robe, even his fine silk underwear, leaving him naked and unconscious. Lazarus, hidden in a corner, saw all this, and when the thieves left, he crawled over to the rich man and lifted his head out of the gutter. The rich man lay there in Lazarus' lap while he called out for help. Help came and carried the rich man inside. In the following days the rich man became acquainted with Lazarus. He was overwhelmed by the kindness of Lazarus, by his sense of peace. He even told the rich man about Jesus who talked about God loving all of us no matter what we have done, yet calling us to turn around and live with God's love. So the rich man used his resources to set up Lazarus in his own small shop where he sold vegetables that came in from the rich man's farm. That worked so well that the rich man found others for whom he used his capital to give a start. He had repossessed his soul. The image of God was within him again.
Another change: in the past the rich man had gone to the Temple and attended the festivals on the high holy days, mixing with the high priests and enjoying the best of the food. When the scriptures were read, he did not really listen. It was meant for others, surely, not for him. Now he listened, and heard Amos when the prophet was read,
"For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great are your sins--you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and push the needy in the gate....Hate evil and do good, and establish justice in the gate...let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream." (Amos 5, sel)
The rich man understood. Worship was not a spectator activity; it was a meeting with the Lord, a call to action, not the least of which is for justice and righteousness in the nation.
Let me point out how this might look today. One day with some other ministers I visited a small neighborhood church in Washington, DC, situated in a high crime district. You could see the Capitol building from the church. The congregation was small as most of the members had died and their children had moved away. There were not many men left in the congregation. Most of the members were women in their sixties, seventies, and eighties. They did not have a great deal of stamina, but they did have some financial assets. At night the streets were filled with young girls and boys who had come to the bright lights of the capital, but were now prostitutes, in the shadow of the Capitol building. It was a desperate and sad scene. The women of the congregation, inspired by their Bible study, decided to buy several dozen cots and moveable room dividers for the church rooms, to secure the part-time services of a social worker and a drug counselor, and offer help to these young people. They stapled printed invitations to poles and fences; they went out in pairs on the streets at night. They talked to the young girls and boys, and invited them to come to the church for sandwiches and coffee, a cot for the night and a prayer service. The young trickled in, and word got around, and they came in larger numbers. The police brought them, too. The women became friends and counselors, encouraging the young, helping them find a new life, praying with them. They helped the young find decent jobs and encouraged them to go to night school; and reunited some to their families. These church people had heard the word of the Lord, and from their mission redemption flowed forth, and righteousness like an everflowing stream. That is a story about using possessions just outside the gate, about a church recapturing the image of God in its soul.
Back to our amended story. Not the dark story, but the brighter one. Lazarus and the rich man die, and Abraham welcomes them.
What will be our story? Let us walk to those who are outside our gates, and then walk into heaven where Abraham and Jesus and their friends meet us.
October 18, 2009
H. Dana Fearon, III
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