Luke 16:19-31

Luke 16:19-31

¹⁹“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. ²⁰And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, ²¹who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. ²²The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴He 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.’ ²⁵But 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. ²⁶Besides 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.’ ²⁷He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— ²⁸for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ ²⁹Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ ³⁰He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ ³¹He 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.’”

This is a scary passage. It is uncompromising in its judgment on the rich man (often named "Dives" which is Latin for "rich man"). This parable offers no explicit reason for the rich man's condemnation other than the fact that he was wealthy and Lazarus was not. However, the contrast between these two people living side by side is so stark and graphic (dog's licking Lazarus's open sores . . . ugh . . ), that we cannot help but come to the conclusion that it was the rich man's lack of care or compassion for Lazarus that causes him to end up in Hades.

This seems a very straight forward, but it is not. First, it should be remarked that the reason for Lazarus' salvation was not his faith, but his poverty. Similarly in this passage, the rich man's ultimate fate is not linked to his wealth, but how he used it. The implication of the angel's statement to the rich man that he had received his good things in this life and now is experiencing the suffering that Lazarus went through, seems to me to indcate that if he had shared the good things of his former life, then he would be sharing the good things of Lazarus in the present one. This passage makes clear that what we do and how we treat others has eternal consequences. There is no "do over". There is no "extra life" that we can get like in a video game. What we do with our lives in the here and now matters, not only to those around us but also to God.

Now, we live in Elwood a place where we do not currently have people sleeping on the streets. But we do not live too far from places where people do. One of the things we need to remember about this story, is that their welfare is linked to ours. Theologians from South America speak of God's "preferential option" for the poor. This does not mean that God hates rich people, but it does indicate God's care for them. As Christians we are to care for the poor because of the compassion that it engenders in our own hearts. When that compassion grows in us, then we begin to understand more fully the compassion that God has for us. In so doing we are transformed, we are born again into the image that God has us his people.