Pentecost XVI Luke 16:19-31
The rich man in the parable remains nameless.
Sometimes called “Dives”, which in Latin means “rich man,” he is not honored with
a name. The poor man, Lazarus, was sick
and hungry, laying at the gate at the rich man.
He was under the rich man’s nose, perhaps under feet when he left his
gate, but the rich man did nothing on his behalf. The rich man, this nameless person
in the story is juxtaposed with Lazarus who ends up with Abraham.
The rich man died and was buried and was in Sheol, “Hades.” It was the state of being dead. The rich man, however, was being tormented. He was able to see Lazarus at the side of Abraham,
the father of the faith, which meant that Lazarus now had some status he had
not had in life.
The rich man never talked to Lazarus, still. He presumed to be able to address Abraham and
instructed Abraham to send Lazarus to quench his thirst, after asking Abraham
for mercy, but not Lazarus.
Abraham let him know that he had all the wealth,
power, and status in his life, but that Lazarus suffered evil things (including
being ignored by the rich man). Abraham
did recognize that the rich man was in agony, but he would not send Lazarus to
wait on him. He also pointed out that
there is a great chasm between heaven and Sheol, the realm of the dead, and
that it cannot be crossed.
Then the rich man presumed to ask Abraham to send
Lazarus to his father’s house to warn his brothers of their plight should they
continue to value wealth, power, and status above the lives of others,
especially those in need.
Abraham simply reminded him that they had access to
Moses and the prophets, just as the rich man had access to when he was alive. The rich man told Abraham, “No,” pushing to send
Lazarus from the dead to his brothers to dramatically convince them. Abraham pointed out that if they did not listen
to Moses and the prophets, they would not listen to a resurrected Lazarus.
And that was it; it is a parable, but there is no
explanation or direct application. After
criticizing the Pharisees and explaining the importance of God’s Law in His
teachings, Jesus warned humanity about loving wealth, power, and status above
other human beings, while ignoring the will of God.
The rich man had great wealth, even more than he
could ever need. He had the power of
life and death over those around him who were starving and sick. He had status above all those “beneath him.” None of that mattered. In fact, it may have been that which sent him
to Hades instead of heaven. Dead is
dead, and that was the end for the rich man, oh yes, and with torment.
What may be the most astounding thing to me about
the rich man character in the parable is that he held onto his absurd sense of
superiority and status above Lazarus, even though Lazarus was in heaven and he
was in Sheol. Not only that, but he
presumed status enough to order Abraham, the father of the faith to do his
bidding in ordering Lazarus around, presuming that Abraham’s status above him
would be recognized in heaven. The word “asinine”
comes to mind. To believe that God’s reign holds
status in the same way that empire on earth does is absurd.
But that is the nature of such a strong false sense
of superiority. It leads to an insane
sense of entitlement above others. It is
born of bigotry and fed by hubris. It is
not of God. The love for wealth more than
others, power over others and status above others is not a value of God or the
Reign of God. Jesus’ Good News calls for
equality of value, the sharing of power and the equal distribution of
sustenance so that all of God’s people have Shalom. One can claim Abraham or David or Jesus all
that they want, but if our values are not in alignment with God’s reign, even
as we live in this part of it here and now, perhaps Jesus is claiming that our
salvation is at stake. That would certainly
line up with Jesus’ vision of His own return and the judgment of all humanity,
as we have witness in Matthew’s Gospel (25:31-46).
The rich man failed to welcome the stranger at the
gate, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and care for the sick. He found himself among the goats because of
it, in the end.
Immigrants are suffering at our Southern gate. We have the means by which to welcome
them and care for them. We ignore them,
and when they sneak in the gate we detain them, separate families, and send
them back to their deaths. Sometimes we
spend money that could be spent in helping them to transport them as a
political ploy out of abject cruelty.
There is a special place in Hades for those who do so.
We have sick people in our own nation, within our gates,
who are dying because they cannot afford medicine or medical care. There are
people starving to death on our streets, beneath our feet, even though there is
enough food within the nation to feed them.
There are people who need clothing and shelter, some of whom are in
danger of dying on the streets under our feet, outside our gated communities. There are people unjustly incarcerated for
petty crimes for decades, for having done things that are now legal. Some are serving much longer sentences for
the same drug crimes that others of different economic status (and Race) have
been freed from long ago.
We cannot hide behind the nameless policies that we not only allow but condone and encourage by how we vote in elected
officials who run on very particular, ideological platforms.
We cannot claim that we are not responsible for the
most vulnerable among us.
We cannot claim that we have not seen them.
We cannot claim that our wealth is only ours, or
that we have been “self-made,” when we have gained our wealth on the backs of those who are low paid, systematically and intentionally.
We cannot claim status above anyone, particularly
our ancestors of the faith.
We cannot claim that we are entitled to power and
control over others.
We cannot claim any superiority over others with
God and get away with that.
God will not be mocked.
There is a special place in Sheol for those whose
values are heaped in the values of empire.
There is corporate sin, and our corporations,
political parties and nation are subject to its consequences.
Jesus told the parable and left it there.
I will leave this right here.
