The reading
from Luke is a parable, and that might seem obvious but it's actually important
to recognise that it is parable. Because a parable is a story that has a
message in it, it isn't a full-blown systematic theology. Often a parable has a
twist at the end, Jesus turns around what people expect the ending to be. The
parable, the story, has two people in it, well two main characters. The rich
man, while often he is called Dives, his name is not recorded. The other person
is Lazarus. One thing to notice in this parable is that the poor person has the
name and the rich person does not, this in itself is unusual.
So what
might this parable teach us? We hear that the rich man had all he could eat,
and Lazarus had nothing and the dogs licked his sores. And both men died. While
the parable then speaks of Lazarus going to heaven and the rich man going to
hell this parable isn't about heaven and hell. In some ways it is about money
and what we do with it, but it also isn't about money at all.
I will speak
first about money. Here is an image I found on the Internet this week, the
caption says : “ if this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help
the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus is just as selfish as we are, or
we've got to acknowledge that he commanded us to love the poor and serve the
needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it."
These words were spoken by an American, where the sense of being a Christian
nation is much stronger than it is in Australia. But I think the same can apply
to our lives. If we say we are Christian people and don't help the poor we have
to pretend that Jesus is as selfish as we are, or acknowledge that we just
don't want to live by the gospel teaching.
http://missionalthoughts.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/398726_3106482339387_1184152258_3272631_387366926_n.jpeg
The
decisions we make about money and what to do with the money that we have, no
matter how little or how much we have, can make a big difference in the world.
The choices we make about what to do with the money that we have make a
difference, that can be in which charities we choose to give money to, but also
the choices we make when we go shopping, the kind of vehicle that we travel in,
the clothes that we buy, all make a difference.
Following
the devastation in Pakistan earlier this year people are starting to ask
questions about working conditions in factories where our clothes are made. At
the Synod of meeting earlier this year a proposal was passed requesting that
all congregations and agencies of the church look into using fair trade tea and
coffee. This is because fair trade products offer greater dignity to those who grow,
pick and make these products.
The parable
is about money, in the sense that Timothy speaks about the love of money: “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.” [1 Timothy 6: 9- 10]. [Image of
Christians against greed. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/diglib-fulldisplay.pl?SID=20130928691680908&code=act&RC=55711&Row=10]
I said earlier this parable was about money but not
about money,.
This parable reminds us of what happens when
wealth, greed, or just plain preoccupation with money or our own life blinds us
to those in need. The rich man is not condemned for being rich, but ignoring
the plight of Lazarus. It isn't that he wasn't aware of Lazarus, because he
asks Abraham to get Lazarus to bring him some water. Even in death the rich man
is thinking of himself rather than Lazarus or anyone else. He did nothing to
help Lazarus and now he wants Lazarus to come to his aid. He doesn't ask
Lazarus he asks Abraham to send Lazarus.
I wonder who would do we ignore, which people or
group of people do we pretend don't exist or don't need our help.? Growing up during the Vietnam war, the
veterans were ignored on their return.
Whom do we ignore? Is it people of different colour,
faith, language, or dress? Is a people with mental illness, people without
adequate work, people who are homeless?
I wonder what the government is trying to say about
asylum seekers, when information is drip feed to the media? To me it feels like
asylum seekers are being treated as less than human.
Who do we ignore?
The rich man also asks for Lazarus to go and warn
his brothers – but they, like us, have the prophets. We also have the gospels,
and the example of Jesus. People will always find reasons for not living out
their discipleship.
When we ignore the needs of other people, when we
see ourselves as somehow superior, we miss the grace that God is offering to us.
One of the problems of wealth is that the things that money can buy numb us to
the needs of others and our own need. When Jesus said it is harder for a rich
man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to go through the eye in
needle, it is because those who are rich, those who have sufficient or more,
start imagining that hard work and some luck are all that is needed. When we
have more than we need for basic living it is easy to pretend that we don't
need anyone else, even God.
When we no longer feel compassion for other people,
we lose something of our own self. As we become more aware of the needs of
other people, as we become more responsive to people who are hurting, as we
listen to people's hopes and dreams, we become more aware of our own humanity,
our own need, our own pain. And we become aware and we give thanks for God's
offer of grace, peace, Love.
This parable is about money but it is about so much
more than money. This parable is a reminder that each of us makes choices in
life. It is a reminder that we ignore people at our own peril. It is a reminder
that we too are human. We are all in need of God's grace, forgiveness, love and
peace. We are all human. And we are called to live in ways that recognise and
respect the humanity of all people, showing the love and grace that we are
shown through Christ.
*ideas from David Lose at working preacher
