Most of us make assumptions. We make assumptions about what we are, where
we are going and how other people perceive us.
We make assumptions about other people and what they are and where they
are going. Some of our assumptions come
from educated guesses, others from pure ignorance, whilst others from
information that has been passed onto us in one form or another.
Many of Jesus parables are all about
blowing apart assumptions and deconstructing religious myths. They are about reorganising people’s hearts
and minds and souls through challenging their world view. Today’s parable is one such example and in it
Jesus attacks the wealthy.
Now here is an assumption that we all
make about ourselves. Are you wealthy or
not? And if consider yourself to be
wealthy is this an indication that you are a good person or, well,
otherwise? Most of you along with me
would probably think that we are not that wealthy. For example if you read the figures in the
Business Review Weekly’s top 50 entrepreneurs you would be staggered at how
much some people earn. But all things
are relative.
As I was preparing for today I stumbled
upon an interesting website that allowed me to find out how rich I am on a world
scale. I entered my yearly income and I
was told exactly where I fitted in. To
give you a rough idea I am richer than around 5.4 billion people and there are
around 600 million richer than me. That
means I am in the world’s top 11% of rich people. Now I do not know what you earn but to give
you more of an idea if you earn more than $10 000 a year you are still in the
top 14% of the world’s richest people. In
our society we all know $10 000 doesn’t seem to go far at all.
Now I don’t know how all this makes you
feel, but listening to the parable and Jesus attack on wealthy last week, “you
cannot serve two master, God and money”; it makes me sit up and take notice.
Now when Jesus told this story Luke
clearly indicates that he was attacking the Pharisees who loved money but we
should not slip into any sort self-righteous Pharisee bashing. Whilst the Pharisees might have been a
convenient target Jesus’ real concern is to expose the problems that lie behind
the love of money.
Looking to the parable, we are told of
two men, a rich man and Lazarus, a beggar.
The story at face value does not tell us too much about these men and
their morality and their way of life but there are some indicators.
For instance we must consider that rhe
rich man is really very rich. He wears
purple every day and those of you who know your ancient fabrics would know that
purple was the most expensive dye. It
was, and still is, associated with royalty.
Not only does the man wear purple the cloth is of the finest linen and
we are told he feast sumptuously everyday.
We are not told how this man came by
this wealth and there is nothing to lead us to suspect him of any dishonesty,
in fact for all we know he could have inherited the lot or maybe just been a
good businessman. So we should not be
leaping to any quick conclusions.
Jesus audience, including the Pharisees,
who loved their money, may have thought that this rich man was OK. And according to some readings of the Old
Testament one could argue that this man’s wealth stemmed from God and therefore
indicated that God favoured him. This is
an assumption that Jesus is about challenge and he was certainly not the first
to do so.
The other man, Lazarus, is a beggar and
he lay at the gate of the rich man. Now
we do not pick the nuance up in the English but in the Greek the sense of the
word is that man was laid there. By whom
we do not know, but we might assume that whoever has done it has done so
because there is a hope that the rich man or one of his guest might show mercy to
Lazarus.
We are told that this man longed to
satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table but this is not
happening. We are also told that the dogs came to lick his sores.
This is an interesting aside. Usually it was the dogs that ate the scraps
underneath the table and by inserting the dogs into the story at this point it
is possible that Jesus is implying that the rich man saw Lazarus as lower than
dogs.
This vision of the dogs licking Lazarus
sores may appear to us to be the final indignity. But there is another possibility. It could infer that that the dogs are more
compassionate than the rich man. Dogs
lick their own wounds and there is some evidence from the ancient world that
the saliva of dogs was consider medicinal.
In other words Jesus is reversing the assumptions and judgements of the
crowd. It is not Lazarus who is lower
than the dogs but the rich man, because the dogs act compassionately towards
Lazarus whilst the rich man does not.
The parable then takes a fascinating
turn as both men die. Lazarus ascends
with the angels to be with father Abraham whilst the rich man is tormented in
Hades. This would have been a huge shock
to Jesus’ listeners who probably subscribed to the particular view that the
rich are blessed by God and the poor cursed.
This is a view that we can find in the Old Testament but we also find other
views about wealth and righteousness in the Old Testament. The most obvious of
these views is found in Job.
Back in the parable, the rich man looks
up to Father Abraham and sees Lazarus by his side. Appealing to Abraham he calls for Abraham to
send Lazarus to his aid. The irony is
clear and one can but wonder or not whether the rich man still perceives that
Lazarus is lower than he because he expects him to serve him by bringing him
water.
The refusal of Abraham is resolute, as
resolute as was the rich man’s inability to respond to Lazarus predicament in
life. Abraham points out that 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.
The rich man in his woe begs that
someone be sent to his father’s home to tell his five brothers so they do not
end up in the same place. Abraham
refuses and says if they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets then they will
not be convinced if someone rises from the dead.
I am not about to buy into an
interpretation that suggests that all rich people go to Hades, do not pass go
do not collect hundred dollars! Yet you
and I should listen for the tensions that this sets up for us.
Just because someone turns up on Sunday,
even as the minister, and sings the hymns or songs and prays the prayers, or at
least has someone out the front do it for them, and listens to the sermon or
parts of it not at all, and partakes of the bread and wine, and so on and so
forth, this does not necessarily mean that this person really participates in
what it means to be a part of the coming kingdom. If we put aside the issue of wealth, and of
heaven and hell, and look directly at what it means to be a part of kingdom
life now then there are some serious questions as to how all of us live our
lifestyle.
How do we use the gifts that we have
been given? Our wealth? Our time? Our intellect? Our practical abilities? Where
is Lazarus at our gate? Possibly half
way around the globe? Or maybe in a detention centre? Or maybe even living
under the bridges that cross the river?
The gospel imperative reminds us that
Christ died for us and for this world, yet participating in his coming kingdom
now involves the necessary reflection and response to those in need around us,
regardless of whether we think they deserve their predicament or not.
It is confronting stuff for all of
us. Jesus last line sounds a bit like an
addition by Luke. If someone rises from
the dead the brothers may still not believe.
Reading this I wonder whether there was an issue for the community that
Luke writing for in terms of those who followed Jesus and those who refused to
believe that Jesus had truly risen.
The issue stays with us. Do we really believe in God’s call in Christ
who died and rose and again and has ascended?
Someone has come back from the dead and his coming back will draw us
with him when he returns, but in the meantime we are called to be part of Jesus
life and ministry now.
Ultimately, I do not believe that we
save ourselves. Grace is God’s sovereign gift.
The gulf between the rich man and Lazarus cannot be bridged by what we
do only by God’s unconditional and compassionate decision. Nevertheless, we as Christians are called to
take seriously Jesus words if we are to be his disciples and to live our lives responding
to his love. Paul in his letter to
Timothy gave him an idea of what this might mean and I want to conclude today
by reading you a portion of that passage:
Of course, there is great gain in
godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so
that we 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 [or woman] 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 one sense, Luke is portraying the thoughts of a person on his deathbed and the likely internal conversation he envisages if the revolutionary ideas espoused by Jesus is played out. You make the revolutionary aspect very clear and express it succinctly.
ReplyDeleteWow! This really good! Thanks for posting these thoughts. It puts the passage into a really modern perspective for me.
ReplyDeleteGreat work buddy, keep it up
ReplyDeleteshoes for girls