Proper 21 – C, 2010

The Rev. Dorian McGlannan

September 26, 2010

If this gospel doesn’t make you jump out of your skin, nothing will!  Not that going to church is meant to shake you up  - or is it!  If shaking us up is what we need to get us on the right track, then perhaps we do need a bit of jarring.  This gospel reminds me a lot of that well-beloved tale The Christmas Carol.  Dickens' classic has had so many incarnations that I suspect there is not a person in this room from age 5 up who does not know the story.  So here we have it:  the rich man dressed in purple as Scrooge and the scene of Scrooge being warned by Marley’s ghost as the rich man being tormented in Hades.   The difference between The Christmas Carol and this gospel is that in the gospel, Abraham does not think it will do any good to send a voice from the dead to warn the five brothers.  Abraham says: “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone from the dead comes to visit them.” 

So you get the picture – both The Christmas Carol and this parable tell us the same thing; if we ignore the plight of the poor, we will suffer in the afterlife.  Not a very encouraging message but a message nonetheless.  On the other hand, we might say “well why not”.  Sometimes Jesus needs to hit us over the head with a difficult message.  Money and possessions form a central theme in Luke’s gospel.  From Mary’s Magnificat in the very first chapter to the sermon on the mount in the 6^th chapter; from the parable of the Rich Fool in chapter 12 to today’s parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, this message about the woes of putting money and possessions first comes at us in many and varied forms.

The parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man is full of contrasts and reversals.  The poor man is named; the rich man is not. The rich man is dressed in purple; the poor man is covered not with clothing but with sores. The rich man feasts sumptuously; Lazarus has to get by on what falls from the table. The rich man has a proper burial; Lazarus was carried away by angels.  And then the final reversal of all...  Lazarus is nestled in Abraham’s arms looking down from heaven while the rich man lies in torment begging.  Luke makes it clear that this parable is directed at those who love money. Jesus wanted to reveal through this story that they loved money more than people, their possessions more than the poor, their clothes more than compassion, and their extravagant feasts more than sharing food with the hungry.

So where do we fit in this story?  Is there a place for you and for me?   I don’t know about you but  I cannot identify with Lazarus. I have never in my life had to beg for food and I have always had a place to live and clothes to wear.  Yes, I have lived in some very simple circumstances.  For almost 15 years, I lived in a poor neighborhood in Baltimore in a tiny row house for which I paid $5,000.  But still, I cannot identify with Lazarus.  What about the rich man?  Well – not quite him either. The only sumptuous feast my husband and I have really had was our wedding reception for the 400 people who attended our wedding.  The reception was sumptuous for sure but that was only because it was a potluck and we knew lots of good cooks.   Hmm and then there was the lobster fest last night; a sumptuous feast indeed. So I suppose that within the perspective of the whole world, there is no question that we are more similar to the rich man than to Lazarus.  No question about it.

In the end, we line up with Lazarus because in general we share one thing in common with him; that is the ability to simply not see the poor. For most Americans of any means, who have jobs, who are able to feed and shelter their families and live in reasonable comfort, there is a lack of vision when it comes to the poor. We may not be doing anything to actually hurt the poor; it’s just that we simply don’t see them. One of the primary dangers of wealth is that it causes blindness.  I know this is true for me.  When I lived in the midst of poverty in Baltimore, I saw the impact of poverty every single day, people just scraping by, some with devastating emotional problems but many others just trying to simply live.   Now, living where I do in Northville, I have to be conscious about remembering the poor.

The reading from Luke presents us with the great moral challenge of seeing, and then making visible, the invisible suffering of the world.  Our global communication network has made us more and more aware of the world’s suffering but we have at the same time become much more adept at ignoring suffering.  What used to shock and dismay us passes as a blip on the television screen.  It is easy to become numb.

There is one thing about this gospel that I find somewhat troubling. I feel somewhat lost when it comes to this parable because I just don’t respond well to fear based stories. If it were left to me, I would talk about the joy of giving, how giving of ourselves is what leads to peace in this life and the next.  There is nothing in this message that needs to be fear-based.  It is a fact of life.  The reading from 1^st Timothy helps clarify this position by talking about how greed can ruin us:  “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 the 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.”  While this reading also has an element of warning, it is more about how the love of money can harm us in this life.  The reading from 1^st Timothy gets at the heart of the matter; holding onto to money can make us sick.  Anxiety about money can destroy our emotional lives, our spiritual lives and eventually our physical bodies.  Generosity, on the other hand, can bring us satisfaction and serenity.  Generosity makes us feel good from head to toe; it makes us feel as though we are doing something to try to close the gap between rich and poor.  Generosity with regard to the things that mean something to us also improves our emotional and spiritual health. 

Since we are on the verge of our annual pledge campaign, I do want to say a few words about that. It is really important, even if you are in financial distress, to make a pledge to the church. It can be $1.00 a week but at least you will know that you will be a part of those who support the financial base of the church. Taking that first step will enable you to grow spiritually, emotionally and it will even help you physically.   When 1^st Timothy talks about how the love of money can pierce us with many pains that is an all inclusive statement which includes our bodies.  The bottom line is that generosity is good for us!

As we go forth from this church today, I encourage you to think and pray about the priorities of your life.  What is really important to you? Is your heart directed toward God or toward money?  Just last week, we heard that we cannot serve God and wealth. Luke is flooding us with ideas to ponder and pray.  Take this message knowing that our loving God will help you and guide you in taking whatever steps you need to take to live the life of spiritual abundance in this life and the next.