a homily for Proper 21C
Text: Luke 16:19-31

 

 

Picturing the People

Listen again to the opening sentences of this parable. Hear it. Close your eyes and take it in.

There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.

Now picture these two men.

Draw the rich man. Color his robes purple; royalty. Draw a table next to him and cover it with food.

Draw a poor man. Write “Lazarus” above his head. Rather than clothe him, color his skin red with sores. They bleed. Draw a dog there, next to him, staring. Or put the dog on him, licking.

Now draw a third person who looks like you. Dress them like you. Do you draw a smile or a frown on the face? Write your own name above their head.

Put your self-portrait next to one of these two. Take a piece of tape or a gluestick and connect yourself to one of the two.

Now draw a chasm, a divide, something between you and your friend and this other person. It can be the Grand Canyon, a river, a wall or fence—some barrier.

Where are you? Who are you with? What divides you?

See the Division

Now open your eyes.

When you pictured these two and put yourself into the story, how did you choose where to put yourself? Did you choose based on where you think you are supposed to be or where you tend to be?

In this parable, as in Jesus’s very world, it is some 1900 years away from the invention of the Middle Class so there are only rich and poor. Standing in comfort with the other comfortable means one is wealthy, and that is one option. Living in poverty is the other.

Jesus invites us to see this and see the division. Then and now.

Last week’s gospel ends with the provocative line “You cannot serve God and wealth.” The very next line reads: “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him.” They have chosen. They laugh at Jesus. They don’t hear Him. This is Jesus’s response:

“You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God. “The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone tries to enter it by force. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one stroke of a letter in the law to be dropped. “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

Division. Division between GOD and people. Division between people and people. Division between spouses.

Then Jesus tells them this morning’s story about a nameless rich man, a named poor man, and the chasm between them. We instantly know with whom Jesus stands. Lazarus. He has a name.

Listen to Him!

The story’s turn comes after the chasm, the divide is set. The rich man accepts his fate—accepts that he cannot cross over—and he worries about his family. Why would he worry? If they were likely to be with Lazarus and Abraham, he wouldn’t. He knows they will join him. He wants a warning sent. Abraham says that they have their warning: listen to Moses and the prophets.

Listen for the turn here: the rich man says:

“No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.”

Then Abraham says:

“If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”

If they don’t hear the Good News, a miracle won’t convince them.

If they ignore their leader and their own prophets, another won’t get through any better.

If they don’t listen, they won’t hear—no matter who speaks. You. Me. Our bishop. It won’t matter. Wearing a collar doesn’t make another person’s ears work or make the Gospel any more effective. The Gospel is enough! Jesus is talking about the Gospel, not the proclaimers!

Now here’s our Turn in the story. Who is Jesus proclaiming the Gospel to in the story? The Pharisees! The people who aren’t listening. The people making fun of Him. The people who reject Him. And the people who put themselves on the other side of the chasm.

And Hear Him

Jesus doesn’t ignore the Pharisees. He tries with them. But they can’t hear it. Or they’re afraid of it. Or they don’t think it applies to them.

Hear Him. Remember that drawing we made in our minds. Jesus is trying to help us to stand next to Lazarus and the wretched. To see them, to be with them, to love them. Not just pity them, or try to control them, or to make them into different people.

In our world, we know the names of the rich: the Waltons, the Gates, the Buffets, the Kochs, but our poor and weak and stricken and demoralized are nameless. They are being criminalized for being homeless in such diverse places as Tampa, Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston. Christians have been arrested in Raleigh, North Carolina for feeding the homeless. The nameless, the poor, can be swept up and escorted out—making them completely invisible to us, the wealthy.

But in the Kingdom of GOD, the wealthy are nameless and the poor each get a name. Here, in this world, we all have names. And yet we all long to be known and loved and protected. Jesus has already told us how.

“Feed my sheep”
“Love God. And love your neighbor as yourself.”

We are to love Lazarus and protect him. We are to give away the stuff that earns us a name here. We don’t really want that name, anyway. We want the one GOD promises to give us. A beautiful name. Like Lazarus.

[For more on this text, check out this week’s Eating Scripture, my resumed video series on the gospel.]