Proper 21 -- Jeremiah 32:1–3a, 6–15; Psalm 91:1–6, 14–16; I
Timothy 6:6–19; Luke
16:19–31
A homily by Fr.
Gene Tucker, given at Trinity
Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, September 29, 2013.
“LOVING SERVICE TO GOD AND OTHERS”
(Homily text: Luke 16:19–31)
Sometimes,
it does us good to consider the meaning of the things we do.
For
example, if we think about the rite of baptism, that passage through the waters
which makes us sons and daughters of God, then it is good for us to consider
this question:
- Is baptism something that we do, or
- Is baptism something that God does?
By now, of
course, having just read that last paragraph, you will discern that the correct
answer is that God is the one who is making for Himself children, sons and
daughters. By passing through the waters
of baptism, by which we die to ourselves and are raised to a new life (see St.
Paul’s explanation of this process as we find it in Romans 6:3–9), following
the Lord’s commandment and His example, we are simply responding to God’s initiative,
given in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit
prompts us to be able to follow the Lord in this way. Outside of God’s command and the working of
the Holy Spirit, we would be totally unable to make ourselves children of God.
Now, if we look again at this business of baptism, another thing we notice is that God is expressing His bottomless love for each one of us, as we pass, one at a time, into the waters and out again into a new life. In essence, what God is saying is this: “You are my deeply loved children, a person that I myself have created, and a person that I want to have a deep, long-lasting and loving relationship with. I want that relationship to begin here and now, as you are baptized.”
Now, if we look again at this business of baptism, another thing we notice is that God is expressing His bottomless love for each one of us, as we pass, one at a time, into the waters and out again into a new life. In essence, what God is saying is this: “You are my deeply loved children, a person that I myself have created, and a person that I want to have a deep, long-lasting and loving relationship with. I want that relationship to begin here and now, as you are baptized.”
Awesome
stuff, baptism!
Now, if we
are able to hold what we’ve just said about baptism in a place in our minds,
let’s turn to Jesus’ parable which is before us today, which is commonly known
as “The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus”.
Remembering
that Jesus is talking to a Jewish audience some 2,000 years ago, there are some
commonly held beliefs that most – if not all – of His audience would have had
in their minds as they heard Him spin out the tale of the rich man[1]
and poor Lazarus.
Among these
beliefs would have been the idea that each man in the story, the rich one and
the poor one, would have been marked with the sign of the Covenant, that is,
circumcision. By obedience to God’s
command, each man would have received the sign of the Covenant on the eighth
day of their lives (see Genesis 17: 12).
For
another, each man would have claimed to be children of Abraham. Notice that Jesus’ tale affirms this
identity.
For yet
another, each man would have known the Scriptures, would have known the Law,
and would have known the great Sh’ma,[2] which
was ancient Israel’s statement of faith.
It says, “Hear, O Israel: The
Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your might.”
I think we
are safe in making these assumptions about Jesus’ audience and their
expectations of the two characters in today’s story.
However,
Jesus’ parable points out the selective nature of the remembrance of many in
Israel at the time that our Lord lived.
Alas, the sad truth that the Scriptures paint of Jewish observance in
those long ago days is that it was very selective…some things became extremely
important to remember and do, while other things were almost completely
forgotten.
Of the
utmost importance, it seems, to those ancient peoples, was faithful observance
of all the outward rituals associated with worship, and scrupulous observance
of the rules governing daily life….Sabbath observance is one example of this
emphasis, as was careful avoidance of anything and anyone who was considered to
be unclean. This was the main concern, it seems, of the Pharisees, the scribes,
and the priestly class.
Forgotten,
however, were the requirements of the Law that dealt with doing acts of
kindness and charity, of the need to practice hospitality, of the requirement
to care for the poor.
Jesus’
parable seems to strike particularly hard at the forgotten parts of the
Law. Perhaps the Lord has in mind this
requirement from Deuteronomy 15:7, which reads: “If among you, one of your brothers should
become poor, in any of your towns within the land which the Lord your God is
giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor
brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his
need, whatever it may be.”
Against
this requirement, we can see that Jesus is striking a blow for obedience to
God’s command, a command that requires acts of charity, especially to another
member of those who claimed to be children of Abraham and heirs of God’s
promises.
But in
Jesus’ day, the prevailing attitudes toward the poor and the sick had become
something else. (Notice that Jesus
paints the picture of Lazarus as being both poor and sick.) In those days, those who were rich were regarded
as having been blessed by God because they had “earned” God’s approval and
blessing by their faithful living.
Conversely, those who were poor or who were sick in some way also
“deserved” their punishment, due to some sinful condition in their lives.[3]
Someone who
was sick was someone who was to be avoided, because they were often ritually
unclean, unable to enter the temple’s sacred precincts, due to some physical
condition or another, such as having a skin disorder or an open sore. (Notice that Jesus paints this picture of
Lazarus.)
And, of
course, that’s exactly the tale that Jesus weaves today, as He describes the
rich man’s blindness to Lazarus’ presence and condition. Jesus is portraying not only the attitude of
the “righteous” ones, but also the presence of the many in His day who were
poor, sick, or both.
It is good
for us to remember that the Lord used common, everyday situations as the raw
material for His parables….if, indeed, He was using common occurrences for
today’s parable, then it is a sad commentary on the state of society in His
day….there must have been many, many poor people whose lot in life was made all
the worse by the pious ones in society who would deliberately avoid contact
with such miserable human beings…..instead of helping those who needed help,
they avoided them, making the lot of the poor and the sick all the worse.
If the Jews
of long ago were bound by the terms of their being sons and daughters of the
covenant, bound not only to love God, but to love others, and to be a “light to
the nations” (as Isaiah puts it), then they were to show the world that God’s
love toward them, by virtue of having been chosen by God to be His chosen people,
that care for the poor, the sick, and the downtrodden, was to be a hallmark of
their manner of living, and of the society that resulted such faithful living
to all the requirements of the law.
In a
similar way, we who have passed through the waters of baptism and who have
become sons and daughters of God under the terms of the New Covenant, have an
obligation to care for those who cannot care for themselves. The New Testament’s record in this matter is
quite clear.
St. Luke
tells us, in the Book of Acts, that the very early Church cared for each other
so much that they pooled their resources together. As a new person was brought into fellowship
with God through Jesus Christ through the Church, they sold their possessions
and brought the proceeds to the Apostles.
Their contribution became the property of the Church, for the benefit of
all. (Today, we would call such an
arrangement a commune.)
In time,
this collective practice ended. But
those early believers still cared for one another, helping one another,
supporting one another, loving one another.
It was this
hallmark of the Christian faith that helped the early Church grow…For the
Church was planted in a society where life was harsh and brutal, a society
where there was economic stratification, a place where a large number of poor
persons were slaves who had been uprooted from their homelands to serve in an
alien city where they were separated from family and friends.
By
contrast, the Church offered a place where a relationship with God meant that a
person’s life suddenly had meaning, worth and purpose. The Church was a place where the rich, who
were clothed in purple and fine linen, sat next to a slave who was dressed in
tatters. The rich and poor called each
other “brothers and sisters”. To the
stratified Roman society of that day and time, this was a scandal.
In our day
and time, many of the conditions that pertained to the Roman Empire’s society
are present …. Many in our world today don’t see any
meaning to their lives, believing that human life is some sort of a cruel
joke. Many are poor, and see little hope
of bettering their life’s situation, either for themselves or for their
children. Many are lonely, and feel that
no one loves them, no one at all, even God.
Into this
situation, God has placed the Church, the body of Christ, made up of those who
have passed through the waters of baptism and who have experienced God’s love
firsthand. To Christian believers is
given the task to make God’s love known in ways that can be seen, received, and
experienced.
Jesus’
timeless tale of the rich man and Lazarus impels us to bring the love of Christ
that has been poured into our hearts into the hearts, minds and lives of those
around us, especially to the poor, the sick, and the unloved.
We have work to do, to care for the sick, the poor, the unloved and the unlovely!
[1] Tradition has given the rich man a
name: Dives. Accordingly, sometimes, this parable is known
by the title “The Parable of Dives and Lazarus”.
[2] The Sh’ma
is found in Deuteronomy 6:4–5.
[3] We can see this attitude clearly in the
response of the situation of the man who was born blind (John, chapter
nine). In response to the man’s
blindness, they want to know if it was because of his own sin, or the sin of
his parents, that he was born blind.
