Pray – May these spoken words, faithful to written word and lead us to the living Word., our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Jesus said: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and possessions and money.”
He gives the crowds, his disciples, the Pharisees, and us that warning and then goes on to tell a parable about a man who did not serve God but who served mammon. It is a very rich story, we’ll start slow and pick up speed…
I’ll raise questions which may not give answers but to get us reflecting…
Jesus begins, describing a rich man, dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasts.
Purple was a colour wore by royalty or those of great dignity. The verb tense indicates he dressed himself in purple every day – he had other clothes, but those he wore. He wanted people to know he had money – like driving THAT expensive car, to show people you can afford it.
It says he dresses in GK bussos – which is a word for quality Egyptian cotton, a cotton described as “most luxurious fabric of the ancient world” which was wore for underwear.
To use British English, for his pants, he wore only the best!
And he feasted every day – every day means the Sabbath too, he violated the 10 commandments by making his servants work, he did not give them a day off.
And it suggests he never went to the synagogue, for that was the activity on a Sabbath – instead he feasted. A writer says: “a self indulgent lifestyle was more important to him than the Law of God.” We have the picture of the rich man.
Then Lazarus is described. But already it is striking. He is the first, the only character in a parable who is named. All the others, Good Samaritan, the prodigal son, the dishonest steward, all anonymous. The men with no names. But here a name, it catches out attention – like that character who appears of the blue in a series and we wonder what is going on, why are they there! Lazaras means “the one whom God helps.”
It makes us think – how does God help this beggar? Pause.
We hear the one whom God helps is laid at the rich man’s gate. Laid – he was too sick to walk too sick to move. He is poor, he is hungry, he is ill – with sores. He could not stand, he is carried, each day, from his home to the gate and then taken home at the end of the day.
A totally awful experience.
The one whom God helps.
Lazarus is helped by members of the community, maybe members of his family – they do all that they can to help this man in need – and I’d suggest that they become a means by which God is helping Lazarus.
Does the parable ask – don’t focus on what you can’t do, but what you can?
But their help for Lazarus can only go so far – and they take him to the house where he can get the help he needs, most likely medical care or money for doctors to treat him…
Lazarus lies there but Lazarus is not alone. “Even the dogs came and licked his sores.” Now, the NIV and other translations phrase it this way to suggest, even these unclean dogs, disgustingly came and licked his sores – added to his pain and suffering. But the word alla which is translated even – is always used for contrast.
So the dogs were not joining the rich man in tormenting Lazarus, these dogs, do what they can to help –as we know dogs lick for affection, not because they are about to take your hand off…
The dogs, like the friends, do what they can …
Where are we? The rich man clothed in purple and the best underwear. Lazarus, naked covered with sores. Rich man feasted 7 days a week. Lazarus longed for scraps of bread. Rich man had many servants to satisfy all his needs. Lazarus had no servants, the only ones who served him were the dogs…
Okay, to pick up speed. Both men die. Lazarus is described as carried to Abraham’s side. The rich man is in torment. He sees Paradise. It says: he looked up, he saw Abraham and then he asks Abraham to have pity on him and to send Lazarus to him, to bring him water.
Let’s press pause.
The rich man recognises Lazarus – he doesn’t say – Father Abraham, who is that man? He knows him; he is acquainted with him. He says ‘’send Lazarus.’’
The rich man, while alive knew all about Lazarus – it was never the case that he never knew the need. He knew the need of Lazarus, he even knows his name.
Now surely the rich man will repent won’t he? I mean, he is in torment, he must realise he has been wrong.
Does he? Nope – he doesn’t even speak to Lazarus.
No, just like the person in the bakery cannot smell the fresh bread, or the shop assistant in the chocolate shop cannot smell the chocolate she sells, the rich man is oblivious to what he did to Lazarus.
He asks Abraham to tell Lazarus to come and help him. He could not, would not, help Lazarus and now he asks for Lazarus to help him in his need!
No repentance. What is repentance? We learn it is must be more than simply saying sorry and then going on and doing what we have always done. It means a change in attitude, a change in words and tone we use, the way we act, the way we think, a change in life direction.
Abraham is the character speaking from Paradise. This great biblical hero. He left his country, his kin, in obedience to God’s call. He made sacrifices because of his faith.
The rich man made no sacrifices. He had no faith. In the bible, faith leads to action.
He had no faith and that is why he is where he is. His faith would have shown itself in actions, which would have included, in this case, trying to do what he could to help Lazarus, to be one through whom God would work to help.
Biblical alive faith expresses itself in love. That will be shown in many ways, many small, some large. In the c18th Evangelical Revival in England led by people such as Wesley and Whitfield, there was a strong emphasis on evangelism and calling people to commit their lives to believing in Christ. But in the late c18th, the leaders of that time, began to encourage the upcoming men and women to focus not only on conversion but on the importance of discipleship – allow their lives to be shaped by Christ, and to live out that faith in society.
And for some, their faith expressed itself in seeking social reform, helping the poor, fighting slavery.
Their faith and our faith is to be expressed in action.
Abraham says to rich man that in this life he received his good things. Again it is a passive word – you received. He did not earn it, he did not deserve the good life he enjoyed, it was a gift, and the giver in mind is God. All the rich man had was a free gift from a generous God.
And Abraham says Lazarus is comforted. Not that he is now fed – he is at a banquet – not that he is healed – as suggested he has been – he has been comforted. That word ‘recalls the pain he experienced emotionally through his ordeal – the pain that the poor and needy experience in addition to the physical deprivations – and while the illness may have come from somewhere else, and the poverty probably came from other sources, the word comfort – points to the suffering the rich man brought into Lazarus’ life…
Consider those words : what you received.
Harvest is a time we remember what we have received. What do we do with the good gifts we have received? This is a third story in a row about waste – Prodigal Son, wastes his father’s inheritance, the dishonest steward wastes the owners wealth, here a rich man wastes his own possessions – in fact he wastes God’s possessions entrusted to him.
What needs does God bring across our lives?
How far can we help?
The rich man responded to the good things he was given with self indulgence, indifference to the needs of others…
The Rich man asks that Lazarus go to his family. Abraham says no, that they have Moses and the Prophets, let them shape their lives around that living word.
‘’Let them listen to them.’’ The word can be translated ‘’let them hear.’’ That phrase in Semitic language means to listen and obey. We began the gospel – how – hear the Gospel… when that word ‘’hear’’ we could imagine it saying: ‘’listen to this and see what you think…’’
but the Jewish understanding would say:
when I say Hear the Gospel, I am saying: hear, listen, obey this part of the Gospel…
Finally the rich man pleads. ‘’Send someone from the dead.’’
The response, again points to the word of God. If the Word of God, is not enough then nothing else will be. If the Word of God is not enough, a miracle will make no difference.
For example in Acts, the religious leadership keep trying to restrict and stop the early Christians talking about Jesus being raised, instead of asking where is Jesus body? If we don’t have it, and the Romans haven’t got it, and these guys are willing to suffer declaring he is alive, there must be something to this. No, they were hard hearted and didn’t respond…
So the parable ends – a rich man, a poor man. But who was rich in the end? Who was poor in the end?
The parable invites us, to consider:
what is repentance when we say we repent of our sins?
What do we do with the good gifts, especially material wealth, entrusted to us?
Can we be ones through whom God helps others? Does our faith lead into loving action?
When the Scriptures are read – do we hear them, or do some scriptures just bounce off us now like a tennis ball?
Shall we pray…
Speak Lord, now or in this week, your servants are listening,
show us where we need shaking and our lives need changing,
and let us shape for good
the lives, places and situations around us…
in Jesus name. Amen.