- 1st Reading – Amos 6:1a, 4-7
- 2nd Reading – 1 Timothy 6:11-16
- Gospel – Luke 16:19-31
There’s an old saying, “Money is the root of all evil.” Many people think that saying comes straight from the Bible; but what the Bible actually says in 1st Timothy Chapter 6 is “The love of money is the root of all evil.” Jesus never condemned the wealthy for having wealth. And there are in fact many rich people throughout history who are now recognized as saints, even kings and queens, who used their wealth for the good of others. The ones Jesus condemns are those who let their wealth control their lives; making them forget about who had blessed them so generously in the first place. He condemns those who let their wealth lead them into greed and dishonesty or as in the parable of the rich man in today’s Gospel, just plain self-centered complacency. The rich man was blind to Lazarus. He never saw Lazarus as a fellow human being who had a right to be treated with dignity. His wealth and possessions made him blind. The first time the rich man really saw Lazarus as a person, and not an eyesore, was when it was too late.
Today’s parable would have been quite a shock to the people Jesus was speaking to. The people of Jesus’ time saw healthy people and the wealthy as people who were in good favor with God. And those who were poor, or sick were seen as sinners who were being punished for something. But things didn’t work out that way for the rich man and Lazarus. The parable is an example of Jesus’ teaching that those who wish to be part of his kingdom must first love God and then love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Jesus reminds us that wealth and material things can make us feel so secure in this life that we forget about what matters most, and that’s our eternal life. The parable is meant to help us recognize the responsibilities that we inherit when our Heavenly Father blesses us abundantly.
That’s also the point of our first reading from Amos. Last weeks first reading was also from Amos. In these readings 750 years before Christ, Amos prophecies the downfall of Israel. The Israelites had been blessed with such a long period of prosperity that they had lost touch with God. The nation had fallen into such moral decline that it eventually led, as Amos prophesied, to its destruction.
Today’s gospel echoes last weeks Gospel, “No servant can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and Mammon.” All that we have is ultimately God’s. It flows from him and is only beneficial if it leads us back to him. Like the steward in last weeks Gospel, we’ll all be called to give an account for what we have been given.
Both Gospel readings warn us of the pitfalls and the responsibilities that come with the gifts we receive from God. And today’s Gospel especially teaches us that some of the most serious offenses against God are not the sins that we commit, but the acts that we omit, Apathy, absence, neglect. The rich man never really hurt Lazarus. He wasn’t responsible for Lazarus being in the state that he was. He didn’t hate him, abuse him, or betray him. He simply ignored him. And God says that alone was enough to cause a chasm between them in their eternal life. Jesus doesn’t say specifically what the rich man should have done, but it does seem to make us ask ourselves what we would have done in the same situation. And the parable does spell out the consequences for those who don’t do the right thing. One thing the rich man was lacking, however was empathy and compassion. If he had just shown a little compassion towards Lazarus, things may have ended differently for the rich man.
Lazarus, in many forms, continues to knock on our doors even today. The Church has many initiatives to help the poor, hospitals, schools, hospices, various shelters and soup kitchens all founded by the Church to heed the call of Christ to care for the poor. As individuals we reach out in many ways. People are known for their generosity after natural or man-made disasters. I myself have been the recipient of the generosity of this parish, twice; six years ago, after Annie’s & my house burned down and again two years ago while spending several months in the hospital. I kind of feel guilty, almost embarrassed, preaching on this subject, knowing personally that this parish takes to heart the message of today’s Gospel. But we can’t become complacent, there are many, many Lazarus’s in today’s world; and God identifies with every one of them; the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the unborn, even criminals in prison. There is a Lazarus lying at everyone’s door. If our wealth and possessions lead us to complacency, we become blind; we establish a chasm between ourselves and Lazarus which becomes a chasm between us and God.
The rich man wanted Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to his brothers as a warning. Abraham refused, telling him that they had Moses and the prophets in Holy Scripture. We’re lucky. We have Holy Scripture to warn us and someone who has risen from the dead; someone who has called us to have faith in him instead of faith in our wealth and possessions——– Jesus.