Proper 21 Sermon

In the name Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Let us pray, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14

“Only the dogs would come and lick his sores.” If this line gives us any kind of a inclination into the life Lazarus is living, then we know Lazarus was a man yearning for something more than a dog’s tongue. He was yearning to eat even the scraps of bread used to clean the grease off of the rich man’s hands, yearning to have a small place at the table, yearning for the care of another human for but only finds the care a few dogs (and I wouldn’t exactly want a dog caring for me).

But what about this rich man? Is he more of a man than Lazarus? I think it is interesting that he has all the money and food he could ever want or need but yet he remains nameless. The guy who, most likely, has power in the community, has so much money that he is able throw bread onto the floor, the guy who walked by Lazarus, the man who walked by the great disparity of Lazarus, a man most likely dressed in purple (only rich and/or roman leaders could even wear purple) while Lazarus wore rags, a man who walked by Lazarus every day and did nothing for him, this rich man, does not have a name. You think a man with this social caliber would have a name but Jesus omits it from the parable.

This makes me scratch my head. Names are important. They identify our familial roots. They hold a history (just look at all the great Matthew’s of history). They hold a personal meaning. Why would Jesus omit such a detail? One commentary suggests that Jesus wants the audience to fill their names and therefore wants us to take a closer at our actions towards the poor. But can it be that simple? The simple truth is never simple. Maybe Jesus uses this as an opportunity to talk about the real measure of a person.

What creates our identity? What makes us identify with each other? Is it our wealth, our house, our cars, our children? Is it something more? Why do we cringe every time we hear about a victim of a shooting? What makes us feel remorse when we hear of a tragedy happen to someone we have never met? What makes us feel sorrow for Lazarus? What makes some of us feel no remorse for the rich man suffering in agony?

It is so easy for some of us to feel little to no remorse for the rich man. He did live in the lap of luxury for his entire life. He did walked by Lazarus every time he left his house and did nothing for him. Now is in agony while Lazarus stands next to Abraham. We even hear the rich man’s smugness when he asks Abraham to send Lazarus down him and serve him some water. The rich man does not get it. It is so easy to think, “Turn the flames up Abraham because I don’t think he gets it.” But is that how God operates?

God does not sit on a throne and casts punishment on those who do not follow God’s ways. God is about grace and love. The kind of judgement God does cast on us is simply the judgement of being God’s own—a child of God. God is not some angry monster set out on a path of war and violence. God loves us because we are God’s own. Even this rich man, as horrible as he was, is still a child of God. He is not being punished for being rich but he is being punished because of his indifference to the whole situation--for ignoring Lazarus and hoarding the gifts God gave him to share.

What is at the heart of this parable is the call to “remember.” Abraham says, “‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things...’” When we zoom out and look at the bigger picture Luke is painting, we see “remember” is used a number of times. An example of this can be found at the cross when the Criminal said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’” There is also the scene at the tomb when a man in dazzling white clothes asked, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ Then they remembered his words...”

The reason the rich man is suffering is not because he is rich but because he did not remember Lazarus during life and all that the prophets have preached about the care of the poor. Brian Stroffgren writes:
“The great chasm between the rich man and Lazarus existed long before their deaths. It would seem that during their lives, the rich man couldn't bridge the "chasm" between his house (and his wealth) and the poor man outside his gate. He couldn't reach across it to give starving Lazarus a bite to eat or medicine for his sores or shelter from the weather.”
Whether we care to admit it or not, we have all created deep chasms between with others. Sometimes it is done on purpose while at other times we do not even realize the great chasms we have created with one another. Whenever we cast judgment on another individual, we create a chasm and we become like this rich man. Whether we judge someone because of their wealth, their house, their family, their skin color, their ethnicity, their religion we create a chasm. These chasms separate us from one another simply because someone is different. Our identity is not found in our earthly possession or our appearance. Our identity is found in God. We are created in God’s image and therefore we are claimed as God’s own. That is how we have already been judged.

What if God acted like this rich man? What if God turned God’s back on us? God should have just walked away from us but that is not how our God operates. Our God likes to build bridges. We have Jesus Christ who comes into the great chasm of our sin and lives with us. He suffered on the cross, died, and was buried. But on that third day, the thing that Moses and the prophets foretold came to fruition. Jesus finished the bridge. Christ Jesus built the bridge to connect us back to God and, being set free, we now can begin to build bridges for the other chasms we have created.

We are convinced of God’s love for us because we see Jesus Christ crucified and risen. Everything Moses and prophets foretold makes sense, and only makes sense, because of Jesus and the cross. The prophets called for the people to live a new lifestyle—to care for the poor Lazarus’s in this world just as Jesus cared for the outcasts. We are called to not act like the rich man but to act like Jesus. We are called to love someone simply because we all need love. We are called to remember what has been taught for centuries--to care for the abused, beaten, hungry, tortured people.

It is not fair that Lazarus lived his life in agony and only felt relief in death especially when it could have been prevented. Yes, one day we will all see God face to face. All of our pain and our burdens will be relieved in the resurrection but until then, we have many Lazarus(es) in our world and in our community who need more than a dog’s tongue.

In the name Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.