Scripture Reading: Luke 16:19-34
“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
The Rich Man and Lazarus: A Sermon on Compassion and Wealth
By James Huenink
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God, our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today, Jesus tells us the story of the rich man and Lazarus, and it continues the teaching on money that Jesus had been doing the week before. Last week, we talked about the parable of the unrighteous steward, perhaps one of the most difficult and strange parables that Jesus tells, where He commends the unrighteous manager. And we go, well, that's a little weird. What we did is we talked about why God gives us money: money is God's tool to serve our neighbors. It's always a task of service that we're supposed to use it to care for people in our homes, our neighborhoods, our church and our wider community.
After the parable, after discussing this, Luke tells us that the Pharisees mocked Jesus because they were lovers of money. And Jesus's response, then, is to tell the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The Pharisees who loved money didn't like this parable so much, because it completely upends their understanding.
Understanding the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
And so the parable begins like this: There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, who feasted sumptuously every day, and at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.
This opening description of the situation tells us a lot, both about the rich man and about Lazarus. The rich man was very rich, clothed in purple and fine linen, and it says he feasted sumptuously every day, which was probably the best signal of his wealth. Being able to get food of various varieties and from various places was something that didn't happen much in the ancient world. It was extremely expensive to get different kinds of food. Most people would eat basically the same diet over and over and over again. It was difficult to get the kind of variety that we are used to.
In fact, for us, when I was growing up, all I had to do was go to the local mall into their food court, and I could feast sumptuously every day too. There's a Panda Express right over here, Thai Kitchen, Sbarro. You could get whatever you wanted—foods from all over the world, if through an Americanized fast food lens. Our kitchens were filled with the kind of variety that even the richest, most powerful person in the ancient world couldn't imagine. In fact, I would have to say most of us are wealthier than this rich man's wildest dreams, even though we might not think of ourselves that way.
The Compassion of Dogs vs. The Callousness of Wealth
The poor man, on the other hand, poor Lazarus—we learn a lot from him as well. He was laid at the gate of the rich man, covered in sores, and his desire was nothing but to be eating the leftovers that fell off the rich man's table. He was so pitiable, so sad, that even the dogs took pity on poor Lazarus.
Now you might see that and go, of course, dogs love people, right? I've got a little Corgi at home. He wags his tail whenever someone comes to visit. These are not the dogs that we have. I don't think pets were a thing in the ancient world. Dogs were working dogs, or they were wild. And these wild street dogs saw Lazarus and cared so much for him that they would come and lick his sores.
What a comparison, right? The rich man who had everything didn't even have the compassion that the dogs had.
The Prosperity Gospel: A False Teaching About Wealth and Blessing
For the Pharisees who loved money, they would see this story and think the rich man must be blessed by God, because in the covenant of Moses, Moses said to the nation of Israel as a group, if you follow the covenant, all sorts of good things will happen. If you break my covenant, all sorts of bad things will happen. And they made it apply to individuals as well. If you are faithful, you will get money. If you are unfaithful, bad things will happen to you.
And that sounds super American, doesn't it? We see around us the prosperity gospel, where people will say, if you believe in God hard enough and pray strong enough and simply give and believe, you too will be blessed like I, the preacher, am blessed with my mansion. There's softer versions of this: the idea that if you are a good person with character and you do the right things, you will generally be wealthy and happy. And the people who are poor and don't have enough? Well, that's simply a result of their own actions.
What is True Biblical Blessing? God's Grace Through Jesus Christ
We know that this is not true. God's blessing does not depend or show itself in wealth, and we know this because of Jesus, of course, who was the son of God, and yet lived as a poor, itinerant preacher who gave up all that was his due, the glory and honor that he should have had, and died on a cross for you and for me. And by His death and resurrection, He has made the gift of God available to all people, so that blessing comes not through money or wealth or power, but through the Word and Sacraments offered to all. That is God's blessing: not wealth, not power, not good family, not homes, but the Word and Sacraments, where God gives us His grace through Jesus Christ.
But what's most amazing about this story is that this rich man who feasted sumptuously, who had everything he wanted, didn't have even the pity that the wild dogs had when he would see leaving his gate every day poor Lazarus there, and he couldn't even collect the leftovers to give to this poor man. And what this does is it shows us that the condition that caused this problem was not the wealth. The problem wasn't that this man had money. The problem was what he did with it, that he simply didn't notice Lazarus suffering. He simply didn't notice that there was someone there who needed help.
How could someone who heard the gospel message, who went to the synagogue on Saturdays, heard the message of the salvation of God, say no to this poor man, so broken, so beaten? And how can someone like us, bought by the blood of Christ, who spent his holy, precious Blood and innocent suffering and death to free us from sin, death and the power of the devil—how could we not have the kind of pity that is necessary in a moment like this? The rich man had a callous heart when he walked out and saw Lazarus lying there.
Our Challenge Today
Now the obvious comparison for us is we in California—we see people like Lazarus around us all the time, don't we? People on the streets, people around us who are in desperate need of help. And unfortunately, our situation is far more complicated than the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, because as we encounter these people, we have no idea what to do and how to help them. Is giving them money going to help? Probably not in many situations. How do we show our pity and our concern?
We might say, let's turn to charity. There are great organizations out there. The California State Government has all of these things, and yet even they are not always the best way. How can we show the kind of pity that the rich man did not? I think it is just as not good to offload our care and concern to people we hire with our donations or pay with our taxes as it is to simply avoid doing it all together, like the rich man. What can we do?
A Personal Example
I almost didn't tell this story, because I don't like talking about the things that I do, but I walked to church from my home nearly every day, and along that road for the last couple of years was a homeless couple who lived outside of their car. And I would see them and pass them and say hi as we walked. They never needed money or didn't ask for anything, but I would always say hi, chat, talk with them. As time went on, I would pray with them. They'd see me in my collar and knew what I was doing.
When they needed help, every once in a while, I'd take some of the blackberries that I'd harvest from my backyard and put them in a bag and drop them off with them, or a couple of oranges, that sort of thing. They didn't want to be a charity case. But every once in a while, I'd just do the kinds of things that I do for my neighbors, and slowly, there was a relationship building there. When one of them was in the hospital, I'd go visit because, you know, that's my job. And eventually it was a relationship—people I cared about. They weren't objects of charity. They were human beings that God loves.
And I think that might be the way that Christians should begin to deal with those who are in need around us: to actually, instead of seeing them as a thing to help or something out there, but to treat them as human beings, love and care for them, pray with them, build a relationship with them. When this couple got a home, I ended up going over there and blessing it with them, processional cross and incense and everything. The relationship grew out of this concern. And isn't that what God calls us to do as we love and care for each other?
The Story Continues
And so the story goes on. The rich man dies and goes to hell. Lazarus dies and is taken up into heaven. And the rich man, what does he do? Like, isn't this crazy? He's in torment. And he looks up at Abraham, and he says, "Hey, Abraham, make Lazarus come down and serve me." Can you believe that? "Have him dip his finger in water and cool my tongue."
When that doesn't work, he says, "I beg you, Father, to send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment."
But Abraham said, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them."
And he said, "No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent."
He said to him, "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead."
The Real Message
So the rich man wants an Ebenezer Scrooge moment: Lazarus comes out of the grave and goes to the brothers and says, "Scrooge, turn from your ways." Ghost of Christmas Present, past and future will come by and tell the brothers to watch out. But Abraham knows that that's not how it works, because someone rising from the dead doesn't make people repent. Signs and miracles don't make people repent.
You want to know why? Because Jesus did rise from the dead, he did come back, and the same Pharisees who rejected him rejected him afterwards. The thing that changes hearts and minds is the gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ that has given us blessing. It changes our hearts to be generous like Christ was generous for us, and it would be only the same thing—Moses and the prophets—for this poor man's brothers.
This is why we gather to hear the message and be reminded of Christ's call to us that by His death and resurrection, we may be given generous hearts, knowing that Christ has done all that He has for us.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
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