Luke 16:19-31
PENTECOST 16 | SEPTEMBER 28, 2025 | A Sermon based on Luke 16:19-31 (RCL) | by David Zersen |
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. 24He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ 25But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. 26Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ 27He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— 28for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ 29Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ 30He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
ARE YOU WAITING FOR LAZARUS?
One of the interesting techniques sometimes used in Bible study was developed by Ignatius Loyola. He asked participants to move around in the text or story and, in the third step, ask themselves, “Who are you in this story?” It’s a great question to ask in Jesus’ parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Sometimes called “Dives” because in the Vulgate (Latin translation), the Greek word for “rich”, plousios, becomes “dives”. Is he the one you’re likely to identify with? Or would it be the poor man, Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to satisfy his hunger with scraps from Dives’ table? Unlikely. And, of course, we are not Father Abraham. So that leaves the five brothers, those left behind and who need someone to come back from the dead to help them get their heads on straight—to help them remember what life is meant to be about. I suspect that we could be found among those five, and ought to ask ourselves whether we think Lazarus, needs to come and help us focus our spiritual lives.
I think it wouldn’t be too difficult to name the reasons why five of us, and multiples of five of us, can’t seem to decide why we often find ourselves on the periphery of religious life. At least one brother, one of us, perhaps, may have real problems with evil and suffering in our world. If there really is a God, “my kind of God”, such things wouldn’t be allowed to happen. So, don’t count me in for the religious life, says one independent brother. Then, there is brother #2. He is troubled by dishonest and immoral Christians. He wants nothing to do with Christians if they allow unscrupulous people to represent them. Brother #3 has lived long enough to acquire definite political and social views and has discovered that too many Christians have views different from his own. He can’t be comfortable with them. Brother #4 discovered that some of his friends are indifferent to moral and ethical concerns, and so, not to act piously, he feels comfortable in identifying with their evil. And brother #5 enjoys saying that he is spiritual, but not religious. He rather likes using those words because not only do they sound nice to him, but they allow him to believe that he at least has some standards, even if they’re vague and mushy.
All five brothers and their counterparts represent a segment of society present at Jesus’s time but certainly growing strong in our own. The statistics that show a decline in religious life in the United States prove that the Society of Five Brothers is alive and well. Unlike the views held by many in society, however, this growing number is due less to more sophisticated perspectives or new scientific discoveries than it is due to changing social and cultural norms, which should concern us. There are serious problems that can result from simply accepting these changes because they create dead ends about which Dives wants to warn his brothers.
Handwringers like to point to the statistics of declining church membership to prove that more educated people can no longer accept the tenets of Christianity. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that since the beginning of the 20th century, social and civic life in general has begun to decline. It may even seem that atheism is providing a new form of leadership, although it is a minority voice. The real issue is that Americans are becoming dropouts! Statistics provided from a 2024 study by Daniel Cox, entitled “Disconnected,” show that as we participate less, we have smaller ties to the community, less civic involvement, and fewer friends. The results are loneliness, isolation, smaller families, and a decline in hosting and volunteering. We are also less likely to be married, to have children, to pursue higher education, and to be part of organizations like clubs, societies, and churches. The reality, therefore, is that dissociation from religious communities is part of a larger story. We are becoming more and more individualistic, private, and free. It’s interesting how this desire to be free from participation in community grew during the COVID era. When we were all asked to wear masks, a single act of kindness to protect our fellow citizens, increasingly, voices shouted that they were free from constraints by the government or by community needs. Those who reject the opportunity to live in community instead of just living for themselves have become the five brothers who are left to their own desires and now make Dives worry. For that matter, perhaps one of our own family members could return and help us rediscover who we were meant to be.
However, we don’t need Lazarus to come because, as the hymn sings, “Jesus has come and brings pleasure eternal.” How easy it is to be consumed with the current passion for personal freedom and thus ignore how toxic individualism can be! Jesus came to help us avoid the dead ends that arise from self-centeredness and lack of compassion. Calling us to care for one another, to love one another, and to bind ourselves together in a fellowship that follows his lead, he put us to the test. He allowed people to say “no” to his leadership and to silence him at the cross. Some would say “that was the end of it,” and then go on doing their own personal thing. Others hear God say to them, “That love, that life can’t just be sacrificed. It has a meaning for us all.” A new community has been born, one of repentance, mercy, love, and service waiting to be explored. It will be the fulfillment of all that the law and the prophets offered. It is the new creation, and you and I can rejoice that by baptism and faith we are people-persons, those who live with and for one another!
In our parable, we learn that the five brothers don’t need Lazarus. They already have what they need—as do we. We don’t need to pretend that God can’t be real because tragedies happen or that the Christian church is worthless because it has some ineffectual leaders or immoral members. And we surely don’t want to separate ourselves from the fellowship of believers because some members hold different views from ours or have superficial faith or a vague spirituality. We don’t need Lazarus to come and point us away from dead ends into which the toxic individuality of society can drag us. Why? Because we have something better. We have what we need. We have Jesus. We have his own community into which by baptism we have been summoned to love and serve one another. In that loving community, today and always, we can explore the life that God intends for us. We don’t need Lazarus.
As Ignatius Loyola might have asked, “Which of the five brothers in the story are you, and do you hear Jesus calling you?”
Hymn: “Jesus has come and brings pleasure eternal”
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David Zersen, President Emeritus
Concordia University Texas
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