19. Sunday after Pentecost, 09/29/2013

Sermon on Luke 16:19-31, by Hubert Beck

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."

A PARABLE CONCERNING FIVE BROTHERS

I have often spent considerable time attempting to find a catchy title to a sermon, one that will give the hearers reason to listen closely because it sounds interesting or, perhaps on occasion, even to cause the hearers to think hard about what the title implies will be said. I have also discovered over the course of time that relatively few people even bother to read the title much less to wonder what will be said. So I dare to draw attention today to the title I have given this sermon.

If you listened to the reading of the Gospel with even half an ear you would have immediately recognized it to be what is commonly called "The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus." So, if you have paid any attention at all to the title given to this sermon, you may also have wondered why in the world I have changed the title of the parable to "A Parable Concerning Five Brothers." Hoping hereby to have whetted the appetite of your spirit even a little bit, please follow with me the way the Master Story-Teller Jesus made use of the two seemingly central characters in a story he told in order to make his real point through the five brothers.

THE RICH MAN ON EARTH

Jesus began his story very simply by speaking of "a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day." In our minds we tend to hear the word "rich" with something of a judgmental ear. After all, aren't most people - especially those outlandishly rich - people with something of a shady character? It is almost impossible to become outrageously moneyed by ordinary means. Oh, yes, there are a few, and they are typically held up as examples of the opportunities our capitalistic society presents for even the poorest of our land. For the most part, however, we common people look upon wealth with some suspicion, as though they have engaged in dishonest, underhanded, unscrupulous forms of business to get where they are. And we look with jaundiced eye at their lifestyle, almost as though they are flaunting themselves before us of modest means.

We must be cautious about this, of course. There are quite a number of wealthy people in the Bible who are honest, trustworthy and upright. Abraham, in whose bosom Lazarus is found, was one of those. As were David and Solomon, who, with all their warts, were people upon whom God showered special blessings. Jesus was often found in the home of another Lazarus, apparently a man of means, whom he would one day raise from the dead. Paul benefited from the wealth of a "seller of purple goods" named Lydia. Affluent people are not judged evil in the scripture, although it is true that warnings abound such as those in today's Second Lesson, for "those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction."

Jesus, however, introduces the rich man without any immediate moral judgment. This man is, indeed, magnificently dressed and eats the finest of foods, but even modestly wealthy or even middle-class people in our society may do these things. Why, this man even permits a beggar to lie near his front door - hardly a decoration at the entrance to his home that most people - not even us of modest means - particularly want to have present when receiving guests. Nor does he object to the man scrounging in his garbage cans alongside the dogs that lick this poor man's sores. It is the least the man can do for one so down and out as this beggar!

Because we know the end of the story already at this point, of course, we immediately pass judgment on this man of wealth. After all, if he had a shred of pity he would at the very least have a servant take out a decent set of clothes otherwise destined for Goodwill and maybe even ask him to go round to the back where the kitchen help would give him a decent meal every now and then.

But no, he simply steps over or around him, doesn't even know - nor does he care to know - the name of this poor beggar. He is a self-made man and does, very likely, have considerable contempt for people who have been so lazy or so ignorant that they have not made anything of themselves and must beg to even stay alive.

So, because he is bound for Hades where there is torment to be endured, as we already know, we pronounce him guilty from the beginning.

THE BEGGAR ON EARTH

Meanwhile, lying at the gate is a man with a name! He isn't just someone, just anyone, just a person at the gate, a mere beggar. He is Lazarus. "God helps" is his name.

Jesus passes no moral judgment concerning him either. How has he been reduced to this sad situation? We do not know. He may have been lazy, as the rich man suspected, or he may have once been a man of substance whose honestly gained wealth had been wiped out by ruthless businessmen like this person at whose door he lay who had manipulated the stock market. He may have been reduced to this by health issues beyond his control. Nothing is said - nor is anything made - over the cause of his presently pathetic condition.

He has just been reduced to nothingness. That's all. He has no friends, no resources upon which to draw, no bright tomorrow to which to look, no hope - other than that by which he is named, "God helps," the basic root of his name Lazarus.

THE SITUTATION IS REVERSED

We must be cautious at this point, lest we hear of the reversal of their circumstances to be a geography of eternity, a description of either heaven or hell, a literal scenario of the afterlife. Jesus is simply furthering the point he is making by virtue of a reversal of fortunes between the two people of whom he has spoken so far. One cannot press the parable beyond that.

Now the rich man is the poverty-stricken man. He had ignored the words of old such as those we heard earlier from the prophet Amos: "Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp ... and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph." This formerly wealthy man had not grieved over the ruin of Lazarus, either, the Joseph of his day! He must have known, for he was surely a religious man of Israel, that Hosea had "told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." These things he had heard and perhaps even said many times over while on earth, but they were mere words. They were nothing to seriously live by.

So now he was a beggar, he in turn entreating "Father Abraham, have mercy on me." He still sees himself in charge of his life at least to the point that he cannot ask for mercy in a direct fashion from the man to whom he had shown no mercy, but, instead, appeals to the protector of that man to instruct - to instruct, mind you! - the man over whom he had stepped time after time on earth to now come with a drop of water on his finger as a relief from the torment in which he now found himself. It is astonishing that, even in the depths of his torment, this man has the chutzpah to bypass the beggar in order to have his guardian give him a command!

At this point Lazarus fades from the scene. Ah, yes, he whose only hope was in that by which he was named, "God helps," is still there, safely and serenely resting in the arms of Abraham. But by now he is a bystander, a mere listener to Abraham himself speaking to the rich man turned beggar, "Child (how tenderly Abraham still spoke to him!), 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." The rich man's plea is then rejected because of the vast chasm between him and the place of Lazarus' repose.

JESUS HAS NOW SET THE SCENE FOR THE ENTRANCE OF THE FIVE BROTHERS

Having learned his lesson, so to speak, following the denial of his request, the faintest hint of the rich man's concern for others is hinted at in his appeal: "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."

These brothers remain on this earth, people much like the rich man and Lazarus had been - and such as we, ourselves, are. They, too, must account for their lives in such a way that their future will lie with either the rich man or with Lazarus. Now that it is too late for the rich man to make any difference one way or the other, he recognizes that his brothers now walk in the shoes he just left, and they need to be warned.

THE PURPOSE OF THE PARABLE IS NOW REVEALED - AND THE FIVE BROTHERS ARE THE PIVOTAL PLAYERS

"They are warned already," father Abraham says. "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them." The warning that the rich man had when he was on earth is the same one that his brothers have at the time of his pleading in their behalf. Moses and the Prophets - the books of what we now call the Old Testament - had been both the guide and the warning to this rich man, and he had paid no heed to them. He had lived unto himself. He had died unto himself. His brothers now faced the same choice.

The rich man didn't give up as easy as all that, though. A sign! That's what they needed in order to turn their lives into godly ways. Give them a sign! "No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent." An extra superlative, beyond doubt, extravagant display of divine warning would surely do the trick! "Just imagine," he says, "how profusely they will be impressed if someone - say Lazarus - or is there even a hidden suggestion that if he, the rich man, their brother, himself - were to knock at their door, introduce himself to those brothers as one who knows what the ‘other side' looks and feels like - then, surely, they would be impressed. They would listen with a new ear. They would consider more seriously than they ever had before what the consequences of their lives might be if they would only give them over to godly ways." Thus spoke the rich man, imploring Abraham to heed his plea.

Touched though he may have been, Abraham determinedly insisted that Moses and the Prophets were enough to achieve the purpose for which the rich man was appealing. "Neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead." Signs can be and are interpreted in any number of ways - and the appearance of one who presented himself as returned from the grave would only be interpreted as the ravings of a lunatic, a preposterous hoax perpetrated on them in order to alarm them, to make them apprehensive about their style of life - a style which they were determined at all costs to maintain for themselves.

So much for the story. Jesus carefully guided the line of the story from time to eternity and then back again to time. The rich man and Lazarus were primarily players moving the parable along toward the unfolding of the end, but they were not the end in themselves. The five brothers were the ones to whom the parable is addressed! And who were / are they?

JESUS, HIMSELF, SUDDENLY APPEARS IN THE STORY

As was the case in virtually all the parables Jesus told, the real substance and subject of his parables was none other than the teller himself. The context of this parable suggests why he told it to begin with. As was often the case, Jesus was in conflict with the Pharisees who had only a short time before this been described as "lovers of money," much like the rich man. He had told them "The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached ... It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void" ... and we cannot forget that in Jesus, himself, "the kingdom of God was being preached." He then went on to briefly illustrate what he meant by his words concerning the "dots of the Law." That all led to this parable in which the punch line was "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, (i.e., the Law) neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead." So again we ask, "who is the ‘they'?"

It was those who would not pay attention to Moses and the Prophets. They were the ones who paid little heed to the man who appeared to be so poor and helpless lying at their door. In fact, they crucified him in the end, thinking thereby to get his troublesome person away from the gateway of their lives. They would stand under that cross and cry out, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe."

Yes, they would believe if he would only save himself, if he would come down from the cross. Then they promised to believe. But when he rose from the grave, when death did not hold him captive, when the tomb had to give way to life - then they would not believe. The reappearance of a man from the grave had to be a hoax, a trick, a fraud perpetrated by his friends, a deception of the highest sort. People just do not come back from the dead. That is a given and proven fact!

Abraham was right! "Neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead." It was Jesus who rose from the dead - and those to whom he was speaking this parable would not be convinced - not even by one who had risen from the dead.

WE, TOO, SUDDENLY APPEAR IN THE STORY AS THE RICH MAN

It is important to make ourselves part of this story also by asking where Lazarus is in our lives. We are, without question, among the rich of the earth even though few of us are wealthy by the standards of our society. Yet, in relation to a large percentage of people in this world we have far more material possessions, money, forms of personal comfort at our disposal than many - even most - others. Not all of those with less than we have are beggars like Lazarus, to be sure, but there are many whose lives are lived on the edge much like his was - both in our own land and throughout the world.

Every now and then our consciences are pricked - at least I speak for my own - by pictures or reports received in the mail or by those standing on the street corners of our cities, and we wonder what we can do. We often salve our consciences by telling ourselves that they are less than we are - people lying at the gates of our lives, if you will. We speak of how unworthy those are who will not work for a living, who beg on our street corners, who are leeches on the public dole.

We dare not, however, simply step over those with such needs like the rich man in this parable stepped over Lazarus. It is not my purpose here to give an answer concerning possible avenues of aid and concern for needy ones like these, although various relief agencies, organizations like Bread for the World which lobbies congress for bills supporting the disadvantaged of our nation and the world, and local groups such as Food Banks are partial answers. What is important, though, is that we must not forget that we are the rich man with Lazarus at our door, and we cannot abdicate whatever responsibilities we may have for recognizing his / her integrity and giving her / him / their children whatever we find possible to lessen their misery.

THEN WE SUDDENLY APPEAR IN THE STORY AS LAZARUS

Luke tells us that Jesus said, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God," adding "Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation." That certainly had its concrete illustration in the parable before us today. Lazarus, who was poor, was resting in the kingdom of God while the rich man, who had received his consolation in this life, had become the beggar after he died.

The idea of poverty runs heavily throughout Luke's entire Gospel from Mary's song in the first chapter where she said, "He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away" (again illustrated so powerfully in this parable!) through sayings and actions and embraces of the poor and needy time after time right up to his crucifixion when he assured the penitent thief on the cross, "Today you will be with me in Paradise."

Matthew adds a couple words to his version of this beatitude, telling us that Jesus said "Blessed are the poor in spirit," thus expanding the sense of poverty from merely material poverty to a poverty of spirit that recognizes how little - no, how absolutely nothing! - we have to offer God to whom we are accountable. Lazarus was a totally dependent man - and so are we! We are not only dependent for food and drink, but for the grace and mercy of a God who willed his own Son to die for us. We are Lazarus lying at the gate of heaven! We, along with Lazarus, are the "God helps" in this parable.

ULTIMATELY, HOWEVER, IT IS WE WHO APPEAR IN THE STORY AS THE FIVE BROTHERS

Nearly everybody desperately wants - and even seeks - a sign of some kind from God. If only God would make himself more visible, more immediately available, more clearly accessible, would speak more directly to us, then our minds would be set at ease. Meanwhile the needs and pressures of our material world press in on us on every side. We lose sight of Lazarus - and in the process, we lose sight of God also! - in the rush and hubbub of the world. We do not want to do that and wish that we could get a better hold on our lives so that we could give God his due. But there are just too many other things that demand our thoughts, our attention, our time, our lives, our hearts. If only, if only, if only this or that or another thing would just grab our attention and force us to face up to the basic things of life instead of letting the secondary things become such an obsession. If only someone as clearly definitive of God's interest in us - like a person risen from the dead, e.g. - then maybe we could regain our spiritual equilibrium.

The words ring out loud and clear, though. "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead." Abraham assures us of the same thing. It is in Moses and the Prophets, now expanded to the Gospel Writers and the Evangelists, that we have the witness of God to the effect that he loves us and cares for us. For that matter, in those writings we do, in fact, meet "one risen from the dead." He is none other than the one who tells this parable, he who died to redeem the world from its miserable condition and rose again to assure us that God offers life far more full and marvelous and magnificent than the world can give - even now already, not merely on the "other side" of our earthly life.

It is the Spirit whom Jesus promised to send who has enfolded us and named us as his own in the waters of our baptism, joining us to the new life that followed the death of the old Adam who drowned and died in those same waters. It is this Spirit whom Jesus promised who speaks to us in the words of scripture, who comes to us with words of both warning and comfort, words of both admonition and encouragement, words of counsel and uplifting promise. It is the Risen One who feeds us on his body and blood in the bread and wine we shall shortly receive. When we open the door of our heart upon hearing a knocking, we find one risen from the dead standing there wanting to come in. Surely he will be welcome, will he not?

The five brothers are our brothers. They must listen to the word of the Lord if they would have life and salvation. It is we, also, who must hear the word of the Lord and rejoice, for they are, indeed, the words of life and salvation, opening the doors of our lives to see, lying on our doorstep, a Lazarus of today.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Lutheran Pastor, Retired Hubert Beck
Austin, TX, USA
E-Mail: hbeck@austin.rr.com

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