Trinity 15
Sermon preached by Gavin Koh, occasional preacher.
When you hear this parable,
What do you relate to the most?
Are you the poor man, Lazarus?
Or are you the rich man?
Perhaps you feel that
you have nothing,
you are nothing,
and nothing ties you to this world.
In which case,
This parable promises you comfort,
If not in this world,
then at least in the next.
It offers a comforting vision of heaven,
of sitting warm,
curled up in your family’s embrace;
what the Bible calls
Abraham's bosom.
If you are rich,
then this parable carries a warning.
The Bible has a complex relationship with material wealth.
Abraham had livestock, servants, silver and gold,
And this wealth was passed down to Isaac and to Jacob.
And it is clear from the book of Genesis,
that this wealth arises as a blessing and a reward from God.
Some people have interpreted this to mean
that worldly riches are a measure of righteousness.
This is how the story goes: If you are rich,
it is because you deserve to be rich.
Your visible wealth is there to advertise the many blessings
with which God has rewarded your righteousness.
This is the prosperity gospel.
If you don’t have it,
then it is because you haven’t prayed enough.
Also known as the Name it and claim it doctrine.
The prosperity gospel goes even further.
It says something like this:
If you are poor,
then it is because you deserve to be poor.
If you were righteous, worked hard and so forth,
then you would be rich.
If you are not rich, then it must be your fault.
This parable challenges that doctrine.
The rich man burns in hell,
while the poor man, Lazarus,
is given a place in Heaven.
If wealth is always the result of righteousness,
then how has the rich man ended up in Hell?
Lazarus endured only suffering in this world,
but received comfort in Heaven.
Picture this,
Lazarus sits on the rich man's doorstep.
The rich man just steps over him on the way out of his house.
He doesn't even see him.
The rich man is not punished because he is rich,
He is punished because he is blind to the suffering of Lazarus.
Very good.
So we understand this parable.
So far, so easy.
But who are you? When you listen to the parable,
are you Lazarus, or are you the rich man?
I remember hearing this story as a child, maybe 10 or 11 years old.
This parable has many weighty themes in it,
Life and Death,
Justice and Mercy,
Heaven and Hell.
…but the passage that really stuck in my 10-year-old mind was the last one:
[the rich man] said,
“...father [Abraham],
I beg you to send [Lazarus] to my father’s house
for I have five brothers—
that he may warn them… .”
Abraham replied,
“They have Moses and the prophets;
they should listen to them.”
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 listen to Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be convinced
even if someone rises from the dead.”’
To my 10 year old mind,
This was really not very merciful,
and really quite horrifying.
Zombie Lazarus comes to you with a message from the beyond?
After you’re done screaming in fear,
you're going to pay attention to what Zombie Lazarus says to you, right?
So,
Jacob Marley appears to Ebenezer Scrooge and Scrooge doesn't listen?
Is that credible?
That's a very different version of A Christmas Carol.
Paul’s letter to Timothy offers some help:–
For the love of money
is a root of all kinds of evil,
and in their eagerness to be rich
some have wandered away from the faith
It is clear that wealth itself is not the reason
the rich man went to hell.
It cannot be so, because the Bible is full of very wealthy men,
whom God considered righteous.
Indeed, the rich man’s obvious sin is not in his wealth,
but in his failure to relieve Lazarus’ suffering.
Lazarus who sat on his very doorstep.
Why is the desire for wealth so destructive?
Because it has the capacity to blind us to what is right before our eyes.
The rich man was unable to see poor Lazarus sitting right on his doorstep.
It is that metaphorical blindness which Jesus alludes to when he says,
“If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be convinced
even if someone rises from the dead.”
A desire for wealth can be so corrupting it can make you deaf even to the gospel.
It can cause you to blank out
things in the Bible that are contrary to your world view.
Jesus is not passing summary judgement on the rich man’s five brothers.
He is simply stating a fact.
If you choose to attach yourself to material things,
then one side effect is
that you become spiritually deaf
to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
St Paul recommends the following remedy:
be rich in good works,
be generous and ready to share.
Store up for yourself the treasure of a good foundation…
so that you may take hold of the life
that really is life.
The gospel grace,
is in understanding
the priority of spiritual wealth
over and above that of material wealth.
St Paul recommends generosity as the cure.
I’m going to set you some homework.
Think about what you are willing to give away.
What material thing are you unwilling to give up?
It is important to know what that thing is,
because that thing that will order your world,
dictate your direction of travel, and determine your ultimate fate.
And one final word of hope.
For the gospel story,
is actually closer to Dickens’ Christmas Carol
than you might think on first reading.
For Lazarus does indeed come back from the dead
in the person of the resurrected Christ,
bringing joy and hope to the world.