LUKE 16:19-31 NRSV
19"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.'"
***
This is one of
those texts, that upon first reading, seems unsalvageable for a Presbyterian
preacher. In general, anything with hell, and especially anything about burning
in hell, I tend to avoid. It seems too big a task to unexplain literal
interpretation, reexplain metaphor, and still be left time to get through a
message of hope and grace. If I had not been preaching the Luke lectionary
consecutively for weeks now, I would have likely picked another. While the
parable itself is good, and in fact very precisely written - with all sorts of
opposing parallels, of poor and rich, heaven and hell, this world and the next,
its theological message is problematic.
I believe in a God
of justice, but I don’t believe God’s justice looks like this. I don’t believe
that some people are condemned to a life of suffering poverty and eternal
reward, and others a life of wealth and an afterlife of extreme torture. I
don’t think God is that black or white, nor we that good or evil. I also don’t
think that God ever stops trying to save us, be it in this world or the next,
and so I have to look beyond the parable’s face value. I have to look beyond
the parable, to what is happening outside its simple message. I have to look
inside the parable to what Jesus might be explaining to the Pharisees at that
moment. I have to look to where the scripture meets us today, to the place
where its words are not about God’s final answer, but instead about God’s
continuing grace and our everlasting hope.
A parable is always
a story inside a story, and when we look outside the parable, we find Jesus
explaining and arguing his point the the Pharisees. The Pharisees were wealthy
religious leaders of their time, and it would be easy to say that Jesus was
simply reprimanding them for their wealth and for ignoring the poor, and I
think this part of it, a huge part of it, but not all. I see more. Likewise, it
would easy to say that Jesus was the condemning the Pharisees to an afterlife
of hell, that they were merely the rich man in the story, and a great chasm
would divide them from the riches in the afterlife. I would be easy to read the
text that way, but I don’t. I wonder if perhaps, the Pharisees are the brothers
in the story, the ones with time left, the ones the rich man wants to warn.
“He said (to Abraham), 'Then, father, I beg you to send
(Lazarus) to my father's house- for I have five brothers-that he may warn them,
so that they will not also come into this place of torment.'”
I wonder if Jesus
likewise, is trying to warn the Pharisees. In his parable, Jesus says,
“Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they should
listen to them.'”
I notice how the
tense changes here. It is not that the brothers should have listened, it is
that they should listen. I think this is the message Jesus is trying to tell the
Pharisees - not that their judgement is all over like the rich man and they
should have listened, but instead, that like the brothers, they should listen
now. That the Pharisees, like those brothers, have Moses and the prophets, who
time after time show us how build a relationship with God. Likewise, Jesus is
standing there in front of them as a prophet offering them a relationship with
the Son of God. What the rich man missed in ignoring Lazarus was the
opportunity to build a relationship with God. What the brothers are missing is
Moses and the prophets who give an opportunity to build a relationship with
God. What the Pharisees are missing is Jesus right in front of them, who is
giving them an opportunity to build a relationship with God. I wonder, what are
we missing that gives us an opportunity to build a relationship with God. Do we
miss the Lazarus’ at our door step? Do we miss Moses and the prophets wisdom at
our fingertips? Do we miss Jesus standing right in front of us?
Just like the word,
‘should,’ is in the present tense, so is what we are missing. Yet, the
scripture promises that what we are missing is also right in front of us. The
scripture promises that God will show up over and over again, from Moses, to
Lazarus, to Jesus, to places in our lives today. This story is not a simple
warning of what is to come, instead, it is a story of what is already and what
will always be, a God who has come to meet us, to build relationship with us,
to show us a different way. Friends, a parable is a story within a story, and
we are witnesses to a story outside a story, outside a story. What do you see?
Where is Lazarus at your door step? Where are Moses and the prophets at your
finger tips? Where is Jesus standing right in front of you? Ask yourself these
questions, because we are the brothers, given the opportunity to see anew.
The rich man said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to
them from the dead, they will repent.' Abraham 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.'"
In the
scripture, Jesus has not yet risen from the dead, and perhaps this is the
difference. We, like Abraham, know the rest of the story. We know Jesus has
risen from the dead, and that the story is not over, the parable is not all
there is. There is a God, who comes back in the wisdom of the prophets, who
comes back to stand before us arguing, who comes back to sit at our doorstep and
show us what to hunger for. We know there is a risen Christ, we know the story
is not over, we know the story will never end. Even in this wild problematic
scripture, there is message of grace and hope: that God Eternal comes to us
this day. Alleluia, Amen.
