Concordia Lutheran Church
& Redeemer Lutheran Church
Pentecost 18, September 26, 2010
What More could be Said
Luke 16, 19-31
IN JESUS NAME
May you deeply know the mercy, the love, and the peace and the promise of a peaceful eternity that is ours, for that is grace, the gift of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
Three Questions
His story is perhaps overlooked, his voice is never heard. But of the three men in the parable today, he is the one we need to understand, he is the one that should represent us. (pause)
Most of us will never have the reputation of Abraham, the true father not only of the Jewish nation, but of the Arab and Palestinian people as well. More importantly, according to Romans, he is the father of those who share a trust based relationship with God. He was recognized over and over in scripture as the example of what it means to walk with God, trusting in God to provide.
I pray none of us, and no one we know end up like the rich man.
But it is Lazarus I hope that represents us, at least pictures us spiritually. I think we need to see this story through his eyes, for that view is our view, (pause) That view is one that will help us grasp not only how incredible our salvation is, but how valuable the scriptures, especially the Old Testament scriptures are, in revealing to us the one who did tell this story, and who did rise from the dead.
1. Why am I here… stunned..
Imagine yourself as Lazarus. Dropped off in the early morning at the gate of the rich man, a place you often begged and pleaded for food. Your body, if you can call it that, aching and in pain, with sores oozing pus, since there are days that you are lucky to eat, never mind find medical care. You wonder if today on of the rich man’s staff will have mercy on you, and toss you that which fell to the ground and wasn’t noticed, until they cleaned it up. You remember the incredible day when the staff – full themselves, snuck you out some leftovers. There are days you wonder about what it would be like to be one of the rich man’s servants, to walk through that luxury, to occasionally see the rich clothes he wore, to maybe even touch them. Such thoughts might even turn to coveting, perhaps the only sin left you. But most days you take as they come, rejoicing in the little things, things that would be overlooked by the rest of the world. You hear the rabbis who come to teach the rich man about God, and you pray the prayers they teach the man, hoping that God might even listen. You overcome the distraction of the pain, to hear others talk of a God who would make a people His, who would love and care for them, and cleanse and heal them. Such stories are so wonderful, so filling with hope. Hope even for you.
Then the incredible day, the day the life that was suffered through ends. The transition comes quickly, barely noticeable, and rather than the poor friends who offer you a home coming to carry you to rest, it is a small band of angels, still reflecting the glory of God, who have come for you, to carry you to… to see Abraham, the great father of the faithful. The one who walked with God. It reminds you of the one time that you heard that young Nazarene rabbi talk of the last being the first, and you realize the truth of the matter, as Abraham hugs you, and dressed you in fine robes, and welcomes you to this place, a place where you really find out how magnificent, how incredible it is, that truth that God is YOUR GOD, and you are HIS SON….
And you wonder, why me??? (long pause)
What could I have done, to deserve such a turn of fate?
2. Why is he there?
As you rest – Abraham points across the gorge.. to a place hideous to look at, and you see a man in great agony, in such pain. It pains you to see him, to see the tortured figure, who you pity… and as your eyes focus… you realize it is the rich man…
And you wonder…why him? (pause)
How could he, the one so blessed, deserve such a fate? How could anyone…deserve … that? (pause)
You cannot help but listen to the man’s pleas to Abraham, you cannot but wince at the pain, so evident even in his voice as he begs to lick some residue moisture off your finger tip. Wait – he knew you name…how??? Your mind spins questions faster than you can think… why me here? Why him…there in that place? It makes my former life even look pleasurable…? Why was I escorted by angels, and he was simply tossed into a grave, much as I was tossed onto the sidewalk? Shouldn’t he be here…and I there?
And what about the brothers? What more could they hear? What more could be said to them, that they would be here with me, and not in their brothers shoes?
What more could be said? …. (pause)
Abraham’s answer makes it sound like very little…(long pause)
Is there any hope then?
Is there hope for us here today?
3. What more could be said ? (become upbeat here!)
YES! There is hope! It may be hard to see, because this week’s reading is separated from last weeks. Hear those words again,
8 it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light. 9 Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.
It went on to say…
13 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” 14 The Pharisees, who dearly loved their money, heard all this and scoffed at him. 15 Then he said to them, “You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God. 16 “Until John the Baptist, the law of Moses and the messages of the prophets were your guides. But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is eager to get in. 17 But that doesn’t mean that the law has lost its force. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest point of God’s law to be overturned. Luke 16:8-17 (NLT)
Last week, the steward who was accused of wasting his master’s resources, was wasting mercy on those that did not deserve it, was wasting forgiveness on those that had the most which needed to be forgiven, and who were desperate to be healed, to be saved, to be made whole.
In Moses and the Prophets, this need was testified to over and over again, and it is sad that more people do not see it, that so many refuse to hear it, or hearing it, refuse to trust, to believe, to know the hope that is beyond hope, to find in the darkess, God’s light.
People were eager to get into heaven because they found out God’s love prepared the way, all throughout history. In each covenant, in each time, God reached out, and some received mercy, and others because focused on their own “desires”, their own “wants” and their own “needs”. And overlooked the forgiveness offered, in order to gain that which didn’t last.
This rich man, whose clothes were died with a pigment that cost the equivalent of $10000 per gram, his daily outfit enough to pay a year’s salary, chased after such riches. When the first commandment says, have no other god’s, he had one – his own comfort. Being rich doesn’t disqualify you from heaven, but so often it simply buys you those things that distract you from walking with God. Poverty doesn’t make you holier, but as you realize how bruised and needy you are, you have no option but to reach out for someone who will help. You can act like the rich man, or Lazarus, whether you are worth a million, or whether your bank account is overdrawn. Do we focus our life on pleasure, or do you realize how much you need help?
(amp this up)! The Old Testament proclaims this help is found in God, will be found when the Messiah comes, when God’s chosen one will bear all the pain, all the injury, all the sin. But that requires that we admit we are the beggars of the world, that we cannot by our own reason or strength come to know God. From the promises Moses records, of the future prophet, the living water, the one who would be lifted up, the lamb that would be sacrificed and save us from the angel of death, to the prophecies of Isaiah of the one born of a virgin, the child to be called Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, to the one beaten and whipped, while voicing not a cry, yet bearing all our sin, the God who would wash us clean, and restore His people after bearing their suffering, who would sustain the infirm and elderly and have them soar like eagles, and bring peace to the hope of the Messiah that Jeremiah and Ezekiel testify, as they watched a people who were spiritually weak and lame as Lazarus was physically.
Jesus is talked about on every page of the Old Testament according to Luther, as God constantly demonstrates his patience with sinners, and promises to cleanse them. Even more, it tells them that he would die, and rise again. If they couldn’t see it, if they loved money more than the hope of the Messiah, what would happen when he came?
They would kill him. Our sins would be laid on Him as he was, making us as needful of His death as we are….and as promised, He would rise, a light to gentiles, and the hope of God’s people….
Nothing more would be said, save to tell the story again and again. And the story Moses and the prophets would be heard… again…
Christ has died, Christ has Risen, Christ will come again… for us.
And may the peace of God, which is beyond all understanding, be yours, even as Jesus guards your hearts and minds, and the hope of the Resurrection we rejoice in! AMEN!
