Where’s Lazerus????????????
Luke 16:19
Where's Wally? is a British series of children's puzzle books created by English illustrator Martin Handford. The books consist of a series of detailed double-page spread illustrations depicting dozens or more people doing a variety of amusing things at a given location. Readers are challenged to find a character named Wally hidden in the group.
Wally is identified by his red-and-white-striped shirt, bobble hat, and glasses, but many illustrations contain red herrings involving deceptive use of red-and-white striped objects.
Reading our bible verse this morning it seems that, as Christians, we need to pay immediate, urgent attention to where’s Lazerus?
Lazerus is the focal point of the rich man’s life but he doesn’t realise it and in the end Lazerus defines the rich man’s future for eternity. How easy it must have been to not notice him- to move on to his life in the business world – to attend meetings and go to family dinners?
This story is a serious bible checkpoint that Jesus provides so that we too do not miss Lazerus when he is in fact staring in our face – obvious but not noticed.
In Matthew chapter 25 we find Jesus promoting a very similar message –
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels
So much for once saved always saved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WE are saved by our acceptance of Jesus and by the power of His blood and resurrection – but here we do not find Jesus limiting our Christian walk to a one time commitment. Here we find him expecting his followers to find him in the most unpleasant and unsavoury places. He doesn’t allow us only to celebrate the great compassionate Christians like Jackie Pullinger – Elizabeth Fry – Damian of Hawaii – Francis of Assissi – Heidi Bakker or the classic all time favourite Tereasa of Calcutta. And to be honest I think he goes beyond our families half hearted attempt at compassion by sponsoring a child – in – I am not too sure such is my attention to our sponsored child.
I think what Jesus is saying is very different to all this stuff. Of course we don’t have to preach on this but it is important we, as Christians really comprehend what Jesus is saying so that we do not end up in condemnation on the one hand or on the other self justification.
When Jesus meets with his disciples after his resurrection his opening words are “Peace be with you.”
We want to be in peace but there is a route there that includes the bumpy ride down the road of compassion.
The task for the Christian is not to ask “where’s Wally?” but where is Jesus among the sea of faces that are before me every day.
The story is told of two liberal sociologists who were walking down the street. They saw a man lying unconscious and covered with cuts and bruises from a terrible mugging. One of the sociologists turned to his colleague and said, “Whoever did this terrible deed really needs our help.”
That is objective compassion – but consider this:-
One Sunday evening, William Booth was walking in London with his son, Bramwell, who was then 12 or 13 years old. The father surprised the son by taking him into a saloon! The place was crowded with men and women, many of them bearing on their faces the marks of vice and crime; some were drunk. The fumes of alcohol and tobacco were poisonous. "Willie," Booth said to his son, "These are our people; these are the people I want you to live for and bring to Christ." Years later, Bramwell Booth wrote, "The impression never left me."
Where is Lazerus?
1.Lazerus is the man God has placed right in front of you.
Notice in the ministry of Jesus he always deals with what God has put in front of him. The mistake of the rich man is to step around the man in front of him and to move on to fulfil his own social agenda. It may well have included charity but his own charity at his own agenda.
It is important that we understand we can’t just have compassion and love on our terms but we must have it on God’s terms.
Christopher Sercye was playing basketball with his friends on May 16, 1998 when he was shot in the chest, and a bullet perforated his aorta. His friends helped him get to within forty feet of the entrance to Ravenswood Hospital and then went inside and asked for help. The hospital staff refused to help Christopher saying that it was against the hospital’s policies to administer aid to those outside the hospital. Eventually a policeman was able to get a wheel chair and wheeled Christopher into the hospital where he was helped by the hospital staff. It was too late, however, and Christopher died about an hour later. Sermon central
In our second reading Jesus said – I was sick and you looked after me –
39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
Not when you stuck to the rules and left me in the carpark!!!!!!!!
The application from Jesus is seriously shocking basically it is if you left me in the car park then - go to hell –
Where is Lazerus?
Lazerus is the need that God has put in front of you.
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
A baby was crying on a plane and Colonel Sanders of KFC fame was on the flight. The baby would not stop even though the mother and flight attendants tried every trick they could think of. Finally the Colonel asked if he could hold the baby. He gently rocked it to sleep. Later a passenger said, “We all appreciate what you did for us.”Colonel Sanders replied, “I didn’t do it for us, I did it for the baby.” Many times it seems that churches are surrounded by people that desperately need to hear the Gospel, yet Christians are content to share it only with those that manage to come inside their church.(Sermon Central.)
Last week thinking about this sermon I travelled to Gore. I prayed about where I would go to meet with the people God wanted me to meet with and found myself at MacDonalds. Next to me was a man in a wheelchair and a lady with a guide dog. They talked away for a long time and left. I left as well and went to the Christian bookshop – there I met with a woman whose husband was very unwell. WE talked for a bit and I left. It was only when I got home and< I think, a few days later I realised what I had done. How different would it have been if I had only seen Jesus in front of me in the form of the man in the wheelchair – the blind lady with the dog or the troubled wife?
Finding his newly-appointed pastor standing at his study window in the church weeping as he looked over the inner city’s tragic conditions, a layman sought to console him: “Don’t worry. After you’ve been here a while, you’ll get used to it.” Responded the minister, “Yes, I know. That’s why I am crying.” .sermoncentral).
“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson C. S. Lewis was told about a gravestone inscription that read; “Here lies an atheist – all dressed up and nowhere to go.” Lewis quietly replied, “I bet he wishes that were so.”
Confronted with an illness or a person possessed or simply in need of a salvation, even if it were a Zacheaus up a tree – Jesus deals with what God puts in front of him. Even when someone approaches him for healing and Jesus recognises this is not his deal the womans plea Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Matthew 15 The Faith of a Canaanite Woman.
She may not be Lazerus but she was in front of Jesus and he dealt with it.
Secondly – How are you dressed?
There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day
Did you know that the global apparel industry is valued at 3 trillion dollars (while the luxury clothing industry is estimated at 300 billion dollars? Excuse me while I pick up my jaw off the floor.
The UN estimates ending world hunger each year would cost $30 billion. So ending world hunger since 2003 would have cost $450 billion.
It is estimated that a person dies of hunger or hunger-related causes every ten seconds. Sadly, it is children who die most often. Yet there is plenty of food in the world for everyone.
Maybe The Devil really does Wear Prada.
We cannot possibly take responsibility for world hunger but we can check ourselves and ask – When we discover Lazerus on the sidewalks of life what can we do and what can we do without?
The man in the reading – is wearing the best of Prada in His day. Purple cloth – was an absolute luxury because of the rareness
Robes of purple were very costly, because of the scarcity of the shell-fish (murex trunculus) from which the Tyrians obtained their celebrated dye; or from the rareness of the purple fish, from which, the Phoenicians extracted their rich varieties of purple.
Of nearly equal costliness was the "fine linen," in which the rich man was clothed; composed chiefly of the Egyptian flax or Bambusa, which was of a soft texture, and so expensive, being worth its weight in gold, as to be worn only by princes, priests, or people of great estate.
(1857 William Bacon Stevens)
Oh my have you ever seen the richness of royalty in this world and what about the so called greats of the church Archbishops and the such like parading around with purple robes and often dark secrets? Purple is also the colour of the so called gay movement although to fair the often look sad not gay as they parade around in purple drawing others into the vortex of their broken world.
Ambrose, commenting on the rich fool who built bigger barns to store his goods, said, "The bosoms of the poor, the houses of widows, the mouths of children are the barns which last forever."
In the rich man’s world purple is the new black. Why?
Because it leads to darkness.
Getting rid of wealth or handing it over to the poor is a challenge to Christians – Annanias and Saphira in the book of Acts sold some property but kept some back and lied about it – it cost them their lives.
But more than that our great wealth and provision put a block between us when we want to relate to the poor and broken.
Someone wrote:- The purpose of wealth is giving – not getting! And it’s about giving to something that has great value – something that will keep.
Lazerus – then, was a giving opportunity to the rich man who would have been no worse off had he met Lazerus’ every need.
His ancient equivalent of the Rolex,Prada, Masserati and Lauren type life was a block between him and compassion and ultimately between him and God. Lazerus was forced to live off the scraps at the rich mans door. Do you know that when a rich man finished his meal he would wipe his face with some bread and throw it to the floor for the dogs or beggars to eat.
There is a sense of urgency about this for our call is to not only see Lazerus but to involve ourselves in sacrificial giving.
You might want to write this down – It will cost you something and perhaps everything. Abandoning ourselves to reckless love brings us into the place of blessing the Lazerus’ of this world.
There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.
When I grew up – people had much less than folks today. WE had one family car which didn’t last long before the next overhaul – we lived in a not insulated state house – and money had to be managed very well. Yet out of that little my parents found money to lend to the less fortunate and to take the broken into their home.
Nowadays we have two cars and insulated home and discretionary spending. What are we to do in order to fulfil the bibles call to not only meet people like Lazerus but to reach out with love and meet their needs?
What do we need to let go and change
Thirdly – What is in your diary?
Have you scheduled in enough time to allow for Lazerus.
The 21st century has produced a frenetic generation who race from appointment to appointment meeting after meeting rushing heading into eternally insignificant projects producing little or nothing while the Lazerus’ of this world sit waiting in the gutters of this world hoping for something – anything that will release their suffering and dull the pains of emotional and physical hunger.
Is Lazerus in your dairy. To truly deny oneself, to die to oneself, requires an all or nothing effort.
