17th Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 21
Luke 16:19-31
"Eat, Drink & Be Sorry"
""There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. 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 in his bosom. And he called out, ’Father Abraham, have mercy upon 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, ’Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil 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 some one 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 some one should rise from the dead.’"" Luke 16:19-31, RSV.
Among the many parables of Soren Kiekegaard is the story of a wild pigeon. The pigeon lived contentedly from season to season enjoying its freedom to come and go as it pleased. One day it perched itself on the roof of a farmhouse, observing some domestic pigeons sheltered within a cage the farmer had constructed for them. The wild pigeon watched the farmer returning home at the end of the day, stopping on his way to feed the pigeons.
As the pigeon flew away, it occurred to him for the first time that he did not know where his next meal would come from, or that he would always have a shelter over his head. For the first time he was not completely satisfied with the freedom with which he flew from open meadows to the upper most branches of a tree. "How much better," he thought, "to have meals served to me in my very own house." When no one was looking, he flew down from the roof of the farmhouse and squeezed his way into the pigeon pen. That evening as the farmer returned from the fields, he reached into the pen and took the wild pigeon. Inside his house he prepared his supper of pigeon stew.
The pigeon sought comfort, ease, abundant food and a nice warm house to live in. He was willing to give up his freedom of flight for these things, but instead he gave up his life.
Our gospel lesson this morning is about a man who also was comfortable, who had abundant food, and a warm house to live in. This man lived a very comfortable, easy and rich live. He had it made. But when his life on this earth ended, he was willing to have given up all his riches for just one drop of cool water because in the afterlife he was living in anguish the flame of Hades. What was this man’s sin? Why did he end in eternal hell, while the poor man Lazarus was in the comfortable bosom of Abraham? What was Dives sin? We can call this rich man Dives for it is the Latin word for rich. By itself, wealth is not a sin. God’s blessing often rains down in material as well as spiritual ways. You and I do not need to be embarrassed about all that we have. We do have the highest standard of living in the entire world. Instead, we ought to recognize the Giver and look for ways to express our thanks for his grace toward us by sharing a portion of it with others. The rich man’s sin was not simply his great wealth.
It was his belief that he had the right to do with it as he pleased. His sin lay in his choosing to ignore the poor man Lazarus who was laying right at his door.
His sin can be seen in three different ways. One he did not see Lazarus sitting or laying at his door. He was so wrapped up in himself, that he could not see beyond the end of his nose to the plight of this poor man with sores all over his body.
A pastor tells the following story about a man in his parish who also had a problem with his eyesight. "Years ago a woman in Brooklyn, New York, bequeathed her eyes to the eye bank. Upon her death, her eyes were flown to Philadelphia where the corneas were transplanted into the eyes of a man I had known for many years, said the pastor. However, something far more wonderful than new corneas happened in this man’s life. His problems with his eyesight had made him bitter toward life and people. He had lived in fear that his resources would never be adequate to care for him and his family. He was a man all wrapped up in himself, until he not only received the new corneas but with them, a new vision of life. Today that man is one of the most generous people I know. He has helped to send severe young people in the community to college, and in a host of quiet ways has used his new vision to spread the love of Jesus Christ to those in need."
Dives sin was not what he had done to Lazarus, his sin was what he had not done to Lazarus. Dives never saw Lazarus. He was so caught up in his own world he never took notice of the other person. He needed new eyes. Eyes that could focus not on himself, but on others. Eyes that could see the pain , the brokenness of this world and shed of tear of compassion, care and comfort.
How is your eyesight? Do your eyes see the pain and brokenness of this world, or are they only focused upon your own navel, upon your own wants, pleasures and comfort? Can you see the brokenness of someone in sorrow, can you see the pain of someone living in a broken relationship and wanting someone to listen to share the pain? Can you see someone dependent upon the crutch of drugs or alcohol and wanting someone to assure him/her that they are worthwhile people, special people in the eyes of God? Can you see the hungry people through out the world who are crying for the means of learning how to successfully grow and harvest their own food supply? How is your eyesight?
Not only did Dives not see the poor man Lazarus sitting by his front door, but he was so harden to the plight of this poor man that he could not even feel the hurt of his sores, the pain of his hunger, or the heart break of this rejected man. Even if he saw for only a few fleeting seconds the plight of this poor man, Dives had no feelings, no compassion, no love for the plight of this outcast of society. He was more than just indifferent, which is bad enough, he was calloused to the cries of pain and suffering he tried to block out in his world of comfort and ease.
A movie entitled, "The Pawn Broker" illustrates this point about not feeling the pain of society very well.
"The movie is about a Polish-Jew named Nazerman who runs a pawnshop in East Harlem, New York.
Nazerman survived a Nazi concentration camp where he saw the worse of humanities inhumanity. The way he survived was by promising himself that he would never feel anything else again. He had lost his best friend in that camp and he saw his wife die a slow death. He become a numb wreck of a man and does survive the horrors of the camp. Twenty-five years later, he is running a pawn shop, taking pitiful objects from these poor wretched people enmeshed in poverty, drugs, prostitution, sex and alcohol. He just takes their personal possessions without any kind of feeling. With cold detachment, never batting an eye, he plies them behind him as he sits in the shadows behind that iron fence in the pawn shop. A young Puerto Rican man named Jesus Artez, formerly a gang member who had split and changed his life, comes to work for him. The young man admires Nazerman and wants to be just like him and one day opened his own pawn shop. One day, his old gang comes to rob the pawn shop. They start to shoot Nazerman, but Jesus Artez steps right in front of him and takes the bullet in his stomach. The gang runs, leaving Jesus Artez dying in Nazerman’s arms! The play ends with Nazerman holding Jesus Artez and suddenly feeling begins to come back to him, but he denies that he can feel. To prove to himself that he can no longer feel, he takes the spindle that sits on his deck and spears it through his hand. It goes all the way through his hand, and he does feel real pain. He does bleed real blood and cries real tears. He does feel. The play comes to an end as you see him locking the door of the pawn shop on that dark street and walking away. His soul is now free, his life is out of hock, because he feels for his neighbor.’’
The Pawn-Broker’s life became real and authentic when he let himself feel the loss of his young friend, when he let him see, feel,gratitude for the sacrifice this young man was willing to make on his behalf. When he began to feel the brokenness, the pain, the anguish, the heartache of the life that encompassed him, then and only then did he begin to live. Then and only then did he feel the real freedom of life. Dives never felt the pain of the brokenness of life, he never felt the anguish of this poor man outside of his door. Dives prison of non-feeling is symbolized by the great chasm that separated him from Abraham. Dives was locked up in his own prison of detachment, hard-hardness and coldness for eternity.
How are your feelings? Can you empathize with the plight of those who are feeling the brokenness of this world? Can you in some small way walk in the footsteps of those who are crying out for someone to care? Can you feel the pain, the sorrow the hurt, the hunger, the loneliness, the guilt, the rejection, o those who are trying out for someone to care, for someone to touch them with a hug of compassion and an embrace of love? How are your feelings?
And finally, the third sin of Dives was that of not hearing. He tells Abraham that he should send Lazarus to his brothers to warn them concerning the kind of life they are now living, and what kind of life will be in store for them in eternity if they do not change their ways. But Abraham tells him that having the scriptures is enough. He says, "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead."
Scripture is enough. It says in Deut. 6:5 "that one should love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your mind. And in Lev. 19:18, it says you should love your neighbor as yourself." Abraham knew Dives had all he needed in the scripture, but his problem was he did not hear the words of scripture calling out to him. He was too busy listening to his own voice calling him to get more and more out of life. He didn’t take the time away from his enslavement of getting more and more to listen or read in the scripture the calling of God to direct his life.
A story is told about Leonardo da Vinci when he was working in Milan on his famous canvas of the Last Supper. He spent many hours mediation in the chapel. The monks in that little church, it seemed, resented these idle periods and chided da Vinci about wasting precious time and money. But Leonardo answered, "When I pause the longest in prayer and hear the words of scripture calling out to me, I make the most telling strokes with my brush."
What kind of brush strokes do you make upon the canvas of life? Are they small and ineffectual, or are they bold, daring and telling because they have been backed up with the foundation of scripture and the grace of God as seen through the incarnate life of Jesus Christ? DO you take the time to hear the scripture calling to you, calling to give your life directions, meaning and purpose? Do you see and hear in the scripture concerning the way of life Jesus calls each of us to live as incarnate body now in this world? Do you hear the scripture calling to you to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself?
The sin of dives was not his great wealth, but this lack of seeing the plight of those around him who were caught up in the brokenness of this world. His sin was not feeling, not being about to walk in the footsteps of those who were pleading for someone to reach into their lives with a touch of love. His sin was not taking time out to hear the call of God through the scriptures concerning how God wants his children to be his incarnate touch in this world of brokenness and pain.
Are the sins of Dives your sins or can you see, feel and hear ?
I would like to close with a story about a congregation who was able to see feel and hear.
A congregation in one of the many suburbs of a large city was having a special congregational meeting to approve borrowing money from the hank to buy some things for the church. The building committee recommended that a new carpet, a stained glass window, and a new kitchen be added to the church. It would cost around $10,000.000 This was explained to the members gathered and then all of a sudden, a voice from the rear of the church spoke up: "Do we really need these things to be the church?? I believe we should borrow the money to help feed the hungry of the world!!" Never before had anyone questioned the wisdom of those who were in charge. Another voice’ spoke up saying:" Let’s borrow the money and help purchase an electric generator which would supply power for bringing water from a well in Africa." Another voice said, "Let’s borrow the money and give it to a mission school that our denomination runs on the American Indian reservation."
The vote was taken. And there was not to be new carpeting, nor a new kitchen, nor a beautiful stained glass window, but the group decided to borrow the $10,000.00 and use it for the mission projected mentioned.
Amen
Written by Rev Tim Zingale, September 20, 2004
