19th Sunday after Pentecost -- 29 September 2013

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.' "

• A number of years ago, I took a drive with a few friends of mine. We attended an hobby-oriented event and then went with our driver, Mickey, to pick up some special wallpaper he had ordered for his house.
• So off we went, following the directions of his GPS map and direction device in his car. For some obscure reason, he named his GPS “Lois” and we followed the female voice as we were directed to our destination to get the wallpaper.
• As we drove along, we saw road construction signs saying the bridge ahead of us was being repaired and was “out.” Mickey remarked that “Lois” had said nothing about this and we continued on our merry way.
• The “Bridge Out” signs became more and more frequent and “Lois” still said nothing, so we kept on the route.
• ... until we reached the bridge... which was not there. The bridge was indeed “out.” Mickey then said “I guess the signs were right.” The rest of us in the car then heaped abuse on Mickey for the rest of the trip, figuring it was the right and fair thing to do. (We'd probably have done this anyway once we saw his taste in wallpaper, but that's another story for another day.)
• This story seemed appropriate to the reading from Luke's Gospel. Here's a fellow who wouldn't or didn't see the signs that were right in front of his face. In our Gospel reading, the “rich man” who finds himself in Hades, asks Abraham to send Lazarus to cool his burning tongue and then send Lazarus to warn his five brothers of what could happen to them. Then there is this great piece of dialog:
• 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.'
• I think we can see what Luke is referring to in this passage. Not even somebody coming back from the grave would convince some people to recognize the needs of the poor. Even Jesus' own resurrection cannot create faith if a person has not already heard the words of Moses and the prophets. Those signs are with us now and even some special messenger would not change the minds of those who would not see. So when it comes to just treatment of the poor, no one with a Bible can claim not to have known any better. The teaching of the prophet and of Jesus are right there for all to see.
• It is worthwhile to note that there is no judgement in the story about the morality of being rich or being poor. In fact, in Biblical times, riches were considered a gift from God, but nothing was said about any moral superiority of the rich because of that. Conversely, those without wealth cannot be dismissed as morally inferior, either. This is a trap and there are people -even in our own day- have fallen into it.
• Another thing to note: Did you hear the names of the people in the passage? The poor man is “Lazarus”, and the rich man, who has been given names by people who studied the Bible, is simply called “the rich man” in the Gospel of Luke. Lazarus is the only character in any of Jesus' parables who is named. Even the rich man knew Lazarus' name when he recognized him as Lazarus rested at Abraham's side. We can assume that the rich man knew Lazarus' name when the poor man lay outside of the massive gate of the rich man's palatial estate, begging for crumb and being licked by the local stray dogs.
• But even in Hades, the rich man still sees Lazarus as a tool, a messenger to do his bidding, and not a person at all. With this, Jesus is saying that we cannot ignore the poor and we cannot see them as anything less than persons in their own right.
• As far as the rich man's brothers go, if they'd been ignoring the Scriptures teaching, they could just as easily ignore someone who quote Scripture to them. If Moses and the prophets are not enough, Lazarus won't be either, even if he returned from the dead.
• The sin of the rich man was not being rich; riches can still rightly be seen as a gift from God. It was not noticing what was in front of his face every day. This neglect may go beyond not seeing; it may be seeing and turning away. Remember, the rich man knew Lazarus' name.
• Riches are not the problem here. Wealth is not the issue for Jesus. It is what is done with wealth and riches that makes the difference. We can ignore the need around us and wrap ourselves up in ourselves or we can do what we can with what we have.
• I'm going to close with a quote that I found very moving and personally challenging. It comes from a comedian on a US TV show, Steven Colbert. He does satire and, as usual, clowns quite often tell us more truth than speakers, and unfortunately, quite often, preachers:
• “If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it.” (Steven Colbert)