TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

[cappie]

How shall we read this story from Jesus? It’s a fictional story, a parable. So, who are we in this parable? Are we the rich man who is ignoring the poor man? Are we the poor man, Lazarus? It’s pretty clear we are not Abraham.  

Almost everyone who has some economic security would read themselves as the rich man. We are rightly chastened by Jesus to take note of the poor among us. There are plenty of Lazaruses around that we just don’t see. That can be chilling.

Who is Lazarus then? In the story, Lazarus is sitting at the gate of the rich man’s estate. We need to recall that in the ancient world, it was at the gates of cities and estates that the justice of a community was carried out. Cities were walled and there were small gates through which visitors would gain entrance. But the gates were also the courthouses and places where the common good could be decided. Lazarus has established himself at the gate as a statement of the failure of the community to deal justly and respectfully with him.

While we may not like it, the unrest that is happening  around the world is because the Lazaruses of the world are at the gate. They have been ignored and mistreated.  This fact is so well-established that it’s practically self-evident. Those who have been served well by our community are being asked to come down out of our sumptuous feasts and be with those outside.

This is the most obvious reading of the parable: we are the ones who need to learn from the rich man’s folly of uncaring and hard-heartedness. But the fact of the matter is, most of us aren’t  rich, some of us actually do some ministry work with the poor. A great many of us make some attempt at going down to the gate and alleviating the suffering of the Lazaruses in our towns and cities.

That makes me think that we aren’t really the rich man in this parable. And we aren’t Lazarus. So, who are we? Perhaps we are the rich man’s brothers. It might be that Jesus is being coy because someone did come back from the dead to certify the kind of living that God described through Moses and the prophets. We are the brothers, and Lazarus was sent back to warn us.

Lazarus is at the gate. The truth is, as Jesus tells us, the poor will always be with us. Lazarus will always be at the gate. But what makes Lazarus Lazarus is that the rich man does nothing for him.  

We, at this moment, can undo what Jesus describes in this parable, right here.

When we look at another person and know that they are God’s creation, that’s when the darkness will end. We must see others not for what they’ve done, nor for what they can become, but for their status as a child of God, full stop. That’s how we can undo this parable.

All the social improvement plans, all the money that we throw at problems, none of it will make an ounce of difference if we persist in not understanding this fundamental truth: the ones we resist, the ones we argue with, the ones we exclude are God’s children and deserving of respect and life.

So, in a sense are the rich man’s brothers. Abraham has somehow allowed Lazarus to come back to our gate to warn us so that we might be brave enough to look at those who are calling for our attention. We must look at them as the children of God that they and we are. It takes courage to even attempt to rethink what our culture, tradition, and secular environment teaches us. It is necessary if our faith is to have traction in how we live the great gift of life.
 

[Guest]

12 hours ago, cappie said:

While we may not like it, the unrest that is happening  around the world is because the Lazaruses of the world are at the gate. They have been ignored and mistreated.  This fact is so well-established that it’s practically self-evident. Those who have been served well by our community are being asked to come down out of our sumptuous feasts and be with those outside.

Spot on, Father - hit the nail spot on target!  Thanks!

I think we need to see too that there are many forms of poverty, many Lazaruses who only wear different clothing, experiencing different forms of great need

Just as there are many forms of excess in men who are rich with starving Lazaruses at their door.

History tells us that the poor of any kind will only take injustice for so long - and then there is outright rebellion.  And the lessons of history unlearnt....these are bound to be repeated.......