Homily for 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I would like to start off today by putting into perspective what has been happening in Luke’s Gospel in the last little while.  There are themes in Luke which have been consistent throughout the readings we have had at Mass, and the themes show up today as well.

First of all, Luke has a recurring theme about riches and not getting dependent on them.  In order to point up that theme, he usually uses Pharisees as examples of rich men and are often the intended audience of most of the parables. The Pharisees were not actually rich men, but were ardent rule followers of the Torah.  They tried very hard to follow every rule and made a show of it. It was that quality that drew Jesus to using them to tell parables to.

The idea of possessions is strong in Luke, but Luke is not always clear on what we should do with our possessions. Barbara Reid, a commentator, has noted that “there is no one prescription how a disciple is to use them.”

Sometimes Luke shows how people left everything to follow Jesus; others keep their money, but use it to support Jesus’ mission and his livelihood. Luke admires the tax collector who gave half his goods to the poor. In his Acts of the Apostles Luke talks about how the communities shared everything in common. What we can see here then as a recurring motif is that possessions are not bad in themselves. What is good or bad is how they are used. They can be used in service of God,  or riches  can be used to turn people away from God and become important in their own right. In the interesting parable Jesus tells today, we can see this theme come through very clearly in an entertaining way.

Let’s look at the parable a little more closely. Jesus starts off with a vivid, colorful description of the two main characters. The rich man, sometimes called Dives, which is the Latin word for rich man, is obviously wealthy and can afford to be generous.  In this culture, not to share the excess was greediness. Giving alms was expected of someone in his position.

Lazarus was pitiful. He seems to be a cripple of some sort, and is covered with sores.  Hebrews would have called the man impure and believed that he was being punished by God for some sin. He has no status in this society, and certainly cannot work for a living. To make matters worse he couldn’t even stop the dogs from coming and licking his sores, which made him doubly impure in Hebrew eyes. While we might, in our culture, pity such a man, the Hebrew would more likely be disgusted by him. Then again, we might be too!

When we first see Lazarus he has been thrown down at the gate.  The gate could be the gate of a rich man’s house, or it could be the gate of the city. In either case, it is clear that he is outside the ‘normal’ living area. Also, keep in mind the “narrow gate” that Jesus mentioned a few weeks ago. We also learn how the poverty affected Lazarus. He was starving. He would have eaten table scraps that dogs are given. We are told by one commentator that the table scraps were likely pita bread used by the wealthy as napkins, and then disposed of by being thrown on the floor. In any case, it was garbage. And Lazarus was starving and would soon die. But we don’t even see him begging, and he doesn’t ask the rich man for anything. He appears too lazy to the Hebrew audience. Nor does the rich man give him anything apparently. But, being rich, he would have been thought of as the hero of the story for God rewards by giving riches, they thought.

In the next scene, we jump to the sudden deaths of both the poor man and the rich man. Death plays no favorites. And once again, Jesus is countercultural and turns around the normal order of things. Notice what happens after both die. When the poor man, Lazarus dies, he is carried off by angels to the bosom of Abraham, meaning the place of honor, but the rich man was not carried off. The space between them was still great, however, for the rich man was brought down to the netherworld, not up. And in this nether world he was in torment.  We learn a little later that the torment was fire. On earth he had fine clothes, now his skin is burning. On earth he ate sumptuous meals, now he is parched from the heat.

He looks up to heaven and sees Abraham there. Hebrews thought of Abraham as their father, and so he calls to Abraham for help.  Lazarus is there next to Abraham and he is recognized by the rich man. Abraham recognizes him and even calls him “my son”, but is unable to do anything to help the man because death has created the final chasm between the two.The gate that we saw in the beginning of the parable which separated them could have been crossed by the rich man to help Lazarus, but it was not.  The ‘gate’ after death cannot be crossed at all.

Lazarus, after death, still attempts to use the system he was used to practicing on earth. He expected favors from family. Abraham was his father – he asks a favor from him.  But after death, all of the worldly ways of doing things are no longer available. He has no status any more.  He asks that Lazarus be sent to warn others of this impending fate. Please be aware here that this is a parable. Jesus is not saying that there is a nether world, a Hades, a place of fire.  It is an illustration of a point that some have taken too literally.

The point is then made that we have been warned about all this. The Bible has told us how to behave and how to act toward our fellow men and women. But we don’t always listen. Moses  and the prophets were pretty consistent in what they had to say about helping the poor. The Pharisees were Jews who believed in an after-life, a resurrection of sorts.  But Abraham says that even if someone came back from dead, like Lazarus, it wouldn’t help. People don’t listen. Just as Jesus is indicating that the Pharisees don’t listen to him! Therefore, it is a matter of life and death that we listen to Jesus and follow what he says about the treatment of the poor, the crippled and the marginalized in society.

Do we listen to Jesus today? Do we notice the marginalized? Do we share the excess of what we have? Jesus did come back from the dead to tell us ! Has it made a difference or are we blind to that as well?  Having too many ‘things’ is not a sign from God that we are blessed and loved. It is a sign that we are workaholics or very clever or very lucky. The ideal expressed by Luke over and over in his Gospel is that we share what we have with those who don’t have in order to level the playing field on earth. It means giving up money, power, property, status and becoming known for what we do for others. We need to use our resources to fight for justice in society and not ignore the needs and injustices others are subject to. We need to be real Christians.  And Luke is very clear on what that means in our daily lives. It is a challenge. It is hard to be humble in a society where humility is not much valued.  It is hard to be giving in a society where having is more important. But if we are to really follow Christ, we need to do more than come to Mass on Sundays for one hour.

This pastor is standing at the door shaking hands with the people as they leave church after service. As Joe tries to pass by, the pastor grabs him by the hand and pulls him aside. “Joe,” says the pastor, “you need to join the Army of the Lord.” Joe replies, “I’m already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor.” “How come I don’t see you in church except at Christmas and weddings?” the pastor asks. And Joe whispers back, “I’m in the secret service.” In today’s second reading, Paul gives instructions to Timothy as a soldier of the Lord. In typical military fashion he urges him to fight the good fight. Paul is not asking Timothy to wage a war against his adversaries and rivals, as one would expect. He is asking him to fight the only battle that really matters in the end.

What is the good fight? Paul explains: “Fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). The life of faith, life lived in submission to God’s will, can sometimes be experienced as a war. It can be a daily struggle of the Spirit against the inclinations of the flesh, as Paul observes in Galatians 5:16-17: “Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.” It can also be experienced as a fight against more sinister spiritual forces, as we see in Ephesians 6:12: “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” This is the good fight that Paul urges Timothy to fight.

What is the target of this fight? The target is to capture the one thing that ultimately matters in life. It is to “take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called” (1 Timothy 6:12). The one purpose for which God created us and gave us life, the one purpose for which God gave us faith and called us into His church at baptism, is so that we may attain eternal life. “For what profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and lose one’s soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Life presents us with many battles. We choose the battles to fight and those to let go. The one battle that, more than any other, is worth fighting, is the battle to attain eternal life. This is the good fight.

So, how does one fight this good fight of faith? Here again, we listen to Paul’s advice to Timothy. “As for you, man of God, … pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness” (1 Timothy 6:11). Paul recommends six virtues: righteousness, godliness, and faith which have to do with our relationship with God; and love, endurance, and gentleness which have to do with our relationship with our neighbour. In other words we fight the good fight by cultivating our relationship with God and neighbour. More explicitly, Paul charges Timothy to “keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 14). By keeping the new commandment of love of God and neighbour we wage a war against the self, the world, and the devil.

Paul was writing to Timothy at a time of persecution when many believers were afraid to confess their faith for fear of being killed. So Paul reminds Timothy that life itself is God’s gift (“God, who gives life to all things” verse 13) and that the Lord Jesus guarantees life after death (“It is he alone who has immortality” verse 16). He, therefore, encourages Timothy fearlessly to confess his faith just as Jesus did before Pontius Pilate, knowing that, even if it should cost him his life, the Lord Jesus will crown him with eternal life. Timothy heeded Paul’s words. Tradition has it that in the year ad 97 Timothy was preaching to pagans involved in the worship of idols when they turned on him and killed him.

To conclude, I will like to ask you the same question the pastor asked the young man Joe. Are you in the Lord’s army or not? What battles are you fighting? Are you spending all your energies fighting for your stomach or do you have the fight for the soul as the number one on your list? The word of God invites us all today to fight the good fight until we take hold of eternal life.

Imagine this scene. A man dies and arrives before the Judgment Seat of God. The divine Judge goes through the Book of Life and does not find the man’s name. So He announces to the man that his place is in hell. The man protests, “But what did I do? I did nothing!” “Precisely,” replies God, “that is why you are going to hell.” That man could as well be the rich man in today’s parable.

The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus has left Bible readers wondering why the rich man had to go to hell. We are not told he acquired his wealth by foul means. We are not told he was responsible for the poverty and misery of Lazarus. In fact we are not even told that Lazarus begged from him and he refused to help. We are not told he committed any crime or evil deed. All we are told is that he was feeding and clothing well as any other successful human being has a right to do. Why then did he go to hell?

The problem we have pinpointing the reason why the rich man went to hell has a lot to do with what we think sin is. We often think that we sin only by thought, word and deed. We forget a fourth and very important way through which we sin, namely, by omission. In the “I Confess” we say these words: “I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do.” Yet how readily we forget the sin of omission. Today’s parable reminds us that the sin of omission can land someone in hell. This is what happens to the rich man.

The poor man Lazarus was lying at his gate. And the rich man simply couldn’t care less. “Whatever happens to him there outside the gate is none of my business,” he probably said to himself. “I mind my business. People should mind theirs.” Next, the rich man probably phoned the police to report that a stranger was loitering outside his gate. In the meantime dogs went and licked Lazarus’ wounds. And the poor man died. And the City came and picked his body and buried it in an unmarked grave. And the rich man went in and had another cup of coffee. Of course he did nothing against Lazarus. But he has failed to do a good deed. He failed to reach out and share a little of his blessings with someone in need. His sin is that of omission, and for that he was going to roast in hell.

Another problem we have with this parable is why Lazarus went to heaven. After all we are not told that he was a man of God or that he did a single good deed. Yes we are. In biblical stories of this nature, names are very significant because they often convey the person’s basic character or personality. In fact this is the only parable of Jesus where the character in the story has a name. So the name must be significant for interpreting the parable.

The name “Lazarus” is the Hellenised form of the Hebrew name “Eleazar” which means “God is my help.” Lazarus, therefore, is not just a poor man, but a poor man who believes and trusts in God. This must be why he found himself in Abraham’s bosom in Paradise — because of his faith and trust in God, not just because he was poor. Failing to grasp the significance of Lazarus’ name in the interpretation of the parable, some people have suggested that in the next life there will be an automatic reversal of status: the rich will become poor and the poor will become rich. But this is not the point of the parable. Rich people who use their wealth to serve God in their fellow human beings will still be blessed in the next life. Poor people who spend their lives in bitterness and envy, refusing to believe and trust in God as Lazarus did may yet again suffer in the next life.

The good news of this parable is this: If you feel like a Lazarus right now, battered by sickness, poverty and pain, forgotten by society and by those whom God has blessed in this life, continue believing and trusting in God knowing that it will be well with your soul in the end. If you see yourself as one of those blessed by God with the good things of life, open your door and see. Probably there is a Lazarus lying at your gates and you have not taken notice.

By Bishop Kasomo Daniel

Bishop of The Society of St. Peter and Paul (SSPP)