Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 16,19-31.
Jesus said to the Pharisees: “There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day.
And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.
When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried,
and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.’
Abraham replied, ‘My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.
Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours.’
He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him to my father’s house,
for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.’
But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’
He said, ‘Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
Then Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'”
Rich man, poor man, waste, invisible
Peace to all my brothers and sisters listening in today
- Rich man/ poor man. Like last weeks parable this one focuses on wealth and discipleship and gives us a powerful lesson on how we are to put our goods, our riches and all our resources at the service of the kingdom of God.
Although the rich man and Lazarus live close to one another they could not be any further away. The rich man leads an extravagant lifestyle as the detail of him wearing purple shows. Purple was most expensive dye in the ancient world and connotes royalty. The fact that he feasts sumptuously a word in Greek which means magnificently also speaks of his lavish lifestyle. Lazarus on the other hand lies hungry with the dogs outside of his house and is covered not with fine linens but instead with sores. Do we identify more with the rich man or with the poor man? We could even go further and ask did the rich man really deserve what he got in being sent to Hades? After all we might conclude the rich man doesn’t seem like such a bad guy. After all, being rich is not a sin and after being condemned to Hades, he does not even ask to be set free or to go to heaven or even to have another chance but rather only a little relief -a little water for his tongue. Having been denied this, he unselfishly thinks only of his brothers and tries to spare them punishment in requesting that someone be sent back from the dead in order to warn them. What then is the sin of the Rich man? What did he do to deserve eternal damnation? Be careful how you answer it because we might be condemning ourselves. - Waste. He is much like the steward from last week who wastes his goods and spends them carelessly. Unlike the shrewd steward however who uses them to make friends and ensure his future, the rich man learns too late the consequences of his actions or more to the point his lack of action. His sin is not what he did with his riches but rather what he didn’t do. His sin is not in buying the best of the best but rather in not sharing with others and so ignoring the needs of the poor. In his blindness he did not even see Lazarus right at his doorstep. He was decidely indifferent to the plight of those outside his circle.
- Invisible. Could it be that the rich man goes unnamed in the parable because we are the rich man who has been given so much and are not using it wisely? Many of us are rich in blessings and have an abundance of talent, ability and excess of goods of the world and yet neglect to share them. This is a sin of omission. It’s the sin of not bothering to love and really being blind and deaf to those in need. While we hear a lot from the rich man, we dont hear one word from the poor man Lazarus. Could this represent how the poor often do not have a voice and are invisible to us?
Today let us open our eyes and our ears to the poor and most of all our hearts, and share what we have been given, to spread our love to those most in need that are right at our doorstep.
May God bless you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit amen
Always remember heaven is our goal
[ecp code=”donaciones”]
