Listen to the Prophets

pneumatizing

Sep 27

A Sermon Preached at Salem United Church of Christ

Higginsville, Missouri

25 September 2022

Luke 16.19-31

¹⁹[Jesus said,] "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. ²⁰And there was a poor man who lay at his gate, covered with sores, ²¹who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; and the dogs would come and lick his sores. ²²The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³In Hades, where he was being tormented, the rich man looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus in his bosom. ²⁴He called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.' ²⁵And Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; and now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. ²⁶Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.' ²⁷The rich man said, 'Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house— ²⁸for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.' ²⁹Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.' ³⁰He said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' ³¹He 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. Introduction

As this story begins, Jesus is still talking to and about the religious leaders who do not keep count of what matters and who refuse to join the party of God's Vision (Luke 15.2)
We have heard several parables about lost sheep, a lost coin, lost sons, and relying on dishonest wealth – this matters to Luke, the writer of this Gospel, because he sees concern for the poor at the heart of the work of the good news of Jesus and of the Vision of God
Remember, when Jesus announces the beginning of his work in earnest in Luke, he says that he has come to proclaim good news to the poor (Luke 4.18) – in Matthew's Gospel, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus announces blessing on the poor in spirit (Matthew 5.3), but in Luke's Sermon on the Level Place, Jesus blesses the poor and proclaims woe to the rich (Luke 6.20, 24)
Luke's account of Jesus and the Good News has a preference for the poor, and we see that preference in this familiar parable

II. The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus

On one level, the parable is a study in contrasts – the set up tells us that we are dealing with two, wildly different people – on the one hand, there is the rich man – remember what I said last week about rich men in parables – they are the ones through whom Jesus presents examples of what not to do
This particular rich man dresses in the finest, expensive clothes – purple was one of the most expensive dyes to make, and linen is a cloth for royal and priestly robes – these are not off-the-rack sorts of clothing – the rich man also has feasts every day – these are not just good meals – they are extravagant, sumptuous feasts – all if this shows that the rich man is beyond rich, probably even rich beyond the experience of the religious leaders – certainly his wealth is beyond the experience of most of Jesus' followers
On the other hand, Lazarus is a poor man – that we know his name is another one of the contrasts of the parable, because we never learn the name of the rich man or of any of his brothers – if fact, in all of Jesus' parables in the four Gospels, this is the only one that names a character, and here we have two named characters: Lazarus and Abraham
In contrast to the rich man, who has an excess of nearly everything a person could ever want, Lazarus has an excess of nothing except hunger and sores – he has no fine clothes – we do not know if he has a house or family – all we do know is that he lies at the rich man's gate – he is hungry and wishes for whatever falls from the rich man's table – in contrast to the man who has everything is the man who has nothing except need, hunger, pain, despair – he has no one to care for him or comfort him, save the dogs that lick his sores
Throughout the story, Lazarus never says a word – he does not have an active role in any way – he does nothing to deserve either his poverty in life or his comfort in death – and yet we know his name
Once Jesus has set the scene, he throws a wrench in the works – poor Lazarus dies and the angels carry him away to the bosom of Abraham, where there there is comfort and peace such as he has not known before in his life
The rich man also dies – obviously, he has family to care at least for his body after he dies, and he is buried – but he does not go to the bosom of Abraham – he goes to Hades (Sheol), where he is in torment – this is not hell, per se, but the underworld – the rich man is in torment in Hades, which is all the worse because he can look across an impassible chasm and see Lazarus with Father Abraham
Yet even in Hades, the rich man believes he can request a favor from Father Abraham – "Send Lazarus to me to give me a drop of water to cool my tongue" – notice that the rich man knows Lazarus's name – if he knows Lazarus's name, then he should have done something for the poor man during his lifetime
Instead of doing as the rich man asks, Abraham tells him that he has already received all the blessing he is going to receive, just as Lazarus has received all the evil he will ever know – in that place, there is a chasm between the bosom of Abraham and Hades that no one and nothing can cross – the rich man ignored Lazarus during life, and might have ordered Lazarus about if he had deigned to notice him, but the rich man, the dead rich man is in no position to order Lazarus about any longer
So the rich man asks Father Abraham to send Lazarus to the rich man's five brothers, to warn them of the fate that has befallen the rich man – his only concern is for his brothers, not for the poor whom they might serve – the rich man still does not admit his unjust actions in never caring for Lazarus's needs
Father Abraham tells the dead rich man that Moses and the prophets have already given the brothers everything that they need in order to know how to act righteously – the brothers should listen to the prophets – even if Lazarus were to rise from the dead, they would not listen to him any more than they listen to Moses and the prophets
If the rich man had listened to the prophets, he would have heard them tell him to care for the poor, to feed the hunger, to free the oppressed, the heal the broken – he would have heard them say exactly what God's Instruction has always said – he would have heard them say that he is his brothers' and sisters' keeper after all – he would have heard them say that he has an obligation, a responsibility, to do these things
As is usually the case in Luke's Gospel, and in our world today, worldly wealth can easily blind the rich to the matters of justice – the rich cannot see the poor – and when the rich do see the poor, it is only as servants, as tools for the rich to use for their own comfort – until the rich man's brothers understand this, there will be no change in their lives

III. Listen to the Prophets

So we have to ask ourselves, do we see the poor? – do we see the Lazaruses of our day, men, women, children who live every day wondering from where their next bite of food might come – wondering where they might find some job, no matter how temporary or menial, at which they can pick up a few dollars to stave off hunger another day – wondering where they are going to sleep when the weather turns colder – wondering how there can be so much wealth in the world and there still be so many who have nothing – wondering when there will be justice for the poor
Although they preached their sermons millennia ago, the prophets still speak to us and we must still listen – there is nothing wrong with wealth as such – wealth is a tool for the people of God to use to serve the poor – wealth is a resource on which we can draw to do what Moses and the prophets and Jesus teach us to do – to treat every person with dignity and respect – and to refocus the world's systems to act justly

IV. Conclusion

The challenge that is ever before us is to see everyone, especially the poor, and to love them – we do not get a choice in this matter – the prophets do not tell us to love some and not to love others – the prophets tell us to love everyone, from our family to our enemies to the poor
Let us listen to the prophets and heal the world of its brokenness

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