Sermon: The Rich Man and Lazarus
Introduction
At our bible study Wednesday evening on this text, we took a quick reading of our gut reactions to this story. We used a metric, kind of like a speedometer–one side has negative reactions, the other side is positive, and then in the middle is more neutral. And we also used a surprised face to record anything that shocked us. We had all kinds of reactions:
- Feeling guilty for not doing more to help people in our own communities that are experiencing homelessness.
- Joy that Lazarus gets cared for in the end.
- And some pleasure that the rich man got the tables turned on him.
- Unsettled feelings about our own relationship with wealth.
- Shock that there was no redemption, no second chance for the rich man.
- Discomfort at the image of eternal suffering in flames. We softened it a bit for the children’s time!
I suspect many of you may have similar reactions. This is an uncomfortable story on many levels. But I suspect that might be part of why Jesus told it.
In our Anabaptism at 500 series on renewal this past winter, I preached on renewal through story, and with Chip as worship leader we reflected on the power of small groups of people meeting to study the bible and pray together. So I have chosen during Lent to read through the gospel of Luke, the gospel from which our worship resources are taken, and to meet on Wednesday evenings, here at church to explore those texts from Luke with anyone else who wants to go on that journey with me. And that means bumping into uncomfortable texts like this one. I am grateful for the people who joined me this past Wednesday. What a rich conversation we had! It has certainly seeded my sermon.
Exploring the Characters and Setting
So a bit like a bible study, let’s explore the text together starting with the characters and setting.
There is a Rich Man who has everything. He lives in luxury, wearing the finest clothes and eating gourmet meals every day! As The Message describes it, “wasting his days in conspicuous consumption.” Sounds like gluttony–like he flaunts his wealth. And it seems he takes pains to protect it. His house is behind a gate after all.
And laying at his gate, maybe even dumped there, depending on the translation, is Lazarus. Interestingly this is the only parable where a character is given a name. Names matter in the bible, and you know what Lazarus means? It means ‘God helps’ because it sure seems that nobody else will.
While the rich man’s skin is covered with the finest quality clothing, Lazarus’s skin is covered in sores, something that would probably cause people to avoid him. The only ones to show him any attention are the dogs, who come to lick his sores. We were not sure. Are the dogs doing an indignity to him, or are they the only ones to offer Lazarus any kind of care and compassion? And Lazarus is hungry. He would love to be able to get some of the scraps, discarded from the rich man’s table. There is no indication that anyone gives him anything. Does the rich man just not see him? Or is he so used to seeing him that he simply ignores him? Is he simply indifferent?
Both characters die (does one die of starvation and the other die from his over indulgent lifestyle?). We don’t know, but their destinations could not be more opposite. Lazarus ends up in the warm and comforting presence of the great ancestor in the faith, Abraham. Depending on the translation, he is in the place of honour, next to Abraham, at a heavenly banquet. Finally he is getting to enjoy what he didn’t have on earth.
The rich man was buried, and found himself in Hades, the place of the dead, where he is in torment, suffering and anguish, in flames. It seems he is being punished for his lack of compassion on earth. This is a complete reversal of their fortunes on earth. And to make the picture even more stark, the rich man can see Lazarus and Abraham, but there is a great chasm separating them that cannot be crossed in either direction. Three times the rich man begs for mercy. He wants Abraham to send Lazarus first to him with water and then at least to his brothers with a warning so they don’t end up like him. Notice how he sees Lazarus only as someone who should serve him. It would seem the rich man hasn’t learned anything. He hasn’t changed! He doesn’t express any regret or remorse. It’s quite a story! Quite an uncomfortable story. What do we make of it?
Parables
We should note here that this story is set up as a parable–one of Jesus’ favourite methods of teaching. Parables are an indirect form of communication. They use metaphors and images of familiar things, but they come with twists and surprises. They have a subversive way of getting past the confident assumptions of those who know they are right. Parables call into question our previous explanations and shift our way of seeing the world. They are meant to catch our attention, draw us in, stimulate our conscience, cause us to reconsider what we thought we knew, and hopefully move us to change and action. Like a good parable this one did not settle easily for me into one clear and straightforward teaching point!
Context
Let’s look more closely at where we find this parable in Luke. The Gospel of Luke is known as the gospel for the poor. The “great reversal” that we see in this story is a common theme in Luke. We find it in Mary’s Magnificat where she sings of the lowly being lifted up and the powerful being brought down (Luke 1: 46-55). In Luke’s gospel expectations, powers, and circumstances regularly get turned upside down. We learn that following Jesus means changing our perceptions, turning around, repenting and redirecting our actions.
Luke emphasizes God as having a heart of compassion for the poor. And the word “poor” here means more than those who lack money. It also refers to people who may have been marginalized physically and socially because of illness, disability or life circumstances. Luke shows Jesus to be particularly attentive to the poor.
Luke also says alot about meals and banquets. Through scenes at table, teachings, and parables Jesus unfolds his vision of God’s table as a place where everyone is welcome, especially those on the margins (see Mary Schertz, Believers Church Bible Commentary: Luke, 34).
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus is taken from the “journey” or “travel” section in Luke, between ch 9:51 -19:27 where Jesus turns his face toward Jerusalem. The stories and parables in this part of Luke’s gospel are pretty intense and dramatic, maybe even a bit theatrical. There is a sense of growing urgency in this section, and maybe even a bit of foreboding. Jesus is on a collision course with those who wield power. A confrontation between incompatible visions of how to create Shalom are inevitable. Jesus and the growing crowds around him are seen as a threat to those with power. And this clash of visions is all bound to happen in Jerusalem, the centre of religious authority, political power, military presence and social status.
So the stories in this section are meant to bring about a crisis of conscience in the listeners. It is decision time. Jesus followers are at a sort of crossroads. There is a need to make a choice between the path of Jesus, and the path of coercive and even violent force.
That’s why we have a signpost at the front of the sanctuary. Each week, each new word will remind us of the kind of creative and compassionate community Jesus invites us to choose and to join.
Chapter 16 of Luke, where this parable is found, is about wealth, possessions, and status, as are a number of other parables in this “travel” section of Luke. The chapter begins with the parable of the dishonest manager, a challenging parable to understand. It seems to say that true riches are found in relationships and connections rather than in accumulating wealth. At the end of that parable are the words of Jesus, “no [one] can serve two masters; [they] will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Luke 16:13). In the next line we read that “the Pharisees, who were money-lovers, heard all this and sneered at Jesus” (Luke 16:14). It is into that kind of tone or atmosphere that Jesus drops this parable.
All this talk of money and wealth has one writer, Iris de Leon-Hartshorn, offering an interesting take on this parable of the rich man and Lazarus (access her sermon on this story through CommonWord Bookstore and Resource Centre). She wonders how the rich man made his money. She notes that there was an oppressive patronage system that operated in Jesus’ day, much like I demonstrated during the children’s time. Wealthy patrons loaned money to poor clients with heavy taxation. When the clients failed to pay, their land was confiscated. I suspect Jesus saw this kind of practice going on and it made him sad and angry.
Often his parables were actually commentary on what he saw and experienced in the world around him. I expect he knew of situations just like this, where someone like Lazarus lost whatever he had to a rich man, in excessive, unfair taxation. I expect he knew of situations where a rich man accumulated what he had by dealing harshly with his poor clients. By telling this dramatic parable he is commenting on unfair, unjust situations in his community. Perhaps even a specific situation known to him and his listeners.
Significance
I think Jesus is setting up a contrast. Like the great chasm in the story that cannot be crossed in either direction he is showing competing visions. Bringing his listeners to a crossroads. A place of decision and choice. Asking his hearers, where will you put your ultimate trust? In wealth? Or in relationships?
There is a line in the Message paraphrase of this text that stood out for me. When the rich man calls to Abraham to send Lazarus to him with water, Abraham says, “remember that in your lifetime you got the good things and Lazarus the bad things. It’s not like that here” (Luke 16:25-26). “It’s not like that here.” That line stuck with me. It expresses what so many of Jesus’ parables do. That the way things are in the kingdom of God challenges our old assumptions. When we live based on the values and vision of the kingdom of God, it’s different. It’s not like that here.
Jesus’ parables are a great example of this. Using indirect, maybe even subversive language, he turned assumptions on their head about what greatness looks like, he challenged the rules about who was in and who was out, he expanded the understanding of who is my neighbour, he called out injustice where the rich get richer by oppressing the poor.
In the community Jesus was creating wealth, status and possessions didn’t matter. They didn’t determine someone’s worth. In the community Jesus was creating the table was open to all people no matter their economic status. In the community Jesus was creating there was extravagant generosity of mercy, grace and material resources. In the community Jesus was creating there was a new way of seeing each other.
For at least some people, Jesus did raise the hope of a Messiah in the line of David, evoking anticipation of a powerful and mighty leader, one to restore their old fortunes (make them great again). To rise up against Rome and throw off their crushing oppressive occupation was enticing. Jesus walked a fine line between attracting people who wanted to be freedom fighters and teaching them a creative, non-violent path to change. In the community Jesus was creating the tools of change were not swords but seeds.
The community Jesus was creating, is still creating, calls for us to choose too. We stand at a crossroads many times every day. There are so many other compelling options we could take, so many other storylines we could buy into, so many other paths we could follow. Here are just a few I can think of:
There is a storyline out there these days that says we should “fear foreigners”. Jesus would say, “it’s not like that here.” In the community I am creating we welcome strangers and celebrate diversity, and learn from each other.
There is a storyline out there these days that says ,“resources are finite. Get as much as you can, while you can. Protect what you have. You earned it.” Jesus would say, “it’s not like that here.” In the community I am creating there is enough for all, and more to share generously with those who are in need.
There is a storyline out there these days that says the land is ours. We settled it. We own it. We deserve the benefits that it has to offer. Jesus would say, “it’s not like that here.” Here we seek reconciliation where there is broken trust and fractured relationships, and we seek to restore what has been harmed and damaged.
There is a storyline out there these days that says, increase military spending, continue to develop new sophisticated weaponry and defense systems. ‘Might makes right’. Expanding the number of weapons in the world makes us safer. Jesus would say, “it’s not like that here.” Those who live by the sword die by the sword (Matthew 26:52). Learn to love your enemies, and do good to those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44).
There is a storyline out there that calls us to extract, exploit, take for our benefit the resources of the earth, with no thought to the cost to the planet, its air, water and creatures. Jesus would say, “it’s not like that here.” Consider the lilies of the fields and the birds of the air. They don’t toil and spin, and yet, God cares for them (Luke 12:27, Matthew 6:26).
Through the parable of the rich man and Lazarus I hear Jesus is saying, I am seeing ordinary people being exploited all for the sake of indulging in wealth, by unscrupulous landowners. People I care about are suffering. This is not right. It doesn’t have to be this way. There is another way. In the kind of community that I am creating it’s not like that. Look at the teachings from our tradition! They will remind you that we have always been called to justice, to set things right for those people who are suffering. Will you join me in creating the kind of community where we feed the hungry, heal the wounds of the sick, and set the oppressed free?
While the parable itself does not offer redemption for the rich man, we need to remember that it is a story. A dramatic one, meant to upend assumptions. For those who hear this story there is opportunity for justice–to make things right in their lives and their communities. Those who hear this story can get in on the kind of community Jesus is creating. You have Moses and the prophets, Jesus says. That should be enough. It takes a dramatic story to remind them of what they already know. It takes a shocking story of reversal to call to the Pharisees and Jesus’ followers to remember the story that has shaped them and formed them.
The parables Jesus tells are packed with hyperlinks to the prophets. They are full of patterns and images from the language of the prophets. We like to think of Jesus as original and countercultural, but in some ways he was more retro! Jewish scholar Amy-Jill Levine, an expert in the gospels, and Jesus’ Jewish heritage, explains that while Jesus did express the teachings of his tradition in new ways, more often, his parables “tease us into recognizing what we’ve already known…by reframing our vision. The point is less that they reveal something new than that they tap into our memories, our values, and our deepest longings, and so they resurrect what is very old, and very wise, and very precious. And often very unsettling” (see article by Amy-Jill Levine, “What the Prodigal Son Story Doesn’t Mean”).
With this startling and unsettling parable, Jesus reminds his listeners that they already have a storyline to guide them. They already have a path to follow. They know the traditions of Moses and the prophets, calling them to justice for the poor, for foreigners, for orphans and for widows, for the Lazarus at their gates.
Sometimes a crossroads is not necessarily a choice between good and bad, but may be an opportunity to take a step of greater love in one direction. Maybe there is a sense of being called to take a step closer to God, to a neighbour, to a stranger, or nearer to a place where you have a gift of compassion to share. This year during Lent let’s intentionally immerse ourselves in the gospel of Luke. Let’s return to the story we already know and let it unsettle us, let it upend our assumptions, let it turn us around, let it reframe us and let the Holy Spirit through this story, transform us.