Luke 16:19-31
This morning…Luke introduces two characters.
- Two really different guys.
- One is rich…well-dressed…well-fed…secure in a gated home.
- Interesting…he’s never given a name.
- He is defined only by his wealth and possessions.
The other…lays outside of the gate.
- His name is Lazarus.
- (Not Mary and Martha’s brother…not that Lazarus).
- We do not know why he is poor.
- We do not know how he ended up at the gate of the rich man.
The Greek word translated as “lay” implies that someone threw him at the gate.
- That he was “dumped” at the gate.
- Did someone want to get rid of him?
- Was he dumped once…or did someone dump him every day?
His stomach growls from emptiness.
- Life has so stripped him of dignity that he longs for the scraps that fall from the rich man’s table.
- Dogs also hang around the gate.
- Wild dogs…waiting for the rich man to throw out his trash.
- The dogs lick Lazarus’ sores.
- We should not see this as comfort.
- Lazarus is too weak and sick to fight them off.
- He has nothing but a name:
- Lazarus…the Greek form of Eliezer…meaning…God is my help.
- The Lord be with you.
Death…the great equalizer…hits them both.
- We read that the rich man was buried.
- But Lazarus was not.
- His body was likely dumped in the Gehinnom Valley…
- A garbage dump that lay just outside of Jerusalem…to get it out of the way.
- Many churches hold a service once a year for all the people in the city who die on the streets but have not had a proper burial.
- Those churches would recognize Lazarus during that memorial service.
- So…Lazarus would finally find dignity in those gracious memorial liturgies.
It is here that the story turns……that is…after their deaths…everything flips.
- Lazarus…the man who was dumped at the gate is carried by angels up to Abraham…the great patriarch.
- After experiencing no dignity in life…Lazarus receives a place of honor in death.
- The rich man…who lived a life of comfort and indulgence…ends up in a place of torment.
We do not know exactly how Lazarus experienced this great reversal.
- He utters no words and Luke does not share his thoughts.
- We assume he felt gratitude and comfort at the end of his misery.
We do know how the rich man experienced his punishment.
- But even in retribution…he had a sense of entitlement.
- He thought Lazarus should come take care of him.
- He wanted relief from his agony…
- And he expected Lazarus to provide it.
- He gave nothing to Lazarus before death.
- But thinks Lazarus should meet his needs after death.
- This is the way of the world.
The television series This Is Us concluded its six-year run with a moving episode about death…and hope.
- This Is Us chronicled the lives of the Pearson Family over 50 years.
- But in an orderly narrative…each episode jumped from the present to the past to the future.
- We saw how the family’s past shaped their present.
- How the experiences they encountered in the present set the stage for the challenges to come.
In one of the series’ final episodes…eighty-year-old Rebecca…the family matriarch…is dying.
- She is bedridden and in the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
- The nurse has summoned the family.
- Rebecca probably will not make it through the night.
As Rebecca’s body shuts down…her spirit begins its journey to eternity…on a train.
- The kind of vintage train she rode with her father when she was a child.
- A train decorated in brocade and plush seats.
- A train on which passengers dress in elegant formal wear.
Rebecca is again as young and beautiful as she was the day she married her beloved husband…Jack…a half century before.
- As Rebecca moves through the train…she sees her children at every stage of their lives.
- All happily hanging out with each other.
- In each car…she is greeted by the many wonderful people who have blessed her life.
- Including her daughter-in-law and sons-in-law and grandchildren.
- The light in Rebecca’s eyes reveals the joy she is experiencing in remembering again.
In the lounge car she is greeted by Dr. K…the obstetrician who delivered her three children.
- He’s serving as bartender.
- As he mixes a cocktail for her…
- Rebecca confesses her fear that she made too many mistakes in raising her family.
- K assures her that there are no perfect games in parenting.
- No one ever came back and said to me… ‘Doc…I got this parent thing down.’
- K tells Rebecca that even in the sadness and mess she and her family experienced…
- Rebecca made something beautiful and wonderful.
- What a thing you made of it all…Rebecca.
- What a big…messy…gigantic…spectacular thing!
As her children say their goodbyes to Rebecca in real time…
- Rebecca’s soul continues to move from car to car on the mythical train…
- Reliving one memory after another.
Finally…at the moment of her death…Rebecca comes to the last car…the caboose.
- There she is reunited with her husband…Jack…
- Who died years before as the result of a house fire.
- As they embrace…Jack tells her: You did so good.
Rebecca confides to Jack her fear of leaving her family now when they need her.
- It’s hard to explain…Jack says…you will do all those things with them…you will be there.
On her train ride to eternity…Rebecca sees her life in its totality.
- She comes to a new awareness of the good she did as a mom.
- The blessings she realized in her marriage.
- The many broken hearts…and bones…she was able to mend.
So…here’s the thing…to follow Jesus is to be aware of the good that has blessed our lives.
- The good we and others possess because we are all created by God.
- And the good we can do as a result.
That is the failing of the rich man in today’s story:
- His complete ingratitude for all that he was granted in life.
- And his lack of awareness of the good he could do for Lazarus at his gate.
- Stepping over Lazarus as he walked out his front door.
With humility and gratitude…
- Today’s gospel opens our hearts and spirits to discover…
- As Rebecca comes to see on the train…
- The blessing…the good…the hope that is us.