Sunday - September 22, 2013

The 18^th Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 21C
Luke 16: 19-31

September 22, 2013
Cathedral Church of the Nativity
The Rev. Kimberly Reinholz

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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.

Today’s gospel unfolds uniquely when compared to the other parables of Jesus.  It would seem that those to whom Jesus was speaking new Lazarus, they may have seen him sitting outside of the rich man’s home, sores oozing and dogs licking his wounds.  They themselves might be the rich man.  I say this because it is out of the ordinary that Jesus mentions anyone in his parables by name, we do not know the name of the prodigal son, or the Samaritan, or the wounded traveler, but we do know the name Lazarus.  Some biblical scholars argue that the name Lazarus is derived from the Hebrew name Eliezar which means “God helps” and this is why the name is used, but I don’t think this is the case.  If it was,  shouldn’t the rich man be named as well.  I am sure there is a Hebrew name which corresponds with the notion that “God punishes” perhaps a derivative of the word Nephilim which is associated with fallen angels, would be appropriate.  However Jesus doesn’t use this literary device leaving the rich man anonymous.

This anonymity could also be a way of protecting those who have wronged Lazarus because if Lazarus’ circumstances were as bad as what Jesus describes you can imagine that many people had to have ignored him, not just the rich man in order for him to suffer so terribly.  What I think happened is that Jesus saw Lazarus mistreated in the streets of Jerusalem and he used Lazarus circumstances to demonstrate what one of his followers ought not to do.

In some ways not much has changed since Jesus told his story.  I could walk across our parking lot and around the corner and find a soul similar to Lazarus suffering from illness and hunger in the New Bethany Residence.  The chasm between the New Bethany client and myself would be seem to be similarly insurmountable to that distance between the rich man with his fancy robes and daily feasts and Lazarus who longed to eat the scraps that fell from the table, the 500 feet from this cathedral’s doors to New Bethany’s doors can be conquered not by feats of daring and engineering but by simple acts of love.

We live in an era of transcontinental, transoceanic and extraterrestrial travel so the concept of an unbridgeable distance seems to us completely foreign.  Even images of such great chasms like the Grand Canyon and the Mariana’s Trench have been conquered by the likes of Nik Wallenda and his high wire, or James Cameron and his submersible, Deep Sea Challenger.  With all of our advances in technology and travel the distance between Lazarus and the rich man might seem equally surmountable.  But the truth is, without Jesus, we are no closer to traversing that chasm today than the people who first heard this parable nearly 2000 years ago. 

We neglect to notice that the chasm described is not a physical distance but spiritual one.  And like Abraham explains to the rich man without the teachings of Moses and the prophets even a resurrection won’t bridge that spiritual emptiness.  Without studying scripture, without engaging with the almighty, without caring for our neighbor the chasm between us and them remains impenetrable.

This is not a new lesson that Jesus is trying to teach.  He told his disciples, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and by anyone who followed in the footsteps of the apostles the same thing in many parables.  In simple terms – Love God and Love one another.  It isn’t rocket science.  It’s compassion. 

In this world, we can bridge what seems unbridgeable physically and we can do so spiritually if we are willing.  Just like it takes fortitude and ingenuity to walk across the grand canyon or dive to the deepest depths of the ocean so too does it take fortitude and ingenuity to lessen the gap between ourselves and our Lazarus.  This is what it means to follow Jesus, to do the work he has given us to do, to care for those who have less than you, and let’s be honest most people have less than you. 

If we talk dollars and cents for a second, here in Bethlehem, the average household income was $45,000 in 2011.  In relation to the rest of the world according to Global Rich List.com with this income the average household in Bethlehem falls in the top 0.37% which means that 99.63% of people in the world live on less than us.  This statistic is sobering as just recently we marked the second anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street Movement which proclaimed we are the 99%.  As a 20 something living in New York at the time many of my classmates and colleagues in ministry proclaimed this position loudly and I had begun to believe it.  But when I looked up the world-wide statistics this week I was forced to realize that despite my debts, I am indeed rich.  That was enough to stop me in my tracks.  I found myself struggling to know what to do with my “new found wealth” and wondered if our neighbors look at our cars and stained glass windows and think of us as Lazarus did longing for a scrap from our table when we can afford so much more. 

Financially we can find ways to support ministries that feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, comfort the sick, and rehabilitate the incarcerated.  We’ve all heard stewardship ideas like if you give up one cup of coffee per week at Starbucks you save over $250.00 in the year and that will provide clean water for a year to a family through Episcopal Relief and Development. But in reality it is spiritually that we cannot afford not to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, comfort the sick, and rehabilitate the incarcerated. It is not a question of what luxury we can afford to give up, rather it is a question of what part of our Christian mission can we ill afford to ignore.

This is what Jesus is trying to teach us today.  When we ignore the needs of others to pursue our own comforts we are the rich man who ignored Lazarus.  In the earthly world wealth is scarce, there is only so much money to go around, so it stands to reason that without giving up something we cannot bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots.  If what we do in this life determines how we will be treated in the next.  

We cannot expect to have the chasm bridged between the haves and the have-nots in the next life because it is cemented by what action we take to lessen the gap now when it is surmountable now.  The only thing that is keeping us from caring for one another in our daily lives is our own greed, and blindness.  Even though it has begun to sound like the same old refrain, Love your neighbor as yourself, we like the disciples and the Pharisees don’t get it. There is always more that we can do, and should do.  It is great that we have pledged to raise $25,000 for the Habitat for Humanity project, we have been active in the New Hope Campaign, we have supported various ministries over the course of our life as a parish but there is still so much more to be done. 

There are still needs to be met and we can help to meet them, but we hesitate.  We hesitate just as the rich man did despite having the teachings of Moses and the prophets and all the learned Rabbis who interpreted the law.  He fell victim to eternal suffering,  because the gap between himself and Lazarus which on earth could have been overcome through compassion and mercy, remained and became unbreechable in the afterlife. 

We likewise have the teachings of Moses, prophets, rabbis, priests and more scholars who interpret scripture telling us the same thing, and we also have a resurrected son of God, telling us exactly what to do Love God, and love our neighbor. But like Abraham told the rich man, when he pleaded that Lazarus be sent to warn his brothers, what good are Moses, and all the prophets or even a resurrected man if no one listens to them?

I pray today that you will see your neighbor, and not just see them but help them and in so doing fulfill the calling that has come to us through scripture from Moses, the prophets and Christ himself our resurrected Lord, to love our neighbors who are in need.  Amen