September 30, 2007

Luke 16:19 –Luke 16:31 (NRSV)

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He 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.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides 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.’ He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He 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.’”

1 Timothy 6:6 –1 Timothy 6:19 (NRSV)

Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.

Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion.

As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

Is this a parable against wealth? No... Jesus did not condemn wealth unless it was acquired unjustly or illegally. Yet here, in this parable, Jesus is not really talking about wealth as much as he is talking about greed and selfishness. The gates of rich men were always crowded with beggars, sick people and dogs, expecting to receive food left over from the rich man’s table. Some rich people saw to that they were fed. Some left the matter to their servants. Some ignored the hungry. It was common then, and it is now, to condemn wealthy individuals, no matter how they gained their wealth. The rich are always suspected of using unjust means of acquiring wealth and they are exposed to attacks.. -- Just like today.

But this parable talks of the unnamed rich man as being selfish and not caring about the fate of anyone else. At least until he dies and ends up Hades -- or Sheol as the original Aramaic language has -- It was when he was there that the rich man’s heart changes and he desires to help his brothers. The rich man is suffering for his selfishness... he now has only himself and the fires of his shame and selfishness. And he at first begs comfort from the torment, but is told that his reward is to go without since he had received more than his share selfishly while on the earth. It was now his turn to learn what true poverty was all about. He then, in a change of heart, begins to express a need to help others besides himself... his five brothers who are as selfish as the rich man. He wanted to save them from such future suffering, so he begs Abraham to send Lazarus the beggar, back to them and warn them. Only a person coming back from the dead will change them. But Abraham said, no, not even that will change them. They are stubborn in their selfishness and they already know what Moses and the prophets have said about the sin of selfishness. If they have made up their minds to ignore all of that, even someone rising from the grave would not change them.

This parable is a comment upon the world around Jesus. Jesus knew he was to rise up out of the grave, and he knew that even that fact would not change some people. There may even had been some hint of frustration in his voice as he told that parable. The story was designed to get his listeners to think about their own lives, -- their own selfishness -- their lack of helping others.... Only through their awareness of their own selfishness and then the letting down of their guard and allowing the Holy Spirit to penetrate their armor could they ever begin to change. That was the point of the parable -- to allow people to think about their own lives and to release their selfishness and surrender to God.

In Paul’s letter to Timothy, he is admonished to encourage the wealthy to not put their future in their wealth, but rather in God. They were to use their wealth to help others. By doing the good works and being generous to share and help the less fortunate, they would avoid the situation of the rich man in Jesus’s parable.

The wealthiest man in the world, Bill Gates, was once the object of scorn and hatred and jealously. Stories, even movies, abounded about how he had lied and cheated to gain his wealth, and how Microsoft was an evil company. But now that he taken his wealth, combined it with the wealth of other billionaires and is attempting to help the unfortunate of the world, you do not hear the hate stories against him any more... He has released a lot of his selfishness and is storing up the treasure of good foundation for the future.

But what about us? We are not as wealthy, but we are well off. We are not totally selfish, but we are sometimes self-centered. Jesus would not want us to sell all we have and give to the poor and then become poor and destitute ourselves... but we can continue, in our own way, to release any selfishness in our own lives