Across the Chasm – Sermon on Sept 26, 2010
September 26, 2010
Scripture: Luke 16: 19-31
“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.’”
Sermon: Across the Chasm by Rev. Doreen Oughton
Last week we had a really, really difficult gospel reading from Luke about the squandering manager. The message wasn’t clear, and some of the words Jesus spoke were confounding, like about making friends for yourself with dishonest wealth. I noted that the reflections and commentaries I read all had such different interpretations. It was a real struggle. My struggle with today’s text is not that it is confounding or unclear. It doesn’t promote any morally questionable tactics like forgiving a debt owed to someone else, or using dishonest wealth, but my struggle is with the very, very clear message of this text. It tells a story that is consistent with the way Luke conveys Jesus’ beatitudes it chapter 6, those messages of “blessed are those who.” Luke has Jesus balancing each “blessed are those” with a “woe to those.” “Blessed are you who are poor,.. blessed are you who are hungry,.. blessed are you who are weak,” are countered with, “woe to you who are rich for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full, for you will be hungry; woe to you who are laughing, for you will mourn and weep.”
And so it happens to the rich man and to Lazarus. Lazarus, upon his death, is escorted by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man, upon his death is buried and ends up in the torment and heat of Hades. The story before hand doesn’t build a great case for either of these outcomes. It doesn’t tell us that Lazarus, whose name means “God helps,” is poor because he has given away all his possessions. It doesn’t tell us that he was a good man, a kind man, a faithful man. And it doesn’t tell us that the rich man was evil, that he got his fortune by exploiting other people, by robbing them, by charging exorbitant interests or fees. It doesn’t tell us that the rich man harassed Lazarus, kicked him while he was down, called the police to move him away from his gate. In fact it is likely that both Lazarus and the rich man had the worldly lives they had by pure chance. It was almost impossible in those times to change one’s fortunes, to be a self-made person, or to go from wealth to destitution. So it was most likely an accident of birth that made the rich man rich and the poor man poor. Does it therefore mean that an accident of birth resulted in their afterlife as well? Did Lazarus get to be with father Abraham in paradise just because he was poor? Did the rich man land in Hades just because he was rich?
Now personally, I don’t struggle so much with the first half of that message. I think the poor suffer not only hunger and illness and incredible physical vulnerability on many levels in this life, but also lots of judgment, meanness and scorn. I have learned that it was the cultural belief at the time of Jesus that the accidents of birth were no accidents, but signs of God’s favor and disfavor. If one was born rich, it was because God blessed you. If you were born poor, it was because God cursed you, and to mess with that was to mess with God’s will. And if God cursed them, well, why should humans treat them any better. If there was a chasm there, well, it was God who willed it, who created it.
But Jesus has a different message throughout the gospel of Luke. Luke is all about the reversal of fortunes. While Jesus is still in the womb, his mother Mary sings of the great things God is doing through her child – scattering the proud, bringing down the powerful, lifting up the lowly, filling the hungry while the rich are sent away empty. And the theme continues. John the Baptist warns people that it is not enough to claim Abraham as your father, but you must share what you have with others. If you have two coats, give one away, likewise with food. Jesus touched the untouchables, hung out with sinners and tax collectors, preached a message to love even those who can give you nothing in return, love especially those who can give you nothing in return, love even those who wish you ill. To love your family and friends, well that’s easy. There’s no credit to that. Love your enemy.
In Luke’s telling of the parable of the seed sown on different types of ground, he talks about the seed that falls among the thorns. The message is heard, but the fruit can’t mature because the seed is choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life. Yes, Jesus wants to give a strong and clear message: your wealth is not a sign of God’s favor, their poverty is not a sign of God’s curse. Your wealth is an opportunity to reverse the fortune of the poor one in front of you, so that your own fortune doesn’t have to be reversed in the afterlife. God will lift up the lowly, will feed the hungry, will bless the poor, will comfort the sorrowful, if not in this life, then in the next. But Jesus is telling the wealthy, or even the merely comfortable, that they can do this in their life, and find God’s favor in that.
Jesus is telling them that no matter what the cultural perspective is of the time, the poor are not to be scorned. The message from God through the history of Israel, glaring in the scripture – the law, the prophets, wisdom, psalms, all of it, – is to care for the poor, the widow, the orphan, the immigrant, the imprisoned. You can’t miss this message if you read the bible, you just can’t. Jesus was telling this parable to the Pharisees who were ridiculing his message about the impossibility of serving God and wealth. Like the rich man in the parable, the Pharisees were not bad men. They were children of Abraham, they were meticulous in their observances of religious rituals, of following the cleanliness codes. But, like the rich man, they were oblivious to the poor. They either didn’t see the need right in front of their gates, or they justified their distance, the chasm between them and the poor, as God’s will.
We don’t hold those beliefs so much in our culture – that wealth is a sign of God’s blessing, and that poverty is a sign of God’s curse. Especially here in America, the land of opportunity, anyone can become rich, can’t they? With hard work, persistence, good and sound decisions, some basic intelligence, the door is wide open. We don’t blame God for people’s poverty. The poor are poor because they are their own worst enemies. They are lazy, they squander the money foolishly, they don’t make good judgments, they have too many children, they break the law, they drink too much, take drugs, are promiscuous, don’t use birth control, expect people to take care of them, are irresponsible, etc, etc, etc. To try to mess with that would just be throwing good money after bad. To give a handout to someone just enables them to continue in their laziness, foolishness, and stupidity. And why should I keep them from confronting the consequences of their laziness, foolishness and stupidity? After all, I was wise, I saved for a rainy day, I worked very hard, I didn’t go into debt. Likewise we don’t assume it is God’s work that the wealthy are wealthy, but their own hard work and smarts.
So maybe with these different times, different opportunities that we are all granted, maybe Jesus’ message isn’t for us. Although I am quite comfortable with the first half, the poor being comforted and cared for in the next life, I am extremely uncomfortable with the second half of the message, that the rich will end up in Hades with an impassable chasm between the two places. I don’t think that having money in this life should damn one, should damn me, to an eternity of torment and hellfire. That is my struggle with today’s scripture. I want to comb this scripture for a crumb of a sin that the rich man committed. “Look, he walked right by that poor man every day.’ But then I remember how many panhandlers I drove by or walked by every day when I worked in Cambridge. I remember how I sat in my counseling office with a client who had lost everything and was going to get a tent to live in. I just sat, feeling terribly sad, but doing nothing to really help him. I look again at the text: “Really, look how arrogant the rich man was! Even in Hades he was wanting Lazarus to serve him, to bring him water, to be his messenger boy to his brothers.” I can settle into that one. I don’t consider myself to be arrogant, but I’ll bet the rich man couldn’t see it either. All he knew was his need, and was on the lookout for someone to help him. As a white, middle class, well-educated American woman, how often do I assume I will be listened to, attended to, served, even? I’m pretty certain that my expectations of how I will be treated are very different from someone who has different color skin, perhaps has an accent or doesn’t pronounce her words so clearly, maybe is missing some teeth, has an odor about her, wears shabby ill-fitting clothes. No, I am not comfortable at all with Jesus’ message today.
I am dismayed by Abraham’s description of the chasm that is completely impassable. What’s done is done, and there is no chance for redemption. There is no purgatory, no place to reflect and repent and be ultimately taken into the bosom of Abraham. It is exactly the kind of threatening message that I never want to preach – threats of eternal damnation. Especially in regards to what to do with wealth. It can be one of the most exploitative messages from a church. Give lots of your money to us (which we’ll share with the poor) or burn for eternity. And so, for better or for worse, probably a little of both, I have to soften it. I have to keep in mind that Jesus was fond of hyperbole, he exaggerated for effect, he purposely said shocking things to get people to think and respond. I have to remember that Abraham himself was a very wealthy man and is in paradise welcoming all the poor. I have to remember that Jesus also touched and healed the touchables, the rich and powerful; that he dined with Pharisees and scribes. I have to remember that on the cross Jesus asked for forgiveness for those who hung him, saying, “they know not what they do.” I have to believe that the chasm isn’t impassable, that because of Jesus we are always offered a chance to reflect and repent, to use our wealth to reverse the fortunes of those less fortunate.
But let’s not cheapen this grace by continuing to ignore the message of the bible. Let us look for where the chasms are forming between ourselves and others and reach out before they get too deep. Let’s open our eyes and reach out a hand. Because whether you are financially wealthy or rich in love or hope or skill or knowledge, you can work to build a bridge across the chasm. And that would make you richer in any life. Amen.
