Paying Attention – sermon on September 25, 2016
Luke 16: 19-31 Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores. Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the heavenly banquet. The rich man also died and was buried, and he went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side.
“The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’ “But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’
“Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’ “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’ But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Sermon: Paying Attention by Rev. Doreen Oughton
I hate the alarm clock! Anyone else? The radio part isn’t too bad, though my husband sets it a little louder than I’d prefer. But when I push the set button over too far and wake up to that awful bahmp, bahmp, bahmp… I just wake up already irritated. Now I do okay with the radio alarm, or the gentle tones I can set on my cell phone, but some people would just sleep right through that. They need the hard core stuff to get them going. It really works, doesn’t it? Loud noises get our attention – crashes, sirens, electronic feedback, gunshots.
And it is not just loud sounds that get our attention. What gets you to pay attention to your body? Pain, right? You might go about your day barely thinking about your body until you get a sharp, stabbing headache, aching knees or legs, an agonizing toothache, burning feet or hands, a hip where bone is rubbing on bone. That gets our attention.
The Gospel reading from this morning got me thinking about what it takes to get our attention. We have this rich man (traditionally called Dives/ dee vez, which means rich man in Latin) who has died and is in the fires of Hades, and he wants to send a warning to his brothers so that they don’t end up in the same place. He suggests that someone returning from the dead would get their attention, but Father Abraham doesn’t agree. Abraham says if they have not listened to Moses and the prophets, they are not likely to listen to Lazarus, the dead poor man. Well actually it was Jesus saying this, through a story he told. He is continuing his discourse that started when the Pharisees and teachers of Jewish Law grumbled about the company Jesus kept – his hanging out with tax collectors and other notorious sinners. He says that no one can serve God and wealth, and then he tells this story. He sets the story with a rich man and a poor man, a starving man, basically occupying the same space. Lazarus lies right at the gate, longing for food, covered with sores. And Dives, passing by Lazarus with every exit and entrance, lives in luxury, feasts sumptuously. He has noticed Lazarus, even knows his name. But I don’t think he’s paid attention to him.
What was it that got this man’s attention?… His agony. His thirst. Now the thing with the uncomfortable stimuli that get our attention is that we want to make it stop as soon as possible. I can’t switch that alarm off fast enough. And when sirens go by I block my ears. If that doesn’t work I try to get as far away from the noise as I can, as fast as I can. When my body is in pain, I take something, call someone, do something to try to get relief. Like the rich man, I am paying attention, but it is a very self-centered attention. When I am irritated by the sirens, I am not thinking about the place they are rushing to, where there is much greater suffering going on. No, until they are out of hearing, it is all about me. Once they pass I might think about where they are going, offer up a little prayer, just as Dives starts to think about his brothers.
Abraham talks about the great chasm that has been fixed, I wondered if it wasn’t Dives himself who created the chasm and keeps it going. He sees Lazarus with Abraham, recognizes him but still thinks of him as a lesser being – someone there to serve him or envy him or something. He doesn’t get that the reason for the chasm after death was because of the chasm during life. He let a man starve right outside his gate. He noticed the man, maybe even noticed the dogs licking the sores on Lazarus’ body, but it didn’t get his attention in that compelling way where you want the suffering to stop. It wasn’t his own suffering so he didn’t care. And if he could do that, walk right past suffering there at his gate, then certainly there is a great chasm. He has distanced himself not only from Lazarus, but also from God.
In Jesus’ story, God was paying attention – paying attention to Dives and to Lazarus. God knew Lazarus’ suffering and wanted to make it stop. Jesus is paying attention – paying attention to the Pharisees and teachers of religious law, and to the tax collectors and notorious sinners, to the poor and the sick and the suffering. He sees others walking right by, but he can’t. He feels the suffering of others as if it were his own. He wants it to stop. He can do a lot to stop it, and he does. He heals and casts out demons. But he needs others to help. He needs more people to pay attention, to feel the suffering of others as their own and feel compelled to find / bring relief. So he needs to get their attention. And that means making people uncomfortable.
I have found these passages uncomfortable. I feel convicted by them – knowing that even a modest income here makes me rich in comparison with the rest of the world. I know I walk right past suffering people, maybe not at my gate, but on the street corner, in the parks. I read about them in the paper that comes right to my front door. And sometimes I don’t even want to read about it. I don’t want to feel uncomfortable with my wealth. I don’t want to think of those who long for the things I would toss away.
And maybe Jesus, putting his words in the mouth of Abraham, is right. Maybe the chasm is already too great, and I and others like me do not and will not understand his message. I understand his message to be that we love money too much, and this love is the root of evil. We have Moses and the prophets telling us how to manage our money, but not many of us do it. Scripture tells us that we should tithe – give 10% of our income to God – which does not necessarily mean the church. Scripture tells us we should lend without taking interest. Jesus tell us not to store up treasure for ourselves here on earth where robbers can steal it and moths destroy it. He doesn’t say to do everything you can to protect yourself from robbers and moths, he says don’t store up treasure here.
Now I think the story of Dives being sent to the fires of Hades for being rich and unattentive is hyperbole – Jesus trying to get our attention. But it may also be true that we are on the wrong side of a great chasm – that, comparatively, we are in hell. If we were able to listen to Jesus and to Moses and the prophets and actually live as they say, our lives might just become rich beyond our imagining, Will we listen, or do we need to feel more pain? I wonder.
