Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle C

LUKE 16:19-31
VERY EARLY IN THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY, PREACHERS USED THIS PARABLE TO REASSURE THE MEMBERS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION THAT ALL THE SUFFERING THEY WERE GOING THROUGH WOULD BE REWARDED IN THE NEXT LIFE. AND THIS WAS PROBABLY A COMFORTING MESSAGE WHEN BEING A CHRISTIAN MEANT THAT AT THE MINIMUM YOU WERE EXCLUDED FROM GOOD JOBS AND NICE PLACES TO LIVE, AND THERE WAS A GOOD CHANCE THAT YOU MIGHT BE FED TO THE LIONS OR GET YOUR HEAD WAS CHOPPED OFF.
BUT AFTER CHRISTIANITY BECAME THE DOMINANT RELIGION AND INDEED, THE RELIGION OF THE STATE, HUMAN BEINGS DID WHAT THEY ALWAYS DO – THEY SORTED THEMSELVES ONCE AGAIN, INTO THOSE WHO RULED AND THOSE WHO WERE RULED OVER. THE CHRISTIAN WORLD WHICH HAD ONCE BEEN A WORLD OF EQUALITY, A WORLD WHERE EVERYONE SHARED WHAT THEY HAD AND BISHOPS AND PRIESTS AND DEACONS HAD DAY JOBS, AND NO CHRISTIAN WOULD LET ANOTHER CHRISTIAN GO HUNGRY, – THAT WORLD BECAME LIKE ALL HUMAN WORLDS; AN UPPER CLASS WITH POWER AND RICHES AND BEAUTIFUL HOMES AND RICH FOODS – AND A LOWER CLASS WHO WORKED FROM DAWN TO DUSK, POORLY FED AND CLOTHED, LIVING IN SQUALOR. AND THE PARABLE OF LAZARUS AND THE RICH MAN CONTINUED TO BE PREACHED – BUT NOW TO JUSTIFY OPPRESSION WITH THE SAME MESSAGE – YOU POOR WILL SOMEDAY BE REWARDED IN THE NEXT LIFE.
IS THAT WHAT JESUS MEANT, THOUGH? DID HE TELL THIS STORY TO DRIVE HOME THAT THE RICH WOULD BURN IN HELL AND THE POOR WOULD ENJOY ETERNAL BLISS AFTER DEATH? I DON'T THINK SO. JESUS WAS FAMILIAR WITH THE GREAT PROPHETS OF HIS TRADITION. AND TODAY WE HEARD A SELECTION FROM THE PROPHET AMOS, WHOSE WRITING WAS ALL ABOUT SOCIAL JUSTICE; HE SPOKE FOR GOD IN CONDEMNATION OF THE PEOPLE WHO TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THEIR POSITIONS, WHO ABUSED THOSE WHO WERE POOR AND WITHOUT POWER. AND AMOS WASN'T THE ONLY ONE. ISAIAH AND JEREMIAH AND MOST OF THE PROPHETS HAD SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT SOCIAL JUSTICE AS WELL. AND IT WAS ALWAYS THE SAME MESSAGE – GOD HEARS THE CRY OF THE POOR, AND JUSTICE WILL BE DONE.
I THINK JESUS ISN'T CONCERNED ABOUT LIFE AFTER DEATH, AND DOESN'T TELL THIS PARABLE TO TELL US HOW IT WILL BE IN THE NEXT WORLD. PUT YOURSELF IN THE PLACE OF ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO HEARD JESUS. YOU ARE POOR, AND YOU DON'T MUCH LIKE RICH PEOPLE. SO WHEN JESUS DRAWS THE PICTURE OF THE RICH MAN, YOU SEE A VERY WELL FED MAN DRESSED LIKE ROYALTY COMING OUT OF HIS PALACE AND STEPPING OVER THE BODY OF A BEGGAR. AND YOU CHEER WHEN THEY BOTH DIE, AND THEY BOTH GET WHAT'S COMING TO THEM. BUT THEN YOU BEGIN TO HAVE SECOND THOUGHTS; THE RICH MAN IS NOT JUST IN TORMENT, HE IS IN ETERNAL TORMENT. THE FLAMES BURN HIM, HE CAN BARELY BREATHE, HE LONGS FOR A DROP OF WATER. AND AS HE SPEAKS, YOU BEGIN TO SYMPATHIZE – YOU HEAR HIM BEG FATHER ABRAHAM THAT IF NOTHING CAN BE DONE FOR HIM, SAVE HIS BROTHERS FROM THIS TORMENT. AND WHEN JESUS FINISHES THE STORY, YOU HAVE MIXED FEELINGS; DID THE RICH MAN REALLY DESERVE WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM? JUST FOR IGNORING LAZARUS, THE POOR MAN? AND MAYBE, IF YOU THINK AGAIN, YOU MIGHT WONDER IF LAZARUS, THE POOR MAN, REALLY DESERVED ETERNAL HAPPINESS – JUST FOR BEING POOR AND MISERABLE.
AND MAYBE AFTER YOU THINK ABOUT THIS PARABLE FOR A LONG TIME, YOU MIGHT WONDER IF WHAT JESUS IS REALLY SAYING IS THAT FOR THERE TO BE HAVES AND HAVE NOTS, FOR THERE TO BE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN LONGMEADOW WHO WORRY ABOUT WATCHING THEIR WEIGHT AND PEOPLE IN HAITI WHO LIVE ONE OR TWO MEALS AWAY FROM STARVATION; FOR THERE TO BE PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES WHO CONSUME 25% OF THE ENERGY PRODUCED IN THE WORLD AND PEOPLE IN NORTH KOREA WHOSE NIGHTS ARE UNYIELDING BLACKNESS BECAUSE THERE IS NO ENERGY FOR LIGHT OR HEAT; IF YOU BELIEVE THE OLD PROPHETS; IF YOU HAVE ANY SENSE OF JUSTICE, EVEN IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE RICH, WELL FED, HAVES, YOU SORT OF KNOW THAT IF THERE IS A GOD, THERE WILL BE JUSTICE. WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND. IF THERE IS A LIFE BEYOND THIS ONE, JUSTICE MUST BE DONE.
AND JESUS IS SUGGESTING THAT IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY. IF THOSE WHO HAVE LIFT UP THOSE WHO DON'T HAVE, IT IS A WIN-WIN SITUATION. LAZARUS WON'T HAVE TO LIE IN THE DOORWAY, ATTENDED TO BY DOGS, WISHING FOR A FEW CRUMBS; AND THE RICH MAN WON'T HAVE TO SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES OF IGNORING LAZARUS. BOTH WILL ENJOY THE GOOD THINGS THIS LIFE HAS TO OFFER, AND BOTH WILL REST IN THE BOSOM OF ABRAHAM.
A FEW WEEKS AGO, BILL GATES, THE RICHEST MAN IN THE UNITED STATES, WHOSE WORTH IS ABOUT 54 BILLION DOLLARS, AND WARREN BUFFET, WHO ISN'T FAR BEHIND, PLEDGED TO GIVE MOST OF THEIR FORTUNES AWAY AND SUGGESTED THAT OTHERS WHO HAVE ACQUIRED FORTUNES DO LIKEWISE. WE ALL KNOW ABOUT TOM DONAHUE THE FOUNDER OF DOMINO'S PIZZA, AND THE FORMER OWNER OF THE DETROIT TIGERS, WHO HAS USED HIS FORTUNE TO BUILD A CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY AND A CATHOLIC-ORIENTED CITY IN FLORIDA. AND THERE ARE MANY OTHER EXAMPLES.
THESE ARE SPECTACULAR STORIES. BUT I KNOW OF A FEW OTHERS AS WELL. I KNOW OF A HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR AND A NURSE WHO, AFTER THEY RAISED THEIR FAMILY, SOLD EVERYTHING THEY HAD AND ADOPTED A TOWN IN THE MOUNTAINS OF MEXICO. OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL YEARS THEY BUILT A HEALTH SYSTEM, TAUGHT SOME OF THE TOWNSPEOPLE HOW TO DO CARE FOR COMMON ILLNESSES, AND SET UP A SYSTEM THAT WAS SELF-SUSTAINING. THEY DIED WITH NOTHING. AMONG THE BUDDHISTS IN THAILAND, THOSE WHO TAKE THEIR RELIGION SERIOUSLY SPEND THE LAST FEW YEARS OF THEIR LIVES AS MONKS. AFTER SEEING TO IT THAT THEIR FAMILIES ARE TAKEN CARE OF THEY GIVE AWAY EVERYTHING ELSE AND DEVOTE THEMSELVES TO PRAYER AND MEDITATION, AND LIVING SIMPLY.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A CHRISTIAN TO REALIZE THAT IF YOU DIE WITH IMMENSE WEALTH, OR EVEN WITH MODERATE WEALTH, THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THAT. IF YOU BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER DEATH, YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU WILL ANSWER FOR THE EXCESS THAT YOU HAVE IN YOUR POSSESSION. YOU WHO HAVE HAD THE GOOD THINGS IN LIFE … AS JESUS SAYS. WE ALL HAVE A FEW YEARS LEFT. HOW ARE WE GOING TO SEE TO IT THAT WHEN WE DIE, THERE IS NOTHING LEFT THAT WE OWN? THAT OUR LAZARUS'S WILL BE WELL FED AND SHELTERED AND WEARING DECENT CLOTHING, AND NOT WISHING THAT THEY COULD HAVE THE CRUMBS THAT FALL FROM OUR TABLE?