Based on the Gospel: Luke 16:19-31 Jesus
tells us a story about two men. They live very different lives.
Dives lives in a mansion; Lazarus lives outside the gate. Dives
dresses in purple and fine linen; Lazarus wears rags. Dives enjoys
good health; Lazarus is covered with sores. Dives feasts while
Lazarus starves. In short, Dives lives in an earthly paradise
while Lazarus lives in an earthly hell. Their worlds may be side by side but they are as different as they can be. Lazarus, living on the edge of Dives’ world as he does, knows that they live in opposite worlds. Everything that he sees going on, everything emanating from the house reminds him of what he is missing. The most difficult thing to bear is the smell of food. When your stomach is empty the smell of food is torture. He longs for a few crumbs from Dives’ table. But he doesn’t get them. There is no one to appeal to for help. Dives doesn’t even know that Lazarus exists. He thinks only of himself. He thinks that he deserves everything he has. He thinks he has earned his easy life. Suddenly their roles are reversed. They both die. Lazarus finds himself sitting as the guest at a banquet table while Dives exists in torment. He longs for a sip of water, even just a drop, enough to cool his burning tongue. He appeals to Abraham. “Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue.” He wants to be helped by Lazarus, the very one whom he ignored in life. Only Lazarus can give him the peace he longs for. But it is too late for him to change his condition. Don't
you keep waiting for the fairy tale ending? But it does not come.
That is what makes the story the most troubling because we know that as
Canadians we are the Dives of the world. On
a personal level, it leaves me wondering. Am I living
responsibly? Or am I part of the apathy and neglect which is
widening the chasm between rich and poor? There is no way to
ignore the disparity between how the poor of our world exist and the
privileged way in which we live. The
newspaper is a constant reminder of our failure to live responsibly as
Christians in a needy world. And we deceive ourselves into thinking that there is, after all, nothing that we can possibly do that will even make a dint in the poverty and trouble and despair that exist in the world. One day we will have to face up to the truth about ourselves, about our neglect of God’s creation, our neglect of being everything that God is calling us to be. We may not think in terms of the final judgement as did the people of Jesus’ day. So often we do not believe in the existence of hell any more. Instead we live in hells of our own creating. We live in the same kind of apathy that made Dives who he was. One night a wealthy man had a disturbing dream. In it he saw a crowd of disease-ridden starving people crying out to him for help. The dream stayed with him as such dreams do. He resolved to do something about the poverty and need in the world. He rang for the chauffeur and set out that that very morning in the Mercedes to see what needed to be done. As he passed through the gate of the estate he noticed a man sitting on the curb. He took note of his dirty clothing and unkempt appearance, wondering what business he might have in his neighbourhood. He saw the desperation on his face. He even read the sign the man had scrawled on a piece of cardboard. “Will work for food.” But so intent was he on his mission that he didn't give the man a second thought; he merely urged his chauffeur to drive on. He spent all day driving around the city, noticing the plight of the poor. He realized that the needs were far greater than he had imagined. As he drove home his mind was filled with projects. The only problem was where to begin. Should he build a hospital, or a school or a factory? As he turned the corner on his street he noticed that the man was still there, his head in his hands. “Just imagine!” he said to himself. “He must have been sitting there all day. He probably hasn’t had a bite to eat.” He felt a wave of pity come over him, but once again he passed by. That night he had another dream. He heard the same cries for help. Only this time it was not a crowd of people calling out to him. It was one person, the man at his gate. When he woke up the next morning he knew exactly where to start. That is the problem, isn’t it?
There is so much need. What
can we do? And just as there is no fairy tale ending to the story of
Dives and Lazarus, so there is no fairy tale ending to this sermon, just
a challenge for us to continue to consider what it means to be the
people of God. What is our
call as Christians? Often at St. Francis we have been concerned
simply with survival. These days our heads are above water.
We are beyond survival. We are beginning to live out our
baptismal promises. We are beginning to grow again. That brings with it
new challenges, new responsibilities. We are the people of God. We
are those who are called faithfully to follow the words of Jesus. In
part this sermon reflects an experience I had earlier this week.
Someone lashed out at me for the church’s lack of action.
“The church has let me down,” he said.
“I have been an Anglican my whole life, but now I don’t see
the church doing what it needs to do.
You are not helping my country to overcome the terrible things
that are happening there.” He
walked out in great anger. He
is right in a way, although I suspect he doesn’t see himself as the
church and so fails to see his sense of responsibility for the state of
the world. Our
Anglican Communion, particularly in Canada and the United States, gets
carried away with trivial issues that are not going to have an impact on
the needs of the world. It
is exactly what Bishop Ann said when she was with us. We need to put divisions behind us and get on with the work
that God intends us to do and not allow ourselves to be diverted from
the message of the gospel. The other thing that this person doesn’t recognize is that it is never too late for the love and mercy and healing of Christ. Thank God for that! But we have to begin to recognize our responsibility. It may be difficult at first to even know where to begin. But it begins with the crumbs from under our table. It begins with reaching out to the one who is lying at our gate. It begins with each of us working to close the gaps. Then we would be living out our parish mission statement. “Together
we are walking with and celebrating |