LK 16: 19-31 

Laterally Luke… Pentecost + 19…Revised 2019

By the end of Jesus’ yarn, ‘Dives’ still sees ‘Lazarus’ at the bottom of the pile - still fit only for looking after him! One of many lessons from our story is that interest in others needs to triumph over self-interest. 

That Jesus may be taking an old folk-tale, maybe from outside Judaism, & making it His own, might encourage us to look beyond earthly boundaries set by religion to our God who knows no bounds.  Whoever, whatever, we are on earth matters to God in Heaven, & on earth.  Doing nothing in this life to lift any ‘Lazarus’ we come across from their woes separates us not only from that person, but from their caring God, & ours, in this life & the next.

God’s concern, like Jesus’, is for all of us. ‘Lazarus’ is as high on God’s list as Dives or anyone else. God’s time is always today in our time. Eternal life is always now or never. Not recognizing God in any ‘Lazarus’ now will mean not recognizing God in any next world. Jesus teaches us we have a responsibility; not to ‘play’ Abraham to the Dives of this world, but become ‘little Christs’ to them & Lazarus here & now. 

Is any ‘Hell’ really an invention of our loving God revealed in Jesus, or of humans for each other? Is any such ‘great gulf’ between people other than one we’ve dug? 

Had Abraham allowed Lazarus to return to earth to warn Dives’ five brothers (& any sisters, too) isn’t it likely they’d go on treating him with the same contempt as their brother had done? What would this fellow know about anything?!‘What are we here after?’, &‘What will get us there, after?’ are inextricably linked.

Abraham (v. 29) referring to ‘Moses & the Prophets’, raises the question of our call to also discerning genuine prophets among us today, & heeding them, too. May ignoring today’s true prophets deepen any existing chasms between us & God?

Are we convinced by Jesus returning from the dead (v.31) any more than Dives’ family would have been by Lazarus returning?  Rather than simply looking at them & seeing ourselves in a mirror, let’s express our faith in God through Jesus & His Spirit in loving & serving others from the bottom up. 

Brian

Afterthought: Richard Rohr¹  SSF, says, ‘It’s heaven all the way to heaven & it’s hell all the way to hell. Heaven is primarily now, but…..it’s life forever. Hell is primarily now but….it’s death forever!’

¹Good News According to Luke, Crossroad, NY, 1997, p.168