Proper 21C, 25 September 2022.  The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15. Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.
1 Timothy 6:11-19. As for those who…are rich, command them to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share.
Luke 16:19-31. They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.

O God of peace, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

Partly by chance and partly by design, in the last two weeks, I’ve pondered and discussed our Gospel lesson for today with more than three dozen people, lay people and clergy. In the last two weeks, I’ve also deliberated with our Boston Harbor Deanery assembly about how to distribute some of what has fallen from the tables of the rich to people who lack adequate food, clothing, and shelter; and I’ve visited a dozen women in prison at South Bay, which requires driving through the encampments of destitute people at Melnea Cass and Mass. Ave..The story of the rich man and Lazarus has been very alive and present for me, right in my face. I’m aware that this is a story of great hope, of Good News, for anyone who is at the gates begging, but a story that sounds harsh and unforgiving, that it stirs up fear, shame, and defensiveness in many of us who have more-than-adequate food, clothing, and shelter.

Now I’m assuming that most people listening to me right now are not extremely wealthy people. I don’t think I’m preaching to people who are walking into stores of our neighbors on Newbury Street and splurging on strappy, high-heeled sandals on sale for $4,700 or men’s dress shoes for $30,000. (I did some window shopping on my computer to check the prices.) I’m pretty sure that I’m not speaking to people who spend that kind of money on shoes; but if I’m wrong, please speak to me after the service; I have some ideas for you! I believe that it’s also true that most of us are not so poor that we have literally begged for table scraps at the gate (although I know some of you have been in a desperate situation). My hunch is that most of us are in what former Labor Secretary Robert Reich calls the “anxious class”, those between the overclass and the underclass. 

According to Luke, Jesus was not preaching to the overclass, not to Herod nor the other really-rich guys in his retinue. According to Luke, Jesus was telling a story to the religious leaders in the anxious class, warning that apathy, neglect, and wrong-relationship deepen the chasm between rich and poor. Although it’s a story about a rich person who gets it wrong, Jesus was warning people in the anxious class to listen to Moses and the prophets who gave many instructions for decent treatment of those who are poor and vulnerable. These religious leaders knew the teachings from the Torah and the Prophets; I know them; so if you’ve heard me teach, you know them,  too: [1]  

• Do not mistreat aliens, widows, or orphans (Exodus 22:21-22; 23:9; Leviticus 19:33; Deuteronomy 24:17-18). 
• Leave gleanings to those who are poor (Lev. 19:9-10; 23:22). 
• Bring tithes to support priests, aliens, those who are orphaned and widowed (Deut. 14:28-29; 26:12-15). 
• Cancel all debts every seventh year and be openhanded to those who are needy (Deut. 15:1-11). 
• Include aliens, those who are orphaned and widowed in celebrations (Deut. 16:9-15). 
• Walk humbly and act justly (Isaiah 5:7-10; Micah 3:1-3). 
• Do not exploit workers (Isa. 58:3). 
• Plead the case of those who are orphaned and defend the rights of those who are poor (Jeremiah 5:25-29). 
• Do not use dishonest scales (Hosea 12:7-9) or take advantage of those who are vulnerable (Amos 2:6-8; Malachi 3:5). 

The list goes on and on. If I asked you what instructions first come to mind when you think of the Bible, that you try to live by, I bet most of you would first name what we call Jesus’ great commandment: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself (Jesus was quoting the Torah, of course). 

Okay, we know that, but what about Hades and that fixed chasm? That’s where the weight of popular, anxious, Christian imagination threatens to bury us alive; so I want to say some things about Hades. The First (or Old) Testament has no consistent and no major teaching about the destination of those who die. The Hebrew word sheol, which translates to Hades or unseen in Greek, is mostly synonymous with the grave, the pit, or death itself. 

In Jesus’ tradition, the concept of an after-death place of judgment developed just before the Common Era, largely influenced by ideas outside of Judaism.  Hades was considered to be a place where everyone went as a kind of waiting room, an area of detention for those awaiting trial, not a place of damnation. Most importantly, Hades was not eternal. Those who had led wicked lives were sad and tormented as they waited there, while those who had led lives of right relationship were rejoicing as they waited. [2] By Jesus’ time, the idea had developed that God would bring the dead back to life, but it was debated. Writings that further developed these ideas about the afterlife did not become Holy Scripture for Jews or Christians.   The scriptures are not primarily concerned with life after death; the Gospels (and the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings) are all chiefly concerned with life before death, about how to live in right-relationship with one another and God. The teachings are about restoring people to community, to well-being.

It’s clear from this story of the rich man and Lazarus, is that the rich man as a child of Abraham had obligations that he was not fulfilling. Lazarus was at his gate, and he was not caring for him. I wish there were more details about the characters; I mean, was Lazarus lazy, mentally ill, addicted? Was he a jerk, a victim of his own bad choices, bad luck, or mistreatment by others before he landed at the rich man’s gate? Was the rich man a nice guy, who was just oblivious? Was he principled and prayerful or mean-spirited and tight-fisted? And what about Father Abraham? He was a very wealthy man, who certainly didn’t always make the best decisions during his lifetime; nevertheless, here he is comforting and defending Lazarus. 

I think of the famous story about the Albanian-Indian nun Mother Teresa, whose work was interrupted one day by someone who came in to report to her that there was a person lying in a ditch. She thanked the reporter. The next day, the reporter came back and said to Mother Teresa, “That person is still in the ditch.” Mother Teresa replied, “Yes, and I believe that person is in your path, not mine.”

We don’t have a lot of details about the rich man and Lazarus, but here are some things we do know from the text: the rich man knew Lazarus well enough to know his name, and he recognized him even across a great chasm. It must have been deep but not very wide, since they could see and hear each other. The rich man thought he could get Abraham to order Lazarus to carry some water for him.  When Abraham said, “Impossible to walk from here to there,” the rich man thought of another errand Lazarus could run for him: to warn his five brothers that Moses and the Prophets really meant what they said. He’s still thinking of caring only for his immediate family. He’s still arrogant, oblivious, or both; he’s stuck. Hades might be temporary, but I think the rich man is going to be there awhile.

While the rich man is thinking about what he did or didn’t do, what might the anxious class be doing to avoid a tortuously long wait for flights of angels to lead us to our rest? We have Moses and the Prophets, and we have Jesus, whom death could not contain. At least in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus seems to be teaching us that following him means letting go of what possesses us, whether it’s our money, our things, or our fear. Following him means taking it to the limit by being so generous and ready to share that, as first Timothy says, we may take hold of the life that really is life, life that is free from fear, free from possession, and full of thanksgiving, open-minded, open-hearted, open-handed. It takes courage, but as former poet laureate Rita Dove once wrote: “Courage has nothing to do with our determination to be great. It has to do with what we decide in that moment where we are called upon to be more.”

Following Jesus means believing that in God’s eyes, wisdom is folly, and foolishness turns into wisdom. Following Jesus means making the huge leap of faith to believe that, contrary to what the world teaches about scarcity, God is really about  unimaginable abundance.  We don’t need to be anxious about our limits and limitations; God knows we have them. When we reach our limits, all we need to do is turn toward God, Who has no limits.  As it turns out, Lazarus means God helps.

You know, once upon a time, people used to think that God rewarded people for being good with health and wealth, with lots of money, good things, and a long life. They  used to believe that God either did not reward bad behavior, or, even worse, that God punished bad behavior with poverty, illness, and even death. Imagine! People thought that being right was a sign of God’s favor, and being poor was a sign of God’s curse. How long ago do you think that was? (As long ago as this morning!) Jesus was telling people this story and reminding them of what Moses and the prophets taught about compassion. We need to hear this, too; because in some ways, people in Jesus’ time weren’t all that different from people in our time. Now probably all of us do listen to what Moses and the prophets taught about compassion. As groups of people go, we are a very compassionate bunch, although we have to constantly resist the temptation of self-congratulation.

You know, biblically speaking, the opposite of poor is not rich; its opposite is peace; but the opposite of wealth is also peace, as it turns out. Peace is the opposite of both wealth and poverty. Peace, shalom, is well-being. I think Jesus knew that and was telling this story to get people like us to listen and to reach out across the separations to build bridges again and again, over and over, to make community, and to care for one another: to make shalom. Where is God in this Gospel story? Waiting for us to turn around, that is, to repent, and to do our part to make shalom.

1.  Richard Neill Donovan.  Exegesis on Luke 16:19-31. SermonWriter, 2012.
2. Richard Bauckham, “Hades,” The Anchor Bible Dictionary (NY: Doubleday, 1992), pp. 14-15.