“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9)
Jesus tells a parable to challenge the Pharisees of his day, who were themselves lovers of money. In the story, there are two characters, a rich man and a homeless man who sleeps at this gate, called, Lazarus. The rich man has clearly lived a life that is all about gaining all you can and spending all you can. He did nothing to help Lazarus, he did not take seriously the teaching of the Bible to be generous, he was nothing like Christ. Jesus is blunt. The rich man ends up in hell. Let’s not make the same mistake. Rather than, ‘Gain all you can to spend all you can,’ let’s be those who, ‘Gain all we can, to give all we can.’
Rich Regret (Luke 16:19-31)
It’s All About Welcome
Myriad
Today we have heard from Shiela about setting up new worshipping communities, with the support of Myriad. The point of these communities is to create a space where people who might struggle to be welcomed in a larger more formal setting might find a welcome in a smaller more informal community that will help them to find a welcome from Jesus Christ. It’s all about welcome.
Not that more traditional services or larger congregations are not welcoming. Indeed, unless we are good at welcoming new people, our existing worshipping communities will decline and die off. Church has to be about welcoming new people if it is to flourish.
Homelessness Sunday and Thanet Winter Shelter
You may also know that today has been labelled, Homelessness Sunday. I hope you have also read the church email or notice sheet and see that the church in Thanet is setting up a Thanet Winter Shelter again this year. What’s the point? To provide a welcome to a warm place for those living rough who have no-one to welcome them. It’s all about welcome.
An Odd Parable
The Parable we are looking at today is about welcome and lack of welcome. But it is also a rather odd when you compare it with many of the other parables we have been looking at.
- A Parable with Little Symbolism
Firstly, whereas most parables contain a lot of symbolism that require you to work out a key to discover their meaning, this parable contains almost no symbolism. The rich man is simply a rich man, Lazarus is simply a homeless man, and Abraham plays his traditional role in Jewish thinking of the time as host at the great heavenly banquet.
The only important interpretation to make is to see that the Rich Man is meant to represent the Pharisees, whom Jesus is arguing with and who only a few verses earlier, had sneered at Jesus, when Jesus was talking about the dangers of money becoming your master. Luke says this was because they were lovers of money.
- The Only Parable with Names
Secondly, this is the only parable where one of the key characters is given an actual name. Lazarus, the homeless man, who sleeps at the rich man’s gate is given a name by Jesus, whereas the rich man remains nameless. But this is just one of the contrasts between the two that are expressed in the first half of the parable.
In this life, the rich man lives in a house with a gate, whilst Lazarus sleeps in the road by the gate. In this life, the rich man has top of the range clothes, whereas Lazarus is covered in sores. In this life, the rich man gets to feast every day, but Lazarus has nothing to eat, but his sores are licked by dogs. The rich man has everything, Lazarus has nothing. He is never welcomed to the daily feasting of the rich man but is left shut out at the gate.
But that is all reversed when they die. The fact Lazarus is named, perhaps hints that his name is written in the book of life, the guest list for the great heavenly banquet. Lazarus gets a fantastic welcome into heaven: the angel escort and a seat with Abraham. In contrast the rich man is simply buried and left in the agony of hell.
- The Only Parable featuring an OT hero
Thirdly, this is the only parable to feature an Old Testament hero. The second half of the parable is a conversation between the rich man in Hades and Abraham in heaven. In a way it is a conversation between two rich men, because Abraham was renowned as being wealthy. The Parable is not saying the rich are shut out of heaven.
The contrast is how they use their wealth. Abraham was also renowned for welcoming strangers, whilst the rich man had never done anything to welcome Lazarus into his home.
So, now Abraham welcomes Lazarus into the eternal feast in heaven, but points out to the rich man, that he has had his good life, now it is Lazarus’s term.
It’s too late for the rich man, because he didn’t listen to the teaching of the Old Testament. It will be too late for his brothers too, because if you don’t listen to God’s word, then even a miracle or a resurrection will not convince you. If life is all about eat drink and be merry, then you will never be ready for what happens after you die.
- The Only Parable to describe Life after Death
And that is the final area where this parable is odd. It is the only parable to describe in any detail life after death. How literally we are to take the description is unclear, but the key points seem to be that after death it is too late to change. If you don’t sort things out now, you will be left on the wrong side of the uncrossable chasm. You need to take seriously the need to be welcomed into God’s home now, before it is too late.
What are we to learn?
So, what are we to learn from this most explicit of parables.
So, what are we to learn from this most explicit of parables?
Firstly, it is a warning: God rejects the careless. If you live your life for yourself not caring about the needs of others or the teaching of God, like the rich man, then the eternal consequences are disastrous and irreversible. What should concern us most in this life is being welcomed into God’s eternal home in the next. It is all about welcome.
And if being welcomed into God’s eternal home is what matters most, then we will want to be welcoming people in this life. That includes providing a home for the homeless like Lazarus and it includes finding ways to welcome new people into the church as Jesus was doing in chapter 15, with the tax-collectors and sinners.
But, the Pharisees, grumbled when Jesus welcomed sinners and tax-collectors, and sneered when he talked about being generous with their money, which welcoming others necessitates. They may have been religious and identified with God, but this did not show in their sense of compassion or generosity. God is a God of welcome, you can’t expect to be welcomed by him, if you refuse to welcome others like him. This parable is fundamentally a warning to the Pharisees that they need to change their heart attitude.
So, will you heed Jesus’ warning. Will you take seriously the need to seek a welcome into God’s eternal home. Or will you spend eternity locked out as Jesus warned back in chapter 13:
“There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.” (Luke 13:28)
Secondly, it is an assurance. God welcomes the helpless like Lazarus. We do not reach heaven because of success in this life, but when we seek to trust and follow Jesus.
Indeed, like Lazarus, you may have nothing in this life and be completely helpless. But helplessness is what is needed. It is when we accept our helplessness that we turn to God for help. When that happens, we can be confident of being taken by angels to a wonderful welcome at God’s eternal banquet.
This is the only parable, where one of the characters is given a name. Yet, it turns out that the name Lazarus has a meaning. It means, “God helps!” And when we are relying on God’s help, we find the deepest assurance.
St. George's Church Ramsgate 