How do we feel when we hear this? Is it justified? When the energy CAP will be changed once again next month, do we think of ourselves …or of our community – the effect that people will face physically and mentally. The fear of the sheer costs, the fear to turning on the appliance, the possibility of crawling under a blanket and the ensuing isolation. What can we do? Where am I in God’s solution?
Rich Man doesn’t meet the Poor man
Rich Man: There was a rich man who dressed himself in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day
was called Neues – who is dressed in purple – not just on high days and holidays but every day. He also wore fine linen, the Greek suggests that high grade soft stuff used for underwear or what Priests wore– not something you might want to publicise, would you? and was capable of feasting with friends on a daily occurrence. Life was hard 😉… it’s not the first time one of Jesus’ tales have started with ‘Now there was a rich man” – this is the second instance this Chapter, with one in the previous Chapter! The author of the Gospel says in Luke 16 that the Pharisees are ‘lovers of money’. Perhaps there’s a theme here?
Lazarus: At his gate a poor man named Lazarus was laid, full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. But the dogs came and licked his sores.
Do you like dogs?
This chap Lazaurus, or El’azar, meaning God Helps: odd that in Jesus’ parables rarely are people named. Can you think of one? Lazarus didn’t have the strength to get to the gates of the mansion, nor even sit. He might have seen or heard the cavorting from the feast and his whole being cried out for the food, any food. What did he receive? His wounds, his sores were open, were licked by the dogs. Does this remind us of the Syro-Phoenician woman in Mark 7? She pleads for the food which is thrown to the dogs. Dogs weren’t generally an accepted animal, bar for guarding, back then, but the saliva of the dog, containing peptide antibiotics, have been found to have a healing effect. So the Rich Man does nothing but the dogs allow the wounds to heal quickly.
Lazarus: The poor man died and was carried by the Angels to Abraham’s bosom.
Resting in the bosom
So he died – without a burial? and was seen next to…Abraham’s Bosom… that’s a term to being ‘close to God’. Recall that the disciple that Jesus loved ate at the last supper next to Jesus’ bosom. The bosom meant reclining on a U-shaped couch to the right of the host at a meal. But he didn’t die as a beggar. The word poor in the Greek is the same word used in “Blessed are you who are poor in Spirit”. The poor widow who offered 2 mites wasn’t a beggar. Lazarus neither sits nor begs. He is a figure so poor that we can’t even identify with him. But is being poor a way to get to Heaven? But Jesus hadn’t died at that point. How has this happened? Abraham was seen as a one with access to heavenly knowledge for he (4 Macc 7:19) “did not die to God, but live in God”.
Rich Man: The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom.
So he is in Hades, not Hell. The Rich Man knows the name of Lazarus, the one who sat outside his gates but wasn’t fed. Go on…
The rich man addresses Abraham not Lazarus, he ignores Lazarus, as usual.
Rich man: So he called out “Father Abraham, have mercy upon me and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame”
So he plays a race card. Hey Father Abraham, I am also one of you, for you are my father. Yes I know I feasted daily, ignoring the sabbath and didn’t help the poor, Yes I saw the wizened one at my gates and didn’t help him, but can you get old Lazarus to pop over as my servant and help poor old me? “Have mercy upon me” just what the street beggars say (Luke 18) and “help me now!” Compassion Null points
Playing the race card
Abraham: “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to there cannot and nor can anyone cross over from there to us”
Is Lazarus the one in a position of power now? So why doesn’t he speak? Did the rich man earn the good life, did Lazarus earn the bad life? Is living a bad life, being poor, a consequence of our behaviour, a sin as they might have said? There’s a phrase “As Christians, we are to comfort those in discomfort, and discomfort the comfortable”
Rich Man: Then I beg you Father, send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment.
Is that number significant?
In terms of significant numbers in the Bible, the Rich man is one of the family of 6 sons: six represents evil. The rich man’s tone has changed to one of a beggar but is still eloquent for one burning up… “If you won’t help me, help my brothers” – so still not help the likes of Lazarus – just help hose who are comfortable as I was. Send Lazarus, the one who had to be carried to my gates, to my family! Nothing had changed in the mind of the rich man – the old class structure remains. Should it?
Abraham: They have Moses and the prophets; let them listen to them them.
With the vast majority of the population illiterate, hearing was the only way to receive information. The rich man didn’t attend the Synagogue – he was feasting – so wasn’t aware of the “compassion to the poor” part of the Old Testament scriptures.
Rich Man: No father Abraham; but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent.
No? “You are wrong Abraham good buddy” he responds. If someone comes back from the dead – not Jesus as yet – aah possibly the Rich Man?
Abraham: If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets they will not be convinced do not hear, nor if someone rises from the dead.
Compassion fatigue
Lazarus is outside the home, so compassion fatigue may arise: be wary of those opportunities of compassion right outside our door. Lazarus’ silence may be indicative of the response conveyed by Paul as an attribute of love: patience. Don’t strike back but remain with God, hear God’s words to us individually and then act. I wonder will the rich man’s five brothers love thy neighbour, the stranger : will we?
Where am I in God’s solution?
Rather than focusing upon those who may have turned the Cost of Living Crisis into one deemed the Cost of Greed Crisis, we can look back at the Hebrew Scriptures, and note from Exodus 30 the role of the scapegoat. If we can pin the blame onto one third party – not us – we can face another day. Yes, the problem may lie somewhere in their court, but the solution is to act as God would want us to act.
Loving God, where am I in your solution, here, now?
How can we show that compassion at such a time? If we can spare some cash, how do we spend that wisely so that others benefit? If we have some time that we can use for others, what do we do? What is the Church I attend doing about their community? This isn’t a guilt trip but a question: where is our Church in God’s solution? In God’s kin_dom?
“Tell them to use their money to do good” it says. So how might we ponder on this? Take this moment and space now to quietly reflect – not in guilt – but openly honestly with God.
“By doing this they will be storing up their treasures, that they experience true life.” True Life, that is something the Rich man and Lazarus were contemplating, seeking – can we help us all to find that?
I found the dialogue interesting and I enjoyed it