The Great
Reversal!
The Heart of
God!
Love Called
Out!
Sermon for Sunday September 30, 2007
1. Good Morning. Let’s pray.
O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations
of our hearts be pleasing to You O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
2. Opening Comments: Well there doesn’t seem much doubt about what
God is calling us to is there? The last 3 verses of the Epistle reading say
it all: I’ll be reading from “The
Message:”
1Tim.
6:17
Tell those rich in
this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with
money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who
piles on all the riches we could ever manage—
18 to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be
extravagantly generous. 19 If they do that,
they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.
Our Gospel Reading follows along in perfect synchronicity
as it warns us of the great reversal that will most
assuredly happen after our inevitable death.
Listen as we read it once again but this time from Eugene
Peterson’s “The Message:”
Luke 16:19
“There
once was a rich man, expensively dressed in the latest fashions, wasting his
days in conspicuous consumption. 20 A poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, had been
dumped on his doorstep. 21
All he lived for was to get a meal from scraps off the rich man’s table. His
best friends were the dogs who came and licked his sores.
Luke 16:22
“Then he
died, this poor man, and was taken up by the angels to the lap of Abraham. The
rich man also died and was buried. 23
In hell and in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham in the distance and
Lazarus in his lap. 24
He called out, ‘Father Abraham, mercy! Have mercy! Send Lazarus to dip his
finger in water to cool my tongue. I’m in agony in this fire.’
Luke 16:25
“But
Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you got the good things
and Lazarus the bad things. It’s not like that here. Here he’s consoled and
you’re tormented. 26
Besides, in all these matters there is a huge chasm set between us so that no
one can go from us to you even if he wanted to, nor can anyone cross over from
you to us.’
Luke 16:27
“The rich
man said, ‘Then let me ask you, Father: Send him to the house of my father 28
where I have five brothers, so he can tell them the score and warn them so they
won’t end up here in this place of torment.’
Luke 16:29
“Abraham
answered, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets to tell them the score. Let them
listen to them.’
Luke 16:30
“‘I know,
Father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but they’re not listening. If someone came back to
them from the dead, they would change their ways.’
Luke 16:31
“Abraham
replied, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, they’re not going to
be convinced by someone who rises from the dead.’”
As we read this we hear the echo of the Old Testament
exhortation, “Woe to you who
are not grieved for the affliction of others!”
Now in the Gospel reading the imagery is extremely vivid.
The regal colors of the rich man clothes, his
exquisite tableware and fine dining. It all conjures up a rather vivid
picture. At the same time Lazarus' world is dark and dreary and desperate.
Lazarus begs at the gate and his only companions are the dogs and his sores.
As you reflect upon this story who are the rich men
of and the Lazarus’ in your life?
It’s also very important for us to decide
which one of these characters we think we might be if any.
3. A way of looking at it
all: Recently the United Nations published
a paper which creatively described the world as a village of 100 people. The following comes from a homily given by
Richard Leonard SJ who picked up on this report and the following is his
analysis of it. I have only been able to find part of the report. It’s in the back of the sanctuary.
Staying consistent with the international statistics the United Nations
tells us that our global village looks like this.
There
are 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 North Americans, 8 Africans, 4 South Americans
and an assortment fills up the final four places. There are 52 women and 48 men
of whom only 30 are fair-skinned and 70 are dark-skinned. Only one of us has a
University education and yet six people in our village own 64% of our town's
wealth and all of them are Americans. 80 people live in substandard housing
without electricity, clean water and sewerage. 70 of us cannot read and 50
suffer from malnutrition.
This
village analysis sorts out very quickly who Lazarus and Dives are in our world.
As hard as life is for some of us and as much as we struggle financially, we
are, comparatively, dressed in purple robes and feasting off fine linen.
The
UN report goes on to say that 1.2 billion people live on $1.50 a day or less.
And while we might be personally very generous in assisting the poor in a
variety of ways, our Dives-like countries are not. Australia only gives $98 per
person per year to aid third world development. Canada gives $108, the UK gives
$112 and the USA's third world development budget is just $67 per person per
year. And it’s fascinating to realize that Denmark is the most generous country
in the world, giving $649 per capita last year.
According to this report, we in the United
Sates are the rich ones! The fact is
though that some of us – in fact many of us – in this Sanctuary give
extravagantly and consistently to God’s Church and to those in need all around
us! That’s a fact believe me.
But there are still some of us who perhaps
rely too heavily on our bank accounts, our investment portfolios, our
retirement funds and our ability to make money and so on! Please know that I’m also talking to myself
here.
No this is not a fun sermon to give because I must confess I relate more
with the rich man than I do with Lazarus and his poor brothers and sisters - so
let me cringe with any of you who are struggling with this exhortation. I’m
not comfortable either!
By the way, this is one of the advantages of preaching form the Lectionary – I don’t get to pick and choose what I will
be preaching from – ouch!
Now it’s important for me to say here that
the problem isn’t so much with the rich man’s
wealth and luxury in itself, but, as is
so often the case that living a life of luxury often seems to blind us to the
need of our fellow human beings and our Christian responsibility
to do something for them – but why?
Why do we need to do something for
them? Because we’re
convicted by this parable? – Perhaps.
4. The Great
Reversal: God is assuring us in this story that there
will most assuredly be a Great Reversal at our death and we, you and I, may not find ourselves in Lazarus’ shoes.
We heard earlier in the Gospel of Luke echoes
of promise of this “Great Reversal” in Mary’s Magnificat:
Luke 1:46
And Mary said: “My soul
glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he
has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all
generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done
great things for me— holy is his name. 50
His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with
his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from
their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the
rich away empty. 54 He has helped
his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his
descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.”
This great reversal is also hinted at in the qualities of the people whom God Himself
blesses. We’ve discover who they are in
the Beatitudes in Matthew 5
Matt. 5:3
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will
inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they
will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of
God. 10 Blessed are those who are
persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed
are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil
against you because of me. 12
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same
way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Here is one of the most exquisite hintings at the great reversal. None of these who are blessed seem destined
for the fate of the rich person depicted in our Gospel Reading
are they?
And here is one of saddest incidences in
Jesus’ life that hits too close to home for me:
Luke 18:18
A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must
I do to inherit eternal life?”
Luke 18:19
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one
is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not
murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and
mother.’”
Luke 18:21
“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
Luke 18:22
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still
lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will
have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Luke 18:23
When he heard this, he became very sad, because he
was a man of great wealth. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich
to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of
a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
I hear God’s conviction on me and on us in
the United States – we are rich beyond the imagination of most of the rest of
the world!
Are any of us quietly turning our backs on
God’s call to care for the poor?
5. But at the end of the day this parable is much more than
an exhortation to feed the hungry and be concerned and compassionate for the
needy. It is in fact a sublime
affirmation that Justice will be had!
That Good will overcome evil!
The
meek will inherit the earth. All who
worship God will be vindicated. We, who
love our Lord will most assuredly live happily ever
after!
Our
Sovereign Good God cannot be mocked!
Truth will have its day! Good
ultimately overcomes evil! All lies, all
sins – will be exposed. Justice will be
had.
Even
more than this God is reminding us that “HIS” love cannot ignore those in need
in His creation. This was never meant to
be. God’s dream for His world was
Paradise – the Garden of Eden before the Fall! God gave us a perfect Garden and bodies that
would never suffer and die but we chose to rebel and the result is what we have
now! A world which is
being polluted and poisoned. A world in which mothers are allowed to kill their babies. A world in which many young
men run away when they impregnate women.
It’s a world dark with sin but it’s a world which God has not and will
never give up on. That’s what we’re all
about – we’re to become His Healing Hoard.
He’s calling us out of our comfortable lives to become much more
aggressive in His love for His broken world!
Ah! God is reminding us that we
must live now . . . today, in the certain and comforting knowledge that all
will turn out wonderfully well for those of us who love Him and are called
according to His purpose.
Make
no mistake God is calling you and me out of our comfortable lives to care for
the poor – to become sacramental – incarnational
expressions of His love for those in need!
6. Conclusion.
Now what was this reflection all about?
If someone comes up to you tomorrow and says what did that Australian
guy peach about – what are you going to say?
No, better than that – what is God trying to say to you and to us this
morning?
Love
as I love! Help those in need now. Be may arms and feet
– feed the poor, heal the sick, visit those in jail and so on.
I
want to close with a quote from Pope Benedict the XVI
“In Jesus Christ, God has revealed Himself in
His descending. . . . God descends, to the point of death on the Cross. And precisely by doing so, He reveals Himself
in His true divinity. We ascend to God
by accompanying him on this descending path of self-scarifying service to
others!”
Let
us pray . . .