The Gospel challenges us today with the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man. And the parable is not meant to defame or insult those who have worked long and hard for their financial position in life, I mean it is not meant to dump on the rich. The parable is meant to help us all to recognize the responsibilities our positions in life demand[1]. The parable presents three areas of concern: blindness, isolation and faithlessness. First of all, blindness. The most terrifying statement in the parable comes at the beginning: the Rich Man is in hell. From hell he lifts up his eyes and sees Lazarus. His eyes had never met Lazarus’ eyes before. Yes, the Rich Man may have noticed Lazarus in stinky, dirty clothes begging for food as the Rich Man opened his front door to greet his guests for yet another dinner party. He never saw Lazarus, a man like him, only a man who was hungry. He never saw Lazarus, as a fellow human being. His possessions made him blind to those around him. The first time that the Rich Man really saw Lazarus as a person, not as an eyesore, was when it was too late. From Hell the Rich Man looked up and saw Lazarus.
Perhaps we have walked down a street and come upon someone calling out for food or help. What are we inclined to do? Are we inclined to make believe that we do not see him? Do our eyes glance elsewhere, so we don’t meet his eyes? Or perhaps we make immediate judgments. We glance at someone and decide that this may be a drug addict, or an alcoholic, perhaps a thief, maybe someone suffering from a terrible disease that has been caused by their lifestyle. But we don’t see a person. Because we have worked hard to care for our families, we are inclined to be blind to those whom we assume have not worked for the minimal sustenance they need to survive. We are more concerned with what we have done and what they have or have not done, than we are concerned with their present needs. Our possessions and the hard work it takes for us to obtain them can easily render us blind[2].
The parable also warns us to be concerned about being isolated. We have to be careful or our possessions will isolate us from the community. It is easy for us to form the mentality that what we have is totally and only ours. It is easy to assume that we have no obligation to others. This does not just refer to financial wealth. It refers to anything we might possess. All that we have belongs to someone else. That someone else is God. We are all stewards of His creation. Again, this does not just refer to possessions; it refers to intelligence, to artistic talent, to the ability to lead, etc. All that we have is God’s. It flows from Him and is only beneficial to us if it leads back to Him. We are all going to be called to give an account for all that we have been given. We cannot allow our possessions to isolate us from the community. The great American spiritual writer of the last century, Thomas Merton, wrote: “No man goes to heaven alone.” No woman either. We all receive our salvation as members of a community, the Body of Christ[3].
Along with warning us to be careful less our possessions lead us to blindness or isolation, the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus warns us to be careful or our possessions will lead us to faithlessness. The one true need that we have in life is the need to have a meaningful life, a purpose for our existence. Purpose and meaning can only be found in God. But to possess God means that we have to look beyond all that is mundane. Sometimes, we fight this call to Love. It is too demanding for us. So, what do we do? We hide behind our stuff. We want to find meaning in the amount we have accumulated. We let our material possessions define us. We condemn ourselves to a life of futility. We condemn ourselves to our own hells.
Maybe, though, if someone were to rise from the dead, we would change our priorities. Maybe if someone were to rise from the dead we would be infinitely more concerned with the spiritual than we are with the physical. Maybe if someone were to rise from the dead we would use our gifts, our talents, our intelligence, and our possessions to reach out to the presence of God in others. “If only someone were to rise from the dead, my brothers would change their lives,” cried the Rich Man.
Well, my brother, my sister, someone has risen from the dead already. He has called us to have faith in him instead of faith in our possessions. His name is Jesus. Today we plead with Him to help us be Christians ■
[1] Sunday 26th September, 2010, 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Readings: Amos 6:1, 4-7. Praise the Lord, my soul!—Ps 145(146):6-10. 1 Timothy 6:11-16. Luke 16:19-31 [Ss Cosmas and Damian].
[2] “Look and see,” the parable tells us. Look and see someone to whom we can reach out. That person, that Lazarus at our gates, might be the means for our salvation. Maybe that person was placed there by the Lord to help us get beyond the blindness inflicted by our possessions.
[3] We need to follow the lead of the universal Church. Our wonderful Catholic Church continually reaches out to the poor and suffering throughout the world. It is not relevant to the Church whether the suffering are Christian or not. It is not relevant to the Church whether or not, or to what degree if any at all, those suffering have brought pain on themselves. What matters is that the Church has a responsibility to aid the suffering. The Church would not be Catholic if it did not exercise its responsibility to the total community of the world. The word catholic means universal. Nor would the individual be a Christian if he or she isolated himself or herself from those reaching out for help. We cannot allow our wealth to isolate us. We are Church. The Christian can never be comfortable as long as one brother or one sister cries out in vain for bread or justice or love.
Ilustration: Portal sideshow (left), Lazarus the spotty pauper dies at the door of the mansion of the feasting rich man, Abbaye St-Pierre de Moissac (France).
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