Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
Today we've heard from Amos:
"Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory and lounge on their couches."
And from 1 Timothy we've read:
"But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction."
These words might seem a little uncomfortable for us living in the richest nation in the world that has ever existed. They might also seem strange. There are many people who are rich who do and have done wonderful things to help others. So we might ask, is wealth in it of itself bad?
And we do get an answer to that question in 1 Timothy. As we heard earlier, "for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life."
We are called to give to God with our treasure. To use it to do good works. And to help us know how to do good works with our treasure, we have a cautionary parable that Jesus tells in our Gospel reading today.
In this story we have the rich man living a lavish lifestyle. So lavish that he wears purple clothes of fine linen, the most expensive material and dyes that could be used in the time of Jesus. So lavish that he has a great feast he eats every day. So lavish that a great deal of that food is getting wasted, falling to the dogs.
And right outside this rich man's house is Lazarus. Lazarus is a poor man, with a great deal of sores throughout his body. He remains outside, longing for something to satisfy his hunger. To satisfy his great need.
Both these men go in the direction we all go eventually. They both die and pass on into the next life.
And at this point their fortunes are reversed. Lazarus finally has his needs filled. But the rich man finally experiences what Lazarus feels as he is tormented in the land of the dead.
And from 1 Timothy we've read:
"But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction."
These words might seem a little uncomfortable for us living in the richest nation in the world that has ever existed. They might also seem strange. There are many people who are rich who do and have done wonderful things to help others. So we might ask, is wealth in it of itself bad?
And we do get an answer to that question in 1 Timothy. As we heard earlier, "for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life."
We are called to give to God with our treasure. To use it to do good works. And to help us know how to do good works with our treasure, we have a cautionary parable that Jesus tells in our Gospel reading today.
In this story we have the rich man living a lavish lifestyle. So lavish that he wears purple clothes of fine linen, the most expensive material and dyes that could be used in the time of Jesus. So lavish that he has a great feast he eats every day. So lavish that a great deal of that food is getting wasted, falling to the dogs.
And right outside this rich man's house is Lazarus. Lazarus is a poor man, with a great deal of sores throughout his body. He remains outside, longing for something to satisfy his hunger. To satisfy his great need.
Both these men go in the direction we all go eventually. They both die and pass on into the next life.
And at this point their fortunes are reversed. Lazarus finally has his needs filled. But the rich man finally experiences what Lazarus feels as he is tormented in the land of the dead.
And even in his torments he fails to understand. He still sees Lazarus as beneath him. As someone who is there just to serve him. The rich man even has the gall to ask the Lazarus come to dip water on his tongue to cool it.
It is not because of his wealth itself that the rich man is condemned. It is because he hung onto it so much that he separated himself from God, which in death is made physical in the chasm between the rich man in Hades and Lazarus in the place with Abraham. It is because the rich man became so focused on his own wealth that he failed to use it to help one so close to him. One that he easily could have helped. And not even in a great or inconvenient way. He could have simply allowed Lazarus to have even some of the food that was not consumed in the lavishness of his feast. That food that at least seemed fit for his dogs.
In short, the rich man is condemned because he failed to care about the needs of others. He failed to be in relationship with the other in his midst.
And to emphasize that point, at the end of this parable, the rich man asks Abraham to send him to his family to warn them so they will not share in his fate. And Abraham says to him, "If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."
As we see from our own reading from the prophets this morning, we have thousands of years of people telling us to turn back to God. To look out for the needy in our midst. To be in relationship with God and with each other.
And that is the very reason that Jesus came down to dwell among us. It is the very reason He died on the cross. He died so that we could be renewed in our relationship with God. He died so that we wouldn't have to suffer the fate of the rich man in the parable.
And if even the love of a God who would die for us so that we could live and be restored to Him isn't enough to save us from the fate of the rich man. If even God Himself coming back from the grave isn't enough to bring us closer in relationship to Him and to each other, then frankly Abraham is right. Nothing can.
The point of all that we have heard today is that God loves us. God wants us to be in a relationship with Him. And if we are in a relationship with Him, we are bound together to all those who God loves. Mainly everybody.
And to truly show that love, we are called to use everything at our disposal to build those relationships. Whether it is through, as our Prayer Book says, time or talent or treasure. We are called not only to keep these things from separating us from the love of God and of each other, as the rich man did in today's Gospel lesson, but we are called to use everything at our disposal to build those relationships up. In whatever way we can.
This is not always an easy task. I'm sure many of you, like me, can think of times where we have been both praised and condemned by this story. But that is why Jesus gives us this cautionary tale. So that we can stop and think about what we are doing before we do it.
It's not that we fail if we are not perfect. That is why we have Jesus. So that He can help us back up when we fall. But we do need to try and to do our best to form and shape our lives as a constant beacon back to God. And to love both Him and our neighbors with the same love the rich man had for himself as he gave himself feast after lavish feast throughout his life.
And we are certainly called, as we move forward in our lives in this church together, to pause and think about how we are and how we can better live into a fuller relationship with God and each other by everything we do. What can we do to better serve not only God through our work in this church, but those in this church family and beyond, through all that God has given us, especially our time, talent, and treasure?