Jesus told parables because they serve as keys that can unlock the mysteries we face by helping us ask the right questions: how to live in community; how to determine what ultimately matters; how to live the life that God wants us to live. They are Jesus’ way of teaching, and they are remembered to this day not simply because they are Christian canon, but because they continue to provoke, challenge, and inspire.
Today’s parable, the Rich man and Lazarus, like most of Jesus’ stories tells us again what we already know, but what we need to be reminded of, over and over again. The parables are invitations, invitations to a better way of living.
The parable of the Rich man and Lazarus is not a story about the afterlife. It is not about final judgment, eternal damnation, or heavenly reward. The motifs of Lazarus resting comfortably in paradise and the rich man frying in hell are merely folklore or metaphor.
There is a lot we resist in this story, after all we say, I’m not rich. True? Wait, have you ever heard of the Global Rich List? Want a reality check? Enter your annual income and your accumulated wealth and find out where you rank globally. It’s a simple website with an eye-opening reminder of how people live around the world. Even with a very rough estimate, it’s easy to see I have a lot.
Even so, the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is not a story about economics either. Jesus is not saying that being rich is bad and being poor is good. The rich man’s wealth is not the reason for his judgment nor is he condemned for his fine clothing and feasting daily. And we can not we assume that the rich man gained his wealth or maintained it through usury, fraud, or the exploitation of his workers. The rich man is not condemned because he is rich or because he is not a good man.
Also, it is too simplistic – though somewhat comforting –to repeat that at the time of Jesus impoverished beggars were regarded as sinners being punished for their sins and “Judaism of that period would likely conclude that the miserable condition of Lazarus in his lifetime on earth was the result of God’s punishment for sin, and wealth, such as enjoyed by the rich man, indicated God’s blessing for his piety and strict observance of the law of Moses. If that were the case, surely the situations of Lazarus and Dives, as the rich man has been so often named in folk lore, would be continued in the afterlife. So, on more than one level, once again Jesus is preaching a shockingly disturbing message.
How about this? Just try this idea on for size? Ready? WHAT IF WE TOOK SERIOUSLY JESUS’ OWN CONCERN FOR HOW PEOPLE RELATED TO EACH OTHER. WHAT IF WE ACTED AS IF WE ALREADY HAVE ONE FOOT IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN?
The rich man in the parable is condemned because he is indifferent to the plight of Lazarus who was right in front of him. Like those of us who enjoy and have enjoyed white privilege all our lives, the rich man took for granted certain assumptions. His assumption, I think it’s safe to assume is, as Jesus himself even said once, “the poor you will always have with you.” But, remember Jesus never said, “And therefore you are free to ignore them.” That the rich man ignores a beggar especially when he is at his doorstep is what condemns him.
It is worth a considerable amount of thought to ponder what is our notion of justice? We are told over and over again what God’s notion is. We do not have to wonder what our response to Jesus’ tale should be. Where are you and when am I ignoring the poor on our doorsteps?
The parable ends with a cautionary note. Heed the commands to aid the poor and the sick and the hungry or you will eventually suffer worse poverty, greater pains, deeper hunger. The parable suggests that the gift of eternal life in paradise is possible. “Heaven,” however understood, is ours, but it is also ours to lose. The point is not that we have to earn it. The point is that Jesus instructs us to uphold our part of the covenant by behaving as human beings should behave: we care for the poor; we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. We are the hands of Saint Stephen. If we spend everything on ourselves personally or as a parish, then there is nothing in our heavenly treasury.
The parable tells us that we do not need supernatural revelation to know that we have the poor with us. We do not even need threats of eternal torture. If we cannot see the poor at our doors or on McFarlane Road and Main Highway in front of our church and school – then we are lost.
Ironically, what the rich man asked Lazarus to do – to warn his brothers of the threat of hell – the parable does for its hearers. Will the five brothers, who may hear the Torah’s insistence that they “love the neighbor” and “welcome the stranger,” listen. We do not know. Will we?*
* With thanks to Amy-Jill Levine author of Short Stories by Jesus.