Sunday Readings: Amos 6.1,4-7, 1 Timothy 6.11-16, Luke 16.19-31
Jesus told his friends a story about a beggar and a rich man. Once there was a rich man who dressed in royal purple and fine linen. He ate splendidly every day. At the rich man’s gate lay a beggar, a man named Lazarus, who was covered with sores. Lazarus wished he had even the scraps from the rich man’s table to eat. But he didn’t. Dogs came and licked his sores.
Eventually Lazarus died, and angels carried him to the arms of Abraham. Then the rich man died, too, and was buried. He wound up in the abode of the dead in torment. When he looked up, he saw Abraham far off with Lazarus resting in his arms (Luke 16.19-23).
The great abyss that yawns between Lazarus and the rich man in the abode of the dead exists already in the distance between them when they are alive. The rich man never notices Lazarus begging or responds to him. He doesn’t know the other man exists.
The rich man has no idea that his riches are anything but well-deserved blessings from God. He has no other ethic than spending his money on himself. He builds no connection between himself and the poor man at his gate.
The two characters in Jesus’ story represent extremes—one about as down and out as he can be, the other as oblivious as he can be. The rich man asks that Lazarus bring a drop of water to cool his tongue, referring to the beggar by name, suggesting that he knows the man he refuses to help. The story invites us to place ourselves on the continuum between the two.
Who begs at your gate? What value do you find in distancing yourself from people in need? What value have you found in connecting with them?