St. Luke 16: 19-31
I bet that every one of us can name some
famous people who seem to be famous mostly because they are famous. Some people make the news simply by being who
they are for reasons that are beyond us.
For whatever reason, the names of celebrities are always well known.
But
it’s not the same for the humble and poor, for people who live on the streets or
in shacks and who do not know where their next meal will come from. Hundreds of millions of children in the
developing world today do not have safe drinking water, adequate shelter, or
health services. Many of them end up
like the poor man in today’s gospel lesson, begging desperately outside the
home of a wealthy person, only to be ignored and to die without any human
comfort. The names of those who live such
lives are rarely known or recorded. The
names, like the people, are usually thought to be unimportant and rarely make
the news.
How
completely shocking it is, then, that our gospel text gives us the name of the
poor beggar Lazarus, but leaves out the name of the rich man. This detail shows us that God’s kingdom is
not like worldly kingdoms, not like human society as we know it. For the kind of wealth that makes people
famous in this life counts for nothing in the next. And the kind of humility, the kind of
complete trust in God that the poorest of the poor are in the best position to
have, counts for little in today’s world; yet, it is only by that kind of
humble trust that anyone will enter the kingdom of God.
No,
the point is not that the rich will be damned and the poor will be
blessed. Instead, it is that there are
strong and deep temptations associated with wealth, possessions, and success in
this world. For if we love ourselves, our riches, and our status more than God
and neighbor, no matter how much or little we have, we will shut ourselves out of
the kingdom. The name Lazarus means “One
who has been helped,” and those whose miserable life circumstances do not
encourage them to trust in money, power, or success are in a good position to learn
that their help is in the Lord, in His mercy and love.
The
rich man never learned that lesson, however.
He wore only outrageously expensive clothes and had a great feast every
day. He must have known about the poor
beggar Lazarus. He probably stepped over
or around him every time he went in or out of his house. Here was a desperately poor man, lying on
the ground, whose only comfort was the stray dogs who would lick his open
sores. All that Lazarus wanted were the
crumbs that fell from the man’s table, you might say his garbage. But the rich
man was so greedy and thoughtless that he apparently denied him even that. Our Lord is quite clear about the
consequences of such a life. This man
showed no mercy; he demonstrated no love for his wretched neighbor.
Consequently, he cut himself off from the mercy and love of God.
Quite
different from this selfish man were the saints we commemorated on Thursday,
the Holy Unmercenary Healers Cosmas and Damian.
They used the money they inherited from their parents to provide medical
care without charge to the sick and needy.
Imagine that: doctors who refused
payment. God worked many miracles through
them, for they became channels of the Lord’s mercy and love to those with whom
the Lord identified Himself: the sick,
the weak, the stranger, “the least of these my brethren.”
St.
Paul’s famous words about love in 1 Corinthians 13 were lived out by these
great saints. We remember them precisely
because of their love. The Lord said
that the greatest commandments are to love God all our heart, soul, and
strength and our neighbors as ourselves.
And what greater sign of love is there than patiently and selflessly to
ease the pain of others, to lighten their burdens, to heal their bodies, and
restore them to health. No, these men
did not take credit for their work or think that they healed by their own
power. Instead, their lives were
transformed by the healing energies of the Holy Spirit; they became channels of
God’s mercy to suffering, desperate people.
Saints
Cosmas and Damian were completely different from the rich man who disregarded
Lazarus. They would have provided him
their best care free of charge and done everything possible to nurse him back
to health. Their selfless love for
Lazarus would have been an icon of the Kingdom of God in which those who wait
humbly upon the Lord will not be disappointed.
But
we have to go beyond merely praising the memory of Sts. Cosmas and Damian. We must venerate them not only with our
words, but also with our deeds; namely, by following in their footsteps for the
Lazaruses of our world and or our lives.
No, we are not all called to become physicians; we are not all called to
give everything away to the poor. But we
are all called to live out the selfless love that Jesus Christ has brought to
the world, the love that is patient and kind and free of envy; that rejoices in
the truth and endures all things for the salvation of the world. That kind of love never fails, for it has
conquered death through our Lord’s crucifixion and glorious resurrection.
Such
love is not a feeling, an emotion, or a sentiment. It is a commitment, a sacrifice, an offering
of ourselves to God in the service of the living icons of Christ whom we
encounter every day, namely every human being with whom we come in
contact. Unlike the rich man in the
parable, we are not to be so fixated on ourselves that we ignore the needs of
others. None of us is rich and famous in
the world, but we all have the opportunity, at the very least, to share the
crumbs that fall from our tables with those who are hungry for them.
As
we prepare for the Nativity or Advent fast, we should plan on giving the money
that we save by eating a humble diet to those who do not have the basic
necessities of life. That’s what we do
as a parish through the “Food for Hungry People” collection during Lent. Stay tuned for details on a food drive for
Thanksgiving and for our plans to help a needy family at Christmas. Think also of the crumbs, the small bits of
time and energy, that we are all able to give:
to the sick and lonely who need
visitors or at least a note or a phone call; to neglected children who need
tutors and mentors; to pregnant women in difficult situations who need our
support to help them welcome their babies; and to the countless other people in
our own neighborhoods who need God’s blessing in their lives in a tangible,
practical way.
The
hard truth is that, if we are not sharing our lives and blessings with others
in some way, we will become just like the rich man who was too caught up with
his own pleasure to worry about poor Lazarus.
We know where that path leads.
The good news is that Saints Cosmas and Damien have shown us a better
way, the way of our Lord, which is open to us in every generation, in every
walk of life, no matter how rich or poor we are. For the money and power of the world will
fade away; they do not last. Only one
thing lasts, and that is the selfless love of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus
Christ Who has conquered sin and death.
And we all have gifts and abilities that may become channels of His
blessing and mercy to a world of people like Lazarus, whether their wounds are
physical or spiritual or emotional.
Of
course, we do not have to save the world; Christ has already done that. We just have to be faithful: to trust, believe, and follow our Savior in
how we treat others. He turned no one
away empty-handed and neither should we.
If we claim His mercy and love for ourselves, we must show them to all
who bear His image and likeness. Let us
be Christians not merely in name, but also in how we live, even when it is
inconvenient. Then we will become living
icons of the salvation that Jesus Christ has brought to a world of sin and
death, and the Lazaruses of the world will know that they too are the children
of God. And together with them, we will
all share in the mercy of a Lord Who raises the dead, heals the sick, feeds the
hungry, and makes even the most miserable people His blessed sons and
daughters.
Thanks for this reflection!
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