Jesus tells the parable of a man who in life was fabulously rich and enjoyed all the comforts that this world has to offer – good food, nice clothes, comfortable and well-appointed home. He was really living the high life. In turns out he had a neighbor, a homeless man who had taken up residence outside his gate. This man was namedLazarus. Lazarus’ life could not have been any more different from that of the rich man. Lazarus was dressed in rags. He had no house or home of his own. He had no food to eat and wished he could eat the crusts and crumbs that the rich man threw away after he was done with his feast. On top of all that Lazarus had a severe skin disease that left him with painful sores that covered his body.
As Jesus tells the parable, both men died. And in death there was a definite change in the living and stature of each man. Whereas in life Lazarus was poor and pitiable, yet he was a man of faith and he trusted and believed God and so in heaven Lazarus was comforted and cared for in the arms of Abraham himself. And the rich man? He was away off in hell, suffering the punishments of a unbeliever – in life his god had been his wealth and the good things it could buy and so he was in hell, in torment.
The rich man could see up to heaven and he saw that Lazarus was there with Abraham and so called up to Abraham. And, still maintaining his air of superiority, that “I’m better than you” attitude he had on earth – he thought perhaps Lazarus should come from heaven down to hell to be his servant. “Have your boy there dip his finger in some water and bring it down to me so that I can cool my tongue.” We can’t stand people who think they are entitled. The rich man’s definitely had a superior attitude that just makes your blood boil. The guy got what he deserved.
But the thing that is shocking is Abraham’s response. In part we might be shocked by what he doesn’t say. He doesn’t say “we won’t come”. He doesn’t say, “Not on your life you self-entitled scum bag.” He says, “Wecan’t come.” He says, “There is a chasm, a big giant hole, between us and you. We simply are not able to make it.”
Now we use the “I can’t come” excuse all the time. It’s easier than saying “I don’t want to come”. “I would love to attend your party, help with your event, whatever, but I can’t. I have a conflict.” But remember this is heaven where people are honest and forthright and tell the truth. I can’t come really means “I can’t come”.
Apparently they had tried.
The comforted and rewarded and peace-filled citizens of heaven had seen their former enemies suffering in hell. Martyrs saw their torturers, the murdered saw their murderers, the abused saw their abusers and they loved them. They had mercy on them. They had pity on them. And they wanted to help them. And so even from the comfort and safety of Heaven, the citizens of God’s Kingdom care to help the prisoners in hell.
What else is remarkable is that the rich man, despite the fact that he is in hell does not want to leave. He would rather Lazarus come to serve him as opposed to a brief respite from his suffering in hell. This may be torture, but it’s my torture. I can call the shots here. I can be king. I am the master of myself.
This parable helps to paint a picture of the contrast in the way of thinking between the natural man and the spiritual. The unbeliever and the believer. Our natural man thinks, “I.” “Me.” “My”. “Myself.” “Mine.” It’s like that old Tom Petty song. “It’s good to be king and have your own way.” That is who we are. That is the state of the human heart. But God calls the Christian to a different view and a different perspective. One of love and mercy and service.
As we can see in the Gospel reading with the disciples, that change in attitude requires some training.
In our reading this morning, Jesus and his disciples had been walking together along the road. The disciplesmust have hung back from Jesus for just a bit. They had some things to discuss that they did not want Jesus to overhear.
You might imagine it like this. Jesus and the disciples were walking along the road. You can see them all together just making their way along. Let’s say Matthew hangs back a bit from the front of the pack as they were walking along. Now Matthew had been a tax collector. He was good with money and he had a head for numbers, having been a tax collector. You might imagine that this gave him something in common with Judas, one who was also good with money. You might imagine Matthew leaning in to say, “So Judas, do you notice how chummy James and John and Peter are with the Lord? Think one of them will get the top spot when he’s finally king?” “Wouldn’t be surprised.” Judas might say, “But I don’t plan on being too far behind. Someone needs to look after the treasury. I’m good with numbers. You are too. Maybe we could work something out. You’ve already got some experiences with running taxes. You handle the income, I’ll take care of the expenses.” Simon the Zealot at this point overhears their conversation. And not wanting to be left out, Simon,a man with some military experience, inserts his value and asset to the group. The others at this point are brought in to the conversation and before long, they all start to wonder how it is that a couple of fishermen are in the front seats. What experience do they have? What do they have to offer a kingdom? Kings don’t need advisors to help them fish. They need money and might and power. By now Peter and James and John have over heard the conversation and they have joined in. Maybe your average fishermen are not the mostsophisticated and worldly wise, but they were far from average.
You can just hear them fighting can’t you?
Of course we can. We can hear it and we can guess what they would say because we would say it too. We can easily imagine how the conversation would go because we are just like them.
The great irony of our text is that Jesus just got done describing for them the kind of king he had come to be. The kind of throne from which his kingdom would be ruled. “The Son of Man will be given over into the hands of men and they will kill him. And when they have killed him after three days he will rise.”
Jesus had no mind to be a ruler king, to lord it over his subjects and make them be his servant. He was not there to promote himself, to serve himself, to magnify himself. He was there to serve others. He came to serve his Father and he came to serve people. He came to serve even with his life. To lay it down so that even those who would beat him and whip him and mock him and crucify him could believe and receive salvation. “Father forgive them,” he prayed, “for they know not what they do.”
Natural man, and that is to say, people who are born in their natural and sinfilled state do not understand this at all. It is completely contrary to our nature. We just do not think this way. And even though we get that whole concept of selfishness and we can idealize and philosophize about the need to share and give and be nice and kind and merciful and generous, we can’t do it. We can’t pull it off. We still are who we are.
To some, this point of view might sound overly harsh or cynical. It might seem like this doesn’t completely account for all the good things that people do. And that is true, people do good things. But they are never consistent. And humanly devised goodness is always less than pure, less than selfless, less the whole. It is always tainted by pride, motivated by guilt or a desire to compensate for something they did wrong, its tainted by self-justification, coveting power or recognition or wealth. Even those we think of as good get angry or lash out or find themselves caught in scandal and sin. Our sinful side always comes out, it always has its outlet. And so it is never truly good.
But Jesus is. And Jesus sees through us. Just like with his disciples, as they were walking along jostling for position, desiring to ride his coattails to their own greatness, Jesus confronted their sin. They didn’t understand. He just got done telling them and they did not understand. The Son of man came to be handed over into the hands of sinful men. He didn’t come to whip them in to shape or make them bow before his greatness, he came to die for them, to submit to them so that they could kill him. And when they had killed him he would be raised from the dead.
And Jesus called his disciples to similar acts of service and love, to surrender themselves, to set aside their ambition and their pride and their lust for glory and that they give themselves up to be the servants of others.
That is what it means to be a citizen of heaven. That is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. The rich man treated Lazarus like he was lower than a dog, but still Lazarus would have gone even to hell to cool his tongue with a drip of water. I am wiling to be that you have been wronged and sinned against and mistreated. Jesus calls you to love. Jesus calls you to forgive. Jesus calls you to serve. Why? Because He has done this for you.
The Son of man will be given over into the hands of people. He will be killed at the hands of sinful people. People like you and me. But he will be raised. He was raised. And because he was raised, because he lives we will live too.
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