Introduction: The main themes of this Sunday are wealth and poverty, the rich and the poor, compensation by the reversal of fortune and forgiveness with restoration. Today’s readings stress the truth that wealth without active mercy for the poor is great wickedness deserving eternal punishment. Amos in the first reading issues a powerful warning to those who seek wealth at the expense of the poor and who spend their time and their money on themselves. If they have enjoyed being "first" in the enjoyment of luxury, they will also be "first" in exile! In the second reading, Paul admonishes us to "pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience and gentleness" – noble goals in an age of disillusionment – rather than riches. And Jesus tells us of the destiny of the rich man who neglected his duty to show mercy to poor Lazarus. The rich man's punishment was not for having riches, but for neglecting the Scriptures and what they teach.
Exegesis: Objectives: Jesus told this parable to condemn the Pharisees for their love of money and lack of mercy for the poor. He also used the parable to correct two Jewish misconceptions propagated by the Sadducees: 1) Material prosperity in this life is God’s reward for moral uprightness, while poverty and illness are God’s punishment for sins; hence, there is no need to help the poor and the sick for they have been cursed by God. 2) Since wealth is a sign of God’s blessing, the best way of thanking God is to enjoy it by leading a life of luxury and self-indulgence in dress, eating and drinking, of course, after giving God His portion as tithe. Jesus challenged these misconceptions by teaching through this parable that eternal salvation will come only to those who are willing to share their blessings with the less fortunate, who are really, in Christ, their own brothers and sisters. The parable condemns those with plenty who ignore the poor they encounter and offers an invitation to each one of us to be conscious of the sufferings of those around us. The parable also addresses the false doctrine of the Sadducees denying the survival of the soul after death and the consequent retribution our deeds and neglects in this life receive in the next.
One-act-play: The parable is presented as a one act play with two scenes. The opening scene presents the luxurious life of the rich man in costly dress, enjoying five course meals every day, in contrast to the miserable life of the poor and sick beggar living in the street by the rich man’s front door, competing with stray dogs for the crumbs discarded from the rich man’s dining table. As the curtain goes up for the second scene the situation is reversed. The beggar Lazarus is enjoying heavenly bliss as a reward for his fidelity to God in his poverty and suffering, while the rich man is thrown down in to the excruciating suffering of hell as punishment for not doing his duty of showing mercy to the poor by sharing with the beggar at his door the mercies and blessings God has given him
Why punish the innocent? Naturally, we are tempted to ask the question, why the rich man was punished. He did not drive either the poor beggar or the stray dogs from in front of his door nor prevent either from sharing in the discarded crumbs and leftovers from his table. The Fathers of the Church find three culpable omissions in the rich man in the parable. a) He neglected the poor beggar at his door by not helping him to treat his illness or giving him a small house to live in. b) He ignored the scrolls of Sacred Scriptures kept on his table reminding him of Yahweh’s commandment in the book of Leviticus (15: 7-11) “ Don’t deny help to the poor. Be liberal in helping the widows and the homeless.” c) He led a life of luxury and self-indulgence totally ignoring the poor people around him, with Cain’s attitude: “Am I the guardian of my brother?” It is not wrong to be rich but it is wrong not to share our blessings with our less fortunate brothers and sisters.
Statistics that should challenge us: Here is the report of the United Nations Human Development Commission. "The richest fifth [20 percent] of the world's people consumes 86 percent of all goods and services, while the poorest fifth [20 percent] consumes just 1.3 percent.” The three richest people in the world have assets that exceed the combined gross domestic product of the 48 least developed countries. "Americans spend $8 billion a year on cosmetics--$2 billion more than the estimated annual total needed to provide basic education for everyone in the world.” Of the 4.4 billion people in developing countries, nearly three-fifths [that would be almost 60 percent] lack access to safe sewers, a third have no access to clean water, a quarter do not have adequate housing and a fifth [20 percent] have no access to modern health services of any kind." That dogs and cats in the United States eat more nutritious food than do the homeless in refugee camps in the third world was reported The New York Times.
The “ Particular Judgment and role reversal:” The parable refers to the ‘Particular Judgment’ made by God on each of us immediately after death and to the innate dignity of every human person – independent of social, financial, cultural or religious position. Respect for this dignity implies that we must help those who are experiencing any material or spiritual need. The rich man wasn't even a little merciful to Lazarus in his lifetime. Lazarus, by contrast, was forced to live a life relying on the mercy and compassion which the rich man denied him. One is tempted to say that what happens in death is a role reversal. In death, Lazarus, who had been forced to live without needed mercy, was showered with a mercy beyond his imagining; he experienced "true riches" (16:11). And the rich man’s life denying mercy fixed a chasm between himself and the ultimate divine mercy after his death. Since the rich man lived without giving mercy he would continue eternally without receiving mercy.
Additional lessons taught: This parable teaches important lessons: a) It reminds us that eventually all will experience God’s justice as did both the selfish rich man who was condemned to misery, and the man who starved to death at his gates who was rewarded with a place rejoicing by Abraham's side. b) It points to the Law and the Prophets (the Sacred Scriptures) as ways to learn how to practice righteousness — the rich man's five brothers should listen to them. c) It looks ahead to our resurrection ("neither will they be convinced if someone rises from the dead") and the reality that some people will heed nothing.
Important conclusions: What conclusions, then, can safely be drawn from this parable? i) We can't take wealth with us. ii) There is justice in the afterlife. iii) It is too late to repent after death. iv) Some people will not listen to God’s words under any circumstances; it does not matter who might rise from the dead to bear witness to them. v) God permits injustices in this life, though not in the next. Lazarus was victimized, and God forced no one to do anything about it because He is not running this present world as a moral police state. The Bible tells us how to live and it reveals the consequences of disobedience. The rest is up to us. vi) Perhaps the main lesson of this parable is that supreme self-love is total moral depravity. Making self-gratification one's supreme goal does not merely lead to sin: it is sin. A selfish heart is totally inconsistent with true religion. It is impossible to love God while self rules the heart and life. The commitment to self-gratification renders all outward forms of religion and morality meaningless.
Messages: 1) We are all rich enough to share our blessings with others. God has blessed each one of us with wealth or health or special talents or social power or political influence or a combination of many blessings. The parable invites us to share what we have been given with others in various ways instead of using everything exclusively for selfish gains.
2) Remember that sharing is the criterion of Last Judgment: Matthew (25: 31ff) tells us that all the six questions to be asked to each one of us by Jesus who comes in glory as our judge are based on how we have shared our blessings from Him (food, drink, home, mercy and compassion), with others. Here is the message given by Pope John Paul II in Yankee Stadium, New York during his first visit to the U.S., October 2, 1979. "The parable of the rich man and Lazarus must always be present in our memory; it must form our conscience. Christ demands openness to our brothers and sisters in need – openness from the rich, the affluent, the economically advanced; openness to the poor, the underdeveloped and the disadvantaged. Christ demands an openness that is more than benign attention, more than token actions or halfhearted efforts that leave the poor as destitute as before or even more so. ...We cannot stand idly by, enjoying our own riches and freedom, if, in any place, the Lazarus of the 20th century stands at our doors.”
3) Treat the unborn as our brother/sister Lazarus. The Lazarus of the 20th century is also our preborn brothers and sisters who are brutally executed in their mother’s wombs. Their cries for a chance to live are rejected 4400 times a day in our country. This is the person torn apart and thrown away by abortion. The rich man was condemned for not treating Lazarus as his brother. We also will be condemned for our selfishness if we do not treat the preborn as our brother and sister. "Who am I to interfere with a woman's choice to abort?" I am a brother, a sister of that child in the womb! I am a human being who has enough decency to stand up and say "NO!" when I see another human being about to be killed. I am a person gifted with enough wisdom to realize that injustice to one human being is injustice to every human being, and that my own life is only as safe as the life of the preborn child. Finally, I am a follower of the One who said, "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, you do to me."
4) Our choices here determine the kind of eternity we will have. It has been put this way: "Where we go hereafter depends on what we go after, here." Where we will arrive depends on what road we travel. We get what we choose, what we live for. We are shaping our moral character to fit one of two places.