Lazarus

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father and His only Son, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

        If you recall, the past three Gospel lessons from Luke have been focusing on the difference between the importance of the material wealth of this realm, or our worldly possessions, and of the treasures we receive through the salvation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

        Jesus is consistent in his ministry about what it means to be a follower of the one true God and how we are easily deceived by the efforts of the devil in order that we will continue to sin and thus widen the gap between what is righteous with God and our idolatry of worldly desires.

        To paraphrase the words of Christ, “One cannot serve two masters. One cannot serve God and Money. If you put your Father and mother, or brothers and sisters, or your spouse and children before God, you cannot follow the true path and be God’s children.”

        This parable Christ now relates to the Pharisees and his disciples, illustrates how this type of deviance from the truth would look.

        It begins with the description of a rich man who lived in opulence. To him, nothing was less than the best that money could buy. What was the rich man’s name? Do you remember? Don’t be embarrassed, because he isn’t given a name. This lack of name already symbolizes the importance of this man’s worldly wealth, power or fame. His position or stature is already dismissed as of no importance and forgotten.

        Yet the poor man, who owned nothing and was considered as human garbage, is given a name: Lazarus. The name Lazarus is the Greek form of the name Eleazar. Eleazar means – Whom God helps or aids. Already one might imagine the Pharisees cringe. Why? Not because of the description of a dirty poor man covered with sores begging at the gate of a rich land owner, surviving on scraps from a table that were discarded into the street as garbage, nor the disgusting thought of feral dogs in the street licking his open sores; they cringe because Jesus has already named the least and lowliest of society as one whom God helps and not the pious leaders of God’s people.

        With one name of a fictitious character in one sentence of a story, Jesus has accused, judged and condemned the actions of the most important people in the city – to their face. And he did it in such a way that they could not refute His truth nor defend themselves. The Pharisees’ sin was placed boldly and undeniably in front of them.

        Verse 22 - “The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side.” What a picture this forms in the mind. It comforts and brings to mind the promise God has made to us in the new covenant in the salvation of Christ Jesus. “I know my sheep by name and no one can snatch them from my hand.” You may have been forgotten or abused by this world, but Jesus has never forgotten his sheep as our Father in heaven has never forgotten His children.

        “The rich man also died and was buried” The rich man probably had a big funeral and all the friends money could buy attended, yet his name was not found in the book of life. This rich man was not carried by angels into heaven but went instead to eternal torment.

        Now we must remember, at the time of this parable, Jesus was still on earth. He had not yet carried our sins to the cross. He had not yet died in our place as the atoning sacrifice of our iniquities. His resurrection from the grave in order to defeat death and the evil one for eternity has not yet happened.

        This is why Christ uses Abraham in the parable. Abraham was considered the father of God’s people. Who else but Abraham would be in heaven with the Almighty? After all, wasn’t the great retort of the Pharisees, “Abraham was our father! We are God’s chosen people.”?

        For this reason, Jesus quotes Abraham in the story, when asked to send Lazarus back from the dead to warn the rich man’s brothers, as saying, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” [Luke 16:31]

        This is the message from Jesus. Do not put your faith in the wealth or material possessions of this world, because they will not save you. Do not rely on your piety and human wisdom. You will be separated from God with a barrier that is insurmountable. This chasm will be so great that not even anyone in heaven will be able to reach you. Do not put your trust in the things of this world or you will be surely lost.

        This is a fine parable. We can all appreciate the importance of the message it is relating. Many of us have never had to worry about over abundant monetary wealth clouding our faith or life, likewise, you may have not had to worry about poverty such as Lazarus to test your faith. So where do we stand in this Gospel today?

        It is true that we cannot come to God without His mercy and grace. It is because of this grace that we are saved by Christ’s sacrifice. In fact, we cannot even believe and trust in Christ Jesus without God’s grace. For after all, “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” [Heb 11:2] and our “hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; No merit of my own I claim but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.” [LSB 575]

        However, we can deny God. We can refuse to believe in him or refuse to believe in His son’s incarnation, death and resurrection. Yes, we can separate ourselves from God while we are here on this earth and in this life. It is in the life after this where we will no longer have the choice. In the eternal life, we will be judged and those who do not believe will be separated from God our Father for all eternity.

        “I surely don’t want that!” you may say. “I confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior!” you may say. And after all this public and private affirmation, you may still be condemned. How can this be you ask? It is simple.

        God has to be first in your life. When you put anything before God in your life, you are doomed. This means nothing is more important than God.

        How do we know when we are putting our own desires before God? How do we know when we are breaking that first commandment of idolatry? Sometimes we won’t. We can be lulled into false security very easily.

            To avoid this trap, we must first accept the fact that we are sinners. We have sinned in the past and we will sin in the future. Therefore, repent for your sins known and unknown before the face of God and ask for forgiveness. Receive the body and blood of our Lord and Savior to the restoration of your soul. The words of our Lord from John 6:

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.” [Jn 6:53-58]

        Like the rich man in the Gospel today, we sometimes put money and self satisfaction before God. Satan knows how to distract us from contemplating unpleasant topics like sin and the coming judgment. We buy comfortable furniture, eat and drink at expensive restaurants, listen to beautiful music on expensive sound systems. We say that our wealth is a gift of God.

        Yet how do we manage the greatest wealth given to us by God? How do we value the gift of Christ’s bride here on earth? Are we concerned whether our pastors are teaching what the Bible teaches, or do we gauge our wealth by the size of our congregation or the size of the building? Do we take measures to protect our families against the moral laxity that rules the world? Do we wrap ourselves so tightly in a soft cocoon of luxury that we live unaware of people suffering for lack of food, clothing and a roof over their heads? Do we spend so generously on ourselves that little is left to give for preaching the good news among those who have not heard it?

        I used to think the great turmoil in the world of wars, terrorism and economic collapse, would cause people to retreat from fleeting material desires and return to the Word of God and the body of Christ. I thought surely people would be in such despair that they would return to the faith once valued by a nation under God. I am still waiting. This is all the more reason for us to realize the importance of spreading the good news of our Lord’s sacrifice so that others can be saved.

        God must be put first if we are to live. He must be first so that we may prosper in this life but, more importantly, that we may live with him in eternal life. We will sin, of that we can be sure, but we also find comfort in the new covenant of Christ’s body and blood which says that we are forgiven of our sins and we will rejoice in the kingdom of heaven with our Lord and Savior.

        Therefore, do not cling to the treasures of this world only to be in constant worry and doubt but grasp firmly on the promise given in blood, in the death and the resurrection of God’s only Son, Jesus Christ. He has risen from the dead to give life to all who repent. His word is true and his promise everlasting. In Him you will not find eternal torment, but eternal life.

Amen