It’s easy to see the story of the rich man and Lazarus as a story about heaven and hades, or a story about how poor people go to heaven…but it’s much more than that!
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The story of the rich man and Lazarus: I’ve seen many preachers get to this passage in the Holy Gospel of Luke and preach about the nature of heaven.
“What’s it like?” they ask.
“It’s this beautiful place called Abraham’s Bosom,” they tell you.
Others use this passage to scare people into heaven.
“Look at that rich man,” they say, “he was being tormented in hades.”
To drive home their point, they add, “He couldn’t even get a drop of relief!”
But to preach these themes, with this passage, is abuse! It has nothing to do with the nature of heaven – or hades, for that matter.
The larger framework for this parable is the entirety of chapter 16. There, you’ll find that it’s about money!
Within this matrix, we find that money – in the hands of Christ followers – is about expressing our love for God and others. When the rich man stepped over Lazarus, he had failed to express love and so ended up in hades.
RICHIE RICH AND HIS MONEY
Money is one of those uncomfortable subjects.
Even in confession. Seminary professors told us that many people are much more willing to confess sexual sins than talk about how they spend their money.
Yet, Jesus didn’t shy away from the topic. Today’s reading being one of those occasions.
The first thing we notice in today’s teaching is that one of the two characters is only known by his wealth – he’s the “rich man.” Luke goes on to hammer home the point: “…[he] was dressed in purple and fine linen, and feasted in splendor every day.”
Only the poor man, Lazarus, is personalized.
What’s also clear is the relationship between these two men: “[Lazarus] longed to feed himself with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table” and he lay outside the rich man’s gate.
As Christ followers we expect to see a different sort of relationship. We see opportunity. Lazarus is in need and the other man is in a position to help. It could have been a beautiful relationship – each loving the other, living in harmony.
The reality, though, is that this is a relationship of missed opportunity.
This missed opportunity, like it or not, has eternal consequences.
In the end, the gospel turns their situations around: Lazarus is carried away at death to Abraham’s bosom – a paradise – while the rich man is carried way to torments in hades.
IT’S NOT ABOUT MONEY, BUT RELATIONSHIPS
Remember when I said this isn’t a story about the nature of heaven and hell? Well, neither is it a story about “rich people go to hades” and “poor people go to heaven.”
What it’s about is: relationship.
The point is that money plays a large part in our relationships – both with God and with others.
Love isn’t just an abstract idea. It isn’t just that ticklish feeling you get when you see a cute girl or guy.
Scriptural love is doing.
The rich man was in a prime position to extend love to Lazarus, but didn’t.
You see, the rich man didn’t end up in hades because he failed to “like” Lazarus in his mind. No: he ended up in hades because he failed to love by using his money to help Lazarus, that is, extending mercy in a cruel world.
Matthew reminds us that loving our neighbor is also loving God.
“Then the king will answer them, ‘I’m telling you the truth: when you did it to one of the least significant of my brothers and sisters here, you did it to me’.” (Matthew 25:40)
WHAT ABOUT THAT RESURRECTION THING?
But, you’re probably thinking, “look at the end of the parable, it turns to the law and, ultimately, Jesus rising from the dead. Isn’t the point that it foreshadows the resurrection and that the Pharisees won’t believe it on Easter morning?”
Good question.
The point Jesus makes is this: Look, the rich man had been instructed by the law to love by means of his money. He had also warned him as to what would happen if he didn’t love in this way. And, even if something miraculous were to happen – such as someone rising from the dead – that still doesn’t excuse him from not listening to the instruction of the law.
After all, Jesus had been asked point blank: what’s the point of the law? His response is pretty straightforward:
“Well,” replied Jesus, “what is written in the law? What’s your interpretation of it?” “You shall love the Lord your God,” [the lawyer] replied, “with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your understanding; and your neighbor as yourself.” “Well said!” replied Jesus. “Do that and you will live.” (Luke 10:26-28)
So, when Jesus tells the rich man that his brothers have “Moses and the prophets,” he’s saying, “You knew it was all about love, why didn’t you listen? Why did Lazarus starve outside your gate? Even if all you wanted to do was to love God, you knew to do that by helping Lazarus!”
THE RICH MAN AND THE STEWARD
As I said earlier, it’s easy to see the story of Lazarus and the rich man as a story about forming loving relationships with others through the use of money when you look at the entirety of chapter 16.
It starts with a parable about another rich man and the steward he appoints to oversee his money.
When the rich man threatens to fire the steward, the steward cleverly resolves all the rich man’s debts, which puts him again in the good graces of his master.
At the end of the story, Jesus puts it as he sees it:
“So let me tell you this: use that dishonest stuff called money to make yourselves friends! Then, when it gives out, they will welcome you into homes that will last.” (Luke 16:9)
In other words, use your money to form relationships. Use your money to love. And when the money runs out – and it will – you’ll have gained solid relationships on which you can rely – even one with God who looks after you in death!
It didn’t end so well for the Pharisees.
The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this, and mocked Jesus. So [Jesus] said to them, “You people let everyone else know that you’re in the right – but God knows your hearts.” (Luke 16:14 – 15a)
But the real question is: how will it end for you?
If we changed confession so that it required you to bring in your bank statements, what would God find?
Would God find that you loved him by loving your neighbor?
Or, would God find that you loved yourself, wearing splendid clothes and feasting in splendor?
And if we opened up the finances of the church – as we do at parish assemblies – what would God find?
Would he find a church that works to spread the gospel through loving relationships – wise stewardship – or would he find a church that seeks self-interests or the interests of its members?
CHRIST LEADS THE WAY, HE GAVE OF HIMSELF
The good news is that God isn’t asking us to do anything he’s not already done.
Of course, to God, money is useless, but he’s got something much more valuable: his uniquely begotten Son, whom he sent into the world to die so that we could live.
Christ’s death on the cross, properly understood, is not about an angry God getting his revenge on our sins, but it’s about Christ’s death as a loving action of self-giving.
It was by love that Christ died. He spent his life, his “treasure,” on us. This is what opens up the road for us to God.
Through this love, we can approach God and call him our “Father.”
What God is asking of us, and our money, is to live by the pattern already set by Christ: a giving of ourselves, including our money, to love both God and neighbor.
P.S. OUR LOVE OF NEIGHBOR STARTED WHEN GOD FIRST LOVED US!
I now invite you to enter deeper into the mystery of Christ with the Orthodox Church!
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