Text: Luke 16: 19- 31
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Message
At the outset this parable is more of a satire that challenged the privileged class of Jesus’ time. The root of it is found in the same chapter i.e. Luke 16 verses 14, 15. ‘The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. So he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God.’ So this parable is a challenge for all of us who are engaged in the business of “Appearance Management. But before we move further let me quote to you an anecdote that I love. It is a story illustrated by Stephen Covey in his book “Eighth Habit” which I have adapted to my convenience.
“ In a school a teacher declared to the Class 8 that the next day he would conduct a written quiz. The quiz would have a question paper with 20 questions. The students were all excited and surveyed encyclopedia, google, Wikipedia, etc. to do their best in the quiz. The day came. The teacher distributed the question papers. Their pen were in a ready, get, set, go… mode. The questions were tough but their preparations were great. Till the 19th question the sailing was smooth. But the 20th question was a stumbling block. Nobody knew the answer. One of the students stood up and asked “What kind of a question is this? Name the woman who helps in cleaning the premises of your school? Is that a question worthy of a quiz?” The teacher patiently replied. “Son, you know the name of the president of Belaruz. The name of the Fifa Player of the year comes to you as easy as breath, but the lady who has been cleaning the school premises seems invisible to you. When she walks around you don’t even acknowledge her. It’s a danger when we recognize and acknowledge people only on basis of labels and merits. We need to respect people as humans. Even if you have answered 19 questions, if u can’t answer the 20th one, my students you have failed the quiz of being good humans.”
Here in the parable set in front of us we see no reason explicit for the rich man to have gone to hell. Was his richness depriving poor Lazarus? May be. But more than what he did, the question is what he did not do. The answer is he chose not to see the poor man Lazarus who was at his gate. He was indifferent to him. It did not matter to his existence whether this man who is at his gate lives or dies. I believe being cruel to people is bad but worse than that is being indifferent to the plight of the people around us. Noam Chomsky one of the finest intellectual of our times comments about India by saying “The poverty of India is disturbing but worse is the indifference of the privileged that is baffling and shocking.” He narrates about an Indian woman who was accompanying him who refused to look outside the car. It is no wonder that it is hardly shocking for us when 24 innocent children lost their lives in a mid day meal tragedy in Bihar. It is not shocking for us when we have politicians who are so away from reality who believe one can have a one time meal for Rs 12, for Rs 5 and the most shocking was Re 1. Poor man is everywhere today but he has become invisible for us. We have become too numb to be shaken or do anything about it. James Moore drives his point in a very brilliant way.
'FEDERAL FUSES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND STUDY AND THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.'
He tells us to read it and asks us to count the Fs in the sentence above. My first answer was there are 2 Fs. But then I realized that in Scientific there is F. so the answer is 3. But I was baffled when I saw the answer is 6 Fs are there in the sentence. Even Of has an F. It just does not occur. We take it for granted. I feel the obvious Fs are like the people who are obviously visible because of their status and status symbols. The Fs that are hidden in OF are the poor people that have become the invisible people. Their poverty does not shock us or disturb us. This is not the story of the rich man alone. This is the story of how we live. We live with utter indifference and now we have enough reasons to justify it in the name of security and well-being
Now the name of the poor man is a very curious one. Lazarus. It means “God is my Help.” This is the only parable where one of the persons has a name. It is easier to remember rich and important people. They have an identity. But Jesus does not see things like that. He gives name to the poor and keeps the rich man as obscure or without a name. When there is no human compassion for the poor man “God alone was the Help and source of succor.” The rich man wears purple and lives in pomp while Lazarus is full of sores languishing at the gate. There is a folklore about a pastor who was about to take charge of a Church. But when he arrives at the church he disguises himself as a ragged man with filthy clothes and long flowing beard. The parishioners tell the ragged to stay outside the gate as he was not fit to enter the magnificent Church premises. When the former pastor introduced the new pastor the people were shocked to see the ragged man who was still in the ragged outfit. When he came to the pulpit he drove a point “Today I see a gathering of people......not a church of Jesus Christ. The world has enough people, but not enough disciples...when will YOU decide to become disciples?” He then dismissed service until next week.......Being a Christian is more than something you claim. I'ts something you live by and share with others.
The question today in front of us is, “Who is our ‘Lazarus’”? It can be the beggar in the street, the maid who works in the house, the labourer who toils to building roads or the countless labourers at the construction sites. Like the rich man in the parable we are not responsible for the poverty of these people. But the Lazarus at our gate we chose not to see. This parable has immensely disturbed me and my foolish convictions. Let the Holy Spirit Judge our deeds and lead us to repentance. Let the repentance not be empty confession but strong desire to “see.” When one sees one will act and will fulfil the second greatest commandment “Love your neighbor.” Amen
Rev Merin Mathew
Mar Thoma Community Centre
Guwahati
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