Luke 16:19-28

Luke 16:19-28 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’"

This story reveals the rich man was capable of loving and giving. He loved his brothers enough to ask Abraham to warn them of their selfish lifestyle, and he gave Lazarus enough food so that whoever laid him in the street to beg always laid him at the gate of the rich man. There, he ate the leftovers from the rich man's table. In other words, the rich man was not necessarily bad. He wasn't without love or even concern for the poor. He was probably like many of us Americans. Now, that is somewhat startling, for we sometimes want to make the rich man a bad person, one deserving of hell, not like one of us. But Abraham replied, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony."

In this story, we see God's love for the poor. We also see He is a God of justice, and He is the final arbiter of where we will be in eternity. This account reveals we are to love the poor, the alien, the deformed, and the sick as we love ourselves. This is what God expects from people. When we fail because of selfish reasons, we fail to manifest his image to others. The Jewish rich man in this encounter called upon Abraham as his father. But Abraham reluctantly explained to this man that he had been blessed in life but had failed to share his wealth adequately with Lazarus; therefore, he ended up in hell while Lazarus was at Abraham's side.

I am concerned when I see Christians leading the charge against people on welfare or against the alien or against people receiving health care. In the Old Testament the prophets reminded the Jewish people they were once the poor, the alien, the needy, and God rescued them out of their desperate situations. But because of the hardness of their hearts, the Jews forgot who they once were and treated the weak and needy with disdain. They somehow believed they deserved the blessings of God: his grace, mercy, and love. God judged them harshly for their forgetfulness, their hard hearts, and their adulterous nature.

We Christians should not lead the charge against the weak. We should be the most caring, the most forgiving, and the most loving of all people. We should in all ways illustrate God's love to people, all people. Christians should be the first to come along side the weak; we should be their advocates. God demands such love from us. We are to help the weak: restore them, provide for them, love them as ourselves. Our Father, our Lord, is not Abraham, but God himself who gave us his Son as the greatest example of love. As Christians we are under grace, not law, but we should reflect the Father's heart of love and justice to the world.

We love people because they are made in HIS IMAGE. We love because He first loved us. The Jewish people needed to obey the letter of the law; under grace we fulfill the intentions of the law. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself. (Luke 10:27) We reveal God's Holy Spirit to the world as we show the fruit of the Spirit. If we fall back into the parsimonious spirit of flesh, we will be judged, for we are not bastards but children of the kingdom. Jesus came for the brokenhearted, the sick, the poor. He sent us to them. If you and I are like the rich man, a relatively good man but insensitive to the weak of society, we live in a very dangerous place. Jesus said, By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:35)