Word to the Wise
Sunday, September 26, 2010 - Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Amos 6:1a, 4-7; 1 Timothy 6:11-16; Luke 16:19-31]There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores........[Luke]
With these words, Jesus sets the scene in one of his most dramatic parables - the story of the Rich Man (tradition calls him, "Dives") and Lazarus! The contrast in the few words that begin the parable could not be more striking: a well fed rich man covered in purple (a very expensive dye) garments with a starving poor man covered with sores! The broader context of this parable is the emphasis in the Gospel of Luke on the danger of material wealth. We saw in last week's gospel the commendation of a dishonest steward for knowing how to use material wealth for a "good" reason - something Jesus said the "children of light" needed to learn! In today's parable we have the opportunity to reflect on the power of the contrast in images. Lest we think Jesus has exaggerated for the sake of story-telling, we can go back and read the first scripture of the day from Amos! Then we can examine the contrast between rich and poor that exists elsewhere in the world. The existence of a large middle class in the United States tends to "numb" us to the realities of economic and social life elsewhere in the world. We Americans are very much in danger of being as insensitive as the Rich Man in the parable, even if we ourselves are not "that" rich! Our "middle class" standard of living would be seen as very wealthy in some "Third World" lands! It is the "numbness" or "unawareness" of the Rich Man that drives the image. We are not told that he is hostile to Lazarus. He just doesn't "see" Lazarus at all, even though the Poor Man is on the front door step! Later on, "Dives" begs Abraham to send messengers to his presumably wealthy relatives to warn them about the trap of numbness, but Abraham responds that there is ample warning in the very faith they profess! Do we see the warning? Can we see the world from the perspective of the poor? When one's day is marked by unemployment, drugs, violence and starvation, one's view of the world is quite different from the folks who live in "gated" communities! The gospel does not make wealth a "sin" in itself. The gospel warns about what wealth can do to its possessor. The emphasis is on sharing and almsgiving, but this can require in some instances a complete reshaping of the economic system to make a decent standard of living available to all. As important as individual sharing and generosity can be, some social realities are beyond the individual effort and require that an entire society overcome its "numbness" and see Lazarus at the door! Otherwise the deep chasm that divides rich and poor will simply get larger and deeper! AMEN
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