Word to the Wise
Thursday, March 20, 2014 - 2nd Week of Lent - Thurs
[Jer 17:5-10 and 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]
Imagine, if you will, a stage setting for the profound parable of "The Rich Man [Divas] and the Poor Man, Lazarus. The set is composed of one of those large turntables divided into four quarters. At the beginning of the drama, Divas is dining "sumptuously" in the quarter on the left and through a door on the right sits Lazarus in his misery with a dog his only company. There is no indication that Divas knows about Lazarus even though all he has to do is open his door! The turntable slowly turns and now on the left side is Lazarus in great contentment with Abraham, and on the other [right] side of a wall WITHOUT a door is Divas in terrible misery. The "table has turned" and this time there is no way either party can get to the other! However, Abraham is able to shout through the wall to Divas, and we know the message! Divas should have known it because he had Moses and the prophets to listen to. Abraham cannot go to the rest of Divas' family! The stage darkens and we are left to ponder! We have Moses, the prophets and Jesus to teach us. Do we get the message? Who is outside our door - whether it be the door to our house or the door to our heart? AMEN