Word to the Wise
Thursday, March 20, 2025 - 2nd Week of Lent - Thurs
[Jer 17:5-10 and Luke 16:19-31]Jesus said to the Pharisees: "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....." [Luke]
One of the major "themes" of the Gospel According to Luke is the danger of material wealth and possessions. Such things can have an insulating effect that keeps us from seeing the misery of the less "fortunate" who are at our doorstep begging for help. The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus goes directly to that point. The ultimate "chasm" that is created between "Dives" (the traditional name for the rich man, a Latin word meaning "rich") and Lazarus was not dug in a day. Dives allowed himself, unwittingly or not, to be enclosed in a cocoon of physical comfort while Lazarus lingered just outside his door and consciousness. The ultimate result, as the end of the parable tells us, is that Lazarus is prevented from helping Dives who cries out from torment.
This is not simply a matter of "haves and have-nots" or "Share the wealth!" (although they are included), it is a matter of consciousness, sensitivity and intentionality. How insulated are we from our neighbor in need? In the parable of the Good Samaritan [Luke 10:29-37], the Samaritan overcomes the prejudicial insulation that would have kept him from helping the Jewish victim, whereas the victim's fellow Jews - a priest and a Levite - "passed by on the other side." Our insulation can be both external - possessions - and internal - prejudices. Dives could not "see" Lazarus and respond. Fear and prejudice, like wealth and possessions, are heavy insulation. They can create great chasms that blind us to our neighbor. The season of Lent offers us the penitential opportunity to examine what insulates us. AMEN