Called to love and care for our neighbor
When I was in college, we were required to take Phy. Ed classes as part of the distribution of classes. I decided that, since I didn’t really know how to swim very well, I would take beginning swimming. I didn’t realize that a good portion of the class was on the swim team.
Every week the instructor introduced a new stroke – of course it was review for the swim team – and then told us to get in the deep end and use this stroke to swim across the short end of the pool. Then he would have everyone get out – except for three of us who he had swim the stroke back again. Every week I was chosen to stay in the pool to swim the stroke again while the rest of the class watched. I didn’t understand why until, finally, I was invited to get out and watch with the rest of the class. While the three students swam, the instructor pointed out to the rest of the class the “good example” and the “bad example.” Then I realized, in all of the times in which I had to do the stroke a second time, he was using me as “the bad example.” I hope the other students learned from my bad example, because I didn’t learn much in that class.
Some of the parables of Jesus are confusing and scholars wrestle with what they mean. But today’s parable is really clear. The “rich man” is the “bad example.” The rich man spends his life luxuriating in his wealth and “feasting sumptuously” every day in a gated home. Meanwhile, outside of that gate lays Lazarus. This is not the same Lazarus who was a brother of Mary and Martha who Jesus rose from the dead. He was simply a poor hungry hurting man, who would have gratefully eaten the leftovers from the rich man’s table. But the rich man gave him nothing. He was only befriended by the dogs who licked his wounds. The contrast between their lives is clear. And so is their fate when they die.
Lazarus, whose name means, “God is my help,” is carried to heaven by the angels and welcomed to the bosom of Abraham, claimed as a child of God.
The rich man is sent to Hades. He’s not given a name – probably on purpose because, like a fable, the parable is meant to teach us all a lesson. Rich people were often then – and now – considered “blessed” because they were entrusted with so many riches. But instead of using these resources to care for the poor and needy, represented by Lazarus who was at his gate, the rich man chose to focus on himself, his comfort and his desires. He even does this after death, audaciously calling on Abraham to “send” Lazarus to “dip the tip of his finger in water to cool his tongue.”
Notice that the rich man knows Lazarus’ name, so he can’t even claim that he didn’t “see” him at his gate. Instead, in his life, he clearly saw Lazarus but did not choose to help him. The rich man was so busy living his self-centered opulent lifestyle, directing others to do his bidding, that he doesn’t see that he could have been living differently. He doesn’t see and that his over-consumption wasn’t good for him and that he could have used those resources to help other people. He doesn’t see that this is not the life that God has called him to live. In the parable, the rich man serves as the “bad example.”
As for Lazarus, we do not know his back story or how he ended up at the rich man’s gate as a helpless hurting and hungry man. What we learn in the parable is that God saw him, had mercy on him, and claimed him as his own, giving him a place of honor beside Abraham. He is an example of God’s surprising love and care for the “least of these.” But we don’t learn much about how we “should” live.
So where is the “good example?” In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells a lot of parables that give us good – and bad – examples of how to live the life that God wants us to live. One of the more well known “good examples” is the story of the Good Samaritan. You remember the story of a man who was ambushed, robbed and beaten by robbers. Three people walked by the victim on that day – first a priest and then a Levi – given their roles, people would expect that they would do the right thing. But they walked by. Then the Samaritan came upon the hurt man. There was an old family feud between the Jewish and Samaritan people and so everyone would assume that a Samaritan would not do anything goo. However, it was the Samaritan who stopped, cared for the man, took him to an inn and paid for his care and promised to come back and settle the rest of the bill and to care for him. Even though the lawyer who asked the question didn’t want to admit it, when Jesus asked him, “who was the neighbor” the lawyer had to admit that it was “the one who showed him mercy. The Samaritan was the “Good example.”
Our lesson in Amos provides another bad example. He cries “WOE” to those who think they are secure in their wealth and can’t be bothered by the problems of Joseph, another tribe. Amos declares that these rich and haughty people will be the first to be exiled.
There are times, when reading scripture that we have a hard time connecting to Biblical times. Sometimes we look at the Bible stories from a detached and theoretical perspective. But there is nothing theoretical about the lesson from Amos or this parable or how Jesus is calling us to live our lives.
Jesus is clear. Amos is clear. Living a good and godly life means caring for others – especially those who we could consider one of “them.” Because “they” are also children of God.
And so, as we read in our Psalm, do not put your trust in princes or leaders. Instead, praise GOD and look to God for the way to live your life. This is how we walk in God’s way of justice. We are to advocate for the oppressed, give food to those who hunger, care for the stranger, the poor and the vulnerable. This is the way of Jesus.
There are plenty of “bad examples” in our world today of people of wealth and power that oppress the innocent, ignore the needs of the poor and hungry and vulnerable and shut out the stranger. There are lots of those stories all over the news and the internet. I trust that you can find those on your own. But we don’t hear often enough stories of Good examples, of people who are seeking – maybe not perfectly – but who are seeking through their actions and their words to live the way of Jesus. And so I want to leave you with this example:
One of our elderly members was living alone in her home – and she did not want to move into a care facility. Her family worried about her living alone, but wanted to honor her wishes. Still, they wanted to make sure that she was really ok and not just keeping up appearances when she knew that they were coming. So, they started to stop by her house more often, sometimes unannounced. What they found, was that the neighbors were pitching in to help. The neighbors shoveled the driveway, mowed the lawn and brought over “leftovers” from their meals. The family soon realized that the neighbors were not just providing occasional leftovers but were actually cooking for their own family plus one. They always had just the right amount of “leftovers” – that happened to be hot from the oven -- right at the elderly lady’s dinnertime.
When the woman’s family sought to thank them and even offered to pay them, the neighbors were surprised. They were a financially poor family – but they didn’t want payment. They considered their neighbor lady as part of their family too. So, it wasn’t out of obligation or out of duty or out of trying to win “points with God.” The neighbors were simply doing these acts of kindness out of love. They were living in the way of Jesus and as a result, the older woman became more than someone who just lived next door; she was someone whom they had grown to love. This is what it means to live in the way of Jesus.
I was thinking about a particular woman and a particular neighbor. But you might have noticed that I did not give any names. Like in Jesus’ parables, with the exception of Lazarus and Abraham in today’s parable, the characters are always described and not named. This allows us as readers and listeners to enter the story and to imagine yourself in the different roles. Although I don’t always hear the story, I know that many of you have been the Christ-like neighbor to your neighbor far and near. And many of you, like me, have been on the receiving end. When my mother was ill, her neighbors and friends and people I didn’t even know from her church offered love, care and support. And much of it came by the way of delicious food.
Brothers and sisters, friends in Christ, let us pray for our neighbors, advocate for the poor, the stranger, the vulnerable and seek to follow the way of Jesus in all that we do. In Jesus’ name. Amen.