Living a Life Rich for God[1]...Lk 16-19-31

8/8/2019 Living a Life Rich for God[1]...Lk 16-19-31

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26th Sunday of the Year – 26 Sep 2010

Dr Lutz Ackermann (Christ Church, Polokwane)

Living a life rich for God...

(Lk 16:19-31)

Sometimes I wish I was an African. Some things in life are just easier when you

are an African. I could imagine that for someone born and breed in Africa it

must be much easier to understand some of the things Jesus was talking about

in the gospel accounts.

Take today's Gospel lesson, for example: how difficult is it for me, coming from

a western, post-modern culture to follow a story in which Jesus speaks about

dead people like one would speak about living people: they talk to each other

and argue with each other; they suffer, they have parties with Father Abraham

and they care for others.

What's going on here? Lazarus, Abraham, the rich man – they are supposed to

be dead. But in Jesus' story they seem to be fairly much alive and kicking! I

struggle with that but I could imagine that from an African perspective it is

much easier to speak of the living dead.

So let me ask this question: why does Jesus tell a story about dead people? Or

why did Jesus tell stories at all? And: where did he get them from? When we

look closely at the gospel accounts it is clear that Jesus was a great teller of

tales: how often do we find the words “And then Jesus told them this

parable...”!

Now, if we look a bit closer we discover that sometimes these stories came

simply out of the situation they were in. Jesus sits at the table and eats with

others – and he starts telling stories about hospitality and about great feasts and

banquets (Lk 14:1-24). He takes a walk through the fields – and starts telling

parables of a great harvest. He sees clouds and a storm coming up – and he

starts talking about the signs of the times (Lk 12:54-56).

[I could imagine that some of the stories grew over time; maybe the story of the

prodigal son started as some comment about a rumour they had heard: youknow so-and-so? Well, his son run away from home and has squandered a lot of



money. Then maybe some speculations: “can he return back home, after all he

has done?” which led the story-teller to speak more about the father. And finally

the figure of a second brother is introduced, who is unhappy with what is

happening.]

But Jesus did not only make these stories up from his own ideas, he often used

material that what known to the listeners. He used figures like Jonah the prophet

who was swallowed by a fish; like Noah, who build the arc; like Moses, who

gave the law to the people of Israel; and of Abraham, who is the father of many

nations.

But why would Jesus tell a story about the underworld, about Hades? Sure, it

was the kind of mythology well known in ancient times [some commentaries

say that the story of Lazarus and the rich man has got parallels in Egyptian

mythology]; and his listeners would have understood very well, why there was

that “deep pit”, the chasm that separated some of the dead from others: where

on the one side there was a feast – and on the other there was suffering. But let

me ask again: is this really a story about the “world of the dead”? Or is it not at

least as much a story about the living and their world?

It starts in the world of the living: there was once a rich man... (v19) and paints

a picture of someone living a careless life in utter luxury. He's got everything hecould possibly want – more than enough (purple robes). He lived a life centred

around nothing but his possessions. Ok, maybe Jesus caricatures this man a bit;

he describes the one extreme, to make his point. And then he goes straight to the

other extreme: the poor man, Lazarus. Hungry, needy, living on the refuse of

the rich man's household. A person at the bottom of society. No-one can help

him – except maybe God.

But the story does not only start in the world of the living; it also returns to the

world of the living; because if you look at it closely, after all that bit on “fire

and pain” and “send Lazarus to cool my tongue with water”, after these

impressions from an apocalyptic underworld, the dialogue between the rich man

and Abraham takes another turn. They start to talk about the five brothers of the

rich man, who are still alive; they talk about how they would apparently need a

warning, which could be brought to them by Lazarus.

Is this a story about the dead? About some retribution or recompensation after

death? If you suffer in this life you will be fine in the next one – and vice versa?“Poor man, suffer in silence and in patience – one day you will receive your



reward”. Is that the message? Or is it not maybe much more a story about life

and the living?

In 1968, a famous picture was taken by

the crew of Apollo 8: the earth risingabove the horizon of the moon. It was

the first of its kind, because you cannot

take a photograph of the earth, as long

as you are on it! You need a different

perspective to do that. And maybe it is

a bit like that with this story: it looks at

the world of the living from a different

perspective. Some things about lifeonly become apparent, if we look at them “from the other side” - from the world

of the dead .

The rich man asks Father Abraham to send a warning to his father's house, to

his five brothers, so that, he says “they at least will not come to this place of

pain”. And Father Abraham does not deny that they need a warning; and they

need it urgently. It is clear to both of them that the pain which the rich man is

experiencing is a consequence of the way he lived. And the conclusion is more

than obvious: since the rich man's brothers are living in some way similar to the

way he had lived, they are in for trouble: they are heading for the same

destination.

We could ask now: what was so wrong about the way the rich man lived? After

all, is it a crime to be rich? In the musical “Fiddler on the Roof”, the poor

milkman Tevje sings “If I were a rich man...” and then he describes all the

things he would do. And he concludes with the words: “Lord […] Would it

spoil some vast eternal plan, if I were a wealthy man?” And the answer is: no,of course not.

So: if being rich is not a crime, what else is it that the rich man is doing wrong?

Well he funny thing – or should I say disturbing thing - is that in the story of

Jesus we are not told that he is doing anything wrong! Could it be, that the

whole issue is about things he failed to do? Maybe he was just to busy with the

one thing that was so central in his life: his riches, his possessions.

In his situation clearly he could have helped the poor man at his doorstep – buthe didn't. He could have helped a fellow Jew in need, as would have been



expected of him – but he didn't. And there are similar things which his brothers

– who are still alive – could do, if only they wanted. But they don't. If only

someone could warn them!

And that is where the rich man in the story suggests to send someone from theunderworld back into the land of the living to bring this warning. Now he can't

say: “send me back to my brothers to warn them”. He realizes that he is in a

place of punishment an can't expect to be allowed to return to the land of the

living. But what about Lazarus? He sits, where the righteous sit: in the bosom of

Abraham, as older translations used to express it. Could he not bring the

warning back to the remaining brothers?

No, says Father Abraham. The reason is simple: they have already been warned!

They have “Moses and the prophets” - meaning they know the Hebrew

scriptures. They know that God is a God who loves justice; they know that God

is the one who casts down the mighty from their thrones and lifts up the lowly.

That God is the one who fills the hungry with good things, while the rich God

sends away empty.

But the rich man insists: if something spectacular would happen, like a dead

man returning to the world of the living: would hat not make a huge impact. But

Father Abraham shakes his head: they've got this {show bible}; God has alreadyspoken; the prophets have already warned. If that is not enough, nothing will be.

They would not believe, even if someone should rise from the dead. Shoud? But

wait a minute, someone has!

Luke (the evangelist) knew very well, what he was writing here, because as

followers of Jesus they had experienced this huge tension: on the one hand they

had experienced Jesus as the Risen One, the one who had overcome death; on

the other hand they were surrounded by a world that, by and large, was

unimpressed. So often the message of the Resurrection of Jesus was met by

laughter, ridicule – or indifference.

Now, what do we make of this story? How does it speak to us? We are on this

side of the equation, in the land of the living. In the land, where choices can be

made. And we have got not only “Moses and the prophets”, but even the

message of all those, who are witnesses of the One, who has died and has come

back to life again: Jesus. So don't say we've never been warned! But what do we

do; how do we live?



Maybe we hear this text as a warning: to leave the earthly riches behind to

become rich in God's sight. St Francis was someone who went this way: coming

from a wealthy family he deliberately and consciously chose to live in poverty.

Can you imagine, what would happen, if God could find a St Francis today?

Who maybe would sell his or her fancy house in Bendor and chose to live in

Extension 44? Or who would sell his or her BMW and take a taxi or a bus on

their way to work in future. Surely, anyone who willingly chooses the simpler

way in a world that can't stop telling us that we need more and more and more –

a person like that would make a great impact.

But please don't get me wrong: I am not saying this is what you are called to do.

Surely, we cannot all be St Francis. As I said earlier: there is nothing wrong

with being rich. The problem comes, when our material possessions are thecentre around which our whole life seems to rotate; to a degree that we do not

even become aware of the need and the plight of the one who lives at our

doorstep?

But maybe you will say, all doesn't apply to me anyway, because I am not rich;

on the contrary, I am struggling to survive! So this is a message for others, not

for me. But have you ever noticed, that not only rich people are preoccupied

with material possessions? They are preoccupied what all the stuff they have;

but those who are not rich are preoccupied with all the stuff they don't have –

but would like to have. (spending money we don't have for stuff we don't need

to impress people we don't like...Tony Campolo?)

No, the issue is not being rich. The issue here is: on which side of the fence are

you? Or more precisely: are you on God's side? And are you willing to be on the

side of a God who has got a preference for those who cannot help themselves?

The poor, the destitute? Are you on the side of the God who loves justice? Is

your life filled up with the riches of this world – or are you rich with God?

Difficult questions, I admit. But maybe it helps to look at them for a moment

from another angle: just imagine, if you would die today, what would remain?

Your credit card is worth nothing the moment you are dead. But God is calling

you today, while you can make choices, while you are in the land of the living

still: he is calling you to live a rich life. If you would die today, would people be

able to say this of you: he or she lived a rich life – a life rich for others and rich

for God? So rich that even death can't change that? May God give us the grace

to make the right choices – before it is to late. Amen.

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Living a Life Rich for God[1]...Lk 16-19-31