A Sad Story

Luke 16:19–31

There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. 24 He called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.' 25 But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.' 27 He said, 'Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house — 28 for I have five brothers — that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.' 29 Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.' 30 He said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' 31 He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"

A Chasm - •A deep, steep-sided rift, gap or fissure; a gorge or abyss; A large difference between people • en.wiktionary

Dressed in purple, eating well, life is good. . . 

One thing I don’t do much, is think about the afterlife.

Is this story more than simply a tale of the great reversal?

“They’ll get theirs.” “What goes around comes around.”

Perhaps so.

I think of the Phil Collins song, Another Day in Paradise. 

In reflecting on this three years ago here on doless, we had a rich conversation, spurred by PNT noting that this parable causes a response of sadness. 

This is sad. 

Reading the parable today, I was struck by this line, 

'. . . between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.' 

Who might WANT to cross from Abraham’s bosom to the place of torment?

Only one with an abiding sense of compassion. 

Something clearly lacking in the rich man. 

He just doesn’t get it, does he?

My 7th grader came home and mentioned a song one of their teachers performed at a school assembly. “Don’t Laugh At Me.” It calls for folks not to bully one another. It has a verse that suggests that the guy with the “will work for food” sign has a back story that might make us sorry to be judgmental of him.

But - what if he’s a freeloading slug?

Same difference really. But I digress.

The song is on youtube, and many comments in the comments section below were sad. Some sadly reflecting on their experience of bullying. Some sadly wishing suffering upon those who inflict bullying, and some - so very oddly - perpetuating the bullying.

I wonder at our prosperity. It insulates us from the suffering of others, doesn’t it? Also, I suspect that we want to be insulated from that. We don’t want to know, and the better off we are, the better we can not know and the more readily we might feel some responsibility toward those in need, a responsibility that would cost us more than we care to admit.

I mention the afterlife aspect of this parable, but I doubt it is really about that. It seems that it is about compassion. The afterlife question might be helpful to understanding here, or it might be another tactic to keep at arms length the discomfort caused by the vast chasm between the rich and the poor.

We might want to posit that the rich man was especially sinful. But what if he was just too busy going to banquets to ever really be that bad? What if he was a big supporter of the Jerusalem Symphony, and he gave generously to build the new gym at the Y?

I think this is one of those weeks where another lesson bears an insight that can be key to interpretation.

They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life. I Tim 6:18-19

What life is the life that really is life? In ways, I suspect that the parable addresses this very question. The cluelessness of the rich man in Hades simply mirrors his cluelessness on earth. 

That gate that shut out Lazarus was misused. It was there, not to keep him out, but as a place from which to exercise hospitality and caring. The gates of the kingdom have been opened for you, so that from there, you might exercise hospitality, God's hospitality shown for you and for all.

And yet, there is fixed, a great chasm.

I think of the Bethel Bible Series illustration. The arms of a cross are sitting on the ground, with the bottom of the cross extending down into a gorge. Thus the cross bridges the gorge. A man is clinging to the arm of a cross, hanging there for dear life. Is it not true that this is what the cross does? The cross bridges the chasm.

The chasm between us and one another. The chasm between us and God’s own self. The chasm between righteousness and whatever it is that we are right now. The chasms that are disguised as life, and, in the end, prove to be deep traps that bring things crashing down upon us all. The chasm between life and death.

Quite a parable. Mary Hinkle Shore called this a New Testament Text of Terror. 

In the midst of these chasms - this deep thinking - there rises one like the son of man. 

Quite a parable.

Maybe it is about resurrection.

What Do You Make of This? Or What Does It Make of You?

Luke 16:1-13

Then Jesus said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 2 So he summoned him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.' 3 Then the manager said to himself, 'What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.' 5 So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' 6 He answered, 'A hundred jugs of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.' 7 Then he asked another, 'And how much do you owe?' He replied, 'A hundred containers of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill and make it eighty.' 8 And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. 10 "Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 13 No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

You know, Oh Great DoLessHarmers, we had a pretty good discussion of this text 3 years ago on this very blog. 

smokeythebear had the opening entry; (Though I think it was just P-b-ment posing as a cuddly furry critter) and titled it Shrewd Discipleship. Smokey the Basement quoted from the Message, where Peterson uses a nice turn of phrase, to suggest that this parable invites us to “creative survival” - and to living lives that are more than just getting by “on good behavior.”

Nice.

A couple insights from the sermon brainwave podcast - 

Skinner’s deal that money is powerful, and don’t be naive about it. . . And Jacobson’s notion that this parable gives a chance to talk about money, without asking for money. He points to Mark Allan Powell’s idea that a big part of the biblical teaching about money, is how you regard money.

ok - in fact, I am beginning to think that I’m going to take their advice about that, and talk a bit about that. 

Yet - it seems to me, that one really ought to deal with the scandal here. 

This is a parable that Augustine said he couldn’t believe Jesus actually told. . . 

I don’t know where I first ran across this, but I used it in a sermon, so it must be true:

“St. Augustine said "I can't believe that this story came from the lips of our Lord." “

In one sermon I saw that used this line of Augustine’s, - a line many brilliant preachers have used - she says, toward the end:    
“I wish I could work out all the puzzles of this parable - when all is said and done, I still find it very confusing!”

Well, heck. Is that what you’re supposed to do with it? Work out all the puzzles? 

I sorta doubt it. I think this story is supposed to work on you. The quesiton is what work the Holy Spirit has in mind for you with this Word. 

. . . but I digress

In my favorite book on parables, Hear Then the Parable, Bernard Brandon Scott says that this parable unmoores us by “challenging the way justice works in the world.” He says that it “breaks the bond between power and justice. Instead it equates justice and vulverability.” (266) 

That’ll preach. 

NOT.

Sarah Dylan Breuer who blogs at sarahlaughed.net - focuses on forgiveness. 

In a sermon - I used this construct that she proposes:

Now, we might do well to take note of what kind of situation this manager is managing. 

A very very rich man enjoys his fabulous wealth far off in the city of Jerusalem. His land is being worked by the peasants, and while he’s partying in the city, he has a manager take care of his affairs out there in the country. The peasants are working land that used to belong to their grandparents. But, they lost the land in payment of some debt. Speaking of debt, things work out such that the people are paying rent that puts them further and further behind.

The landowner gets word that his manager is squandering his property, and so, he sets out to fire him. While on his way, the manager, having gotten word of this, moves quickly. He calls the farmers to come to his office, and he reduces their debts. Perhaps he even makes it possible for them to get out from under their heavy burdens. 

The people, of course, are elated. They are glad when the Steward tells them of the reduction of their debt, and grateful to him, but all the more, not knowing that the Steward is acting on his own, they are grateful to the landowner for reducing their burden. When he arrives to fire the manager, the people have gathered together to thank him for his great generosity with a grand parade!

Here’s the great rub. What can the Rich Man do? He can tell everyone that they don’t need to thank him. . . the parade is over, they still owe all that money. . . or, he can take in the honor the people have bestowed on him, thanks to the Shrewd Manager.

This is, in Jesus’ strange way, a story about forgiveness. Extravagant, dangerous, outrageous, forgiveness. Forgiveness, in fact, that might set us on edge. This is forgiveness that seems extremely cavalier, and maybe a bit crazy. The next verse tells us that the Pharisees, hearing this, ridiculed Jesus.

That - I think - WILL preach. 

I have a notion that this is one of those texts where we might want to take the time to note, that in reading scripture, the point isn’t to discern “what it means” but to engage the Word for what it does. 

What does this do to you? 

That is the question.

And what it does, as Scott suggests, is unmoores us. This is a story that betrays a downright strange inclination toward mercy. Word & World had an issue devoted to the theme; “Is Forgiveness Enough” and the opening article is by Forde. The title, I would suggest, says it all: “Is Forgiveness Enough: Reflections on an Odd Question.”

One might well suggest, that the response to Jesus after a story like this might well be - “Is there no limit to forgiveness?”

Maybe that’s the question; of this text, and of this life. . . 

Search and Rescue

Luke 15:1-10
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable: "Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. "Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

I saw a great story about a woman who wants to train Ravens to help with search and rescue for finding lost hikers. She was working with a Raven, hiding things, and then the Raven would find them. She was amazed that the Raven would look in places that she hadn't thought to hide the items.
Apparently Ravens have a large brain for a bird their size, and are considered quite intelligent. It crossed her mind that perhaps she could get Ravens to help in search and rescue.
Alas, she is having trouble getting funding.
Finding lost hikers isn't held in high regard, I guess. Unless you're a lost hiker.
I wonder at the point of these parables.
Is it to have us see ourselves as lost, and to know that God, the Hound of Heaven, is seeking after us? That's usually what I've preached on this text?
or
Is it to inform us of the parties in heaven? To get us to see that the party is about our being rescued?
or
Is it an invitation to see "others" rescued, and to hear an invitation to us to join in the celebration?