A Vast Chasm

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.'"

This one leaves me short.
Hard to be glib - funny - light hearted with a parable like this.
Especially after checking on the web site globalrichlist.com and seeing that an annual income of $50K puts one in the top 1% in the world.
Try placing yourself in Lazarus’ shoes now. Not that Lazarus had any shoes. . .
The chasm is deeper than we can imagine, and I find it hard to look too closely at this parable. A bit like staring at the sun.
Interestingly, in his excellent book on parables, Bernard Brandon Scott skips this one. [edit - I thought it did - it doesn't. . . BBS sees here a call to solidarity. . . ]
Maybe I will too.
Or not.
PNT in a sermon on this text works with image of the chasm - chasms of disparity in wealth, chasms in relationships (I’m playing fast and loose with PNT’s much more nuanced read I must confess.) The core chasm, though - he suggests - is the chasm that allows these disparities in the first place. It is a theology that says that the rich get what they deserve and the poor do as well.
He quotes this line: “When money is our idol being poor is a sin.” hmmmm.
God helps those who help themselves.
And yet, in this only parable where someone has a name, it is the poor one who is named, and Lazarus means “God helps.”
God helps those who cannot help themselves.
Blasphemy!
Away with anyone who would suggest such a thing!

Shrewd Discipleship

Luke 16:1-13

16:1 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. 16:2 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.' 16:3 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. 16:4 I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.' 16:5 So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' 16:6 He answered, 'A hundred jugs of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.' 16:7 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.' 16:8 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. 16:9 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. 16:10 "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. 16:11 If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 16:12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 16:13 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."

What a wild text! What in the world is Jesus' point? Does he seriously want us to start ripping people off?

What's interesting is Jesus' use of this worldly situation. Jesus' tells a story about a crooked conniver in order to open our imaginations to creative living as disciples.

Eugene Peterson's paraphrase (from The Massage) of verses 8 and 9 help me:

8 "Now here's a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. 9 I want you to be smart in the same way - but for what is right - using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you'll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior."

What does this "creative survival" and "bare essentials" look like? How is this fleshed out? Illustrations, people!

Furthermore, I think verses 10-13 are Luke's interpretation of Jesus parable in verses 1-9. So, I'm more interested in verses 1-9. Word.

Feeling Sheepish?

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 remember being at an event with Rich Omland, and it was time to eat. He led grace, with a line that went something like, “God, we know that your son Jesus sat down and ate with sinners, and that’s a good thing, ‘cause there’s a gathering of them right here...”
I know some folks who wouldn’t have appreciated that. . .
We all know these parables so well. . . what do we say?
In a marvelous sermon, “Clean Sweep” Jennifer Copeland of Duke, suggests that “a broom carries as much weight as a shepherd’s staff for symbolizing God’s care. The point of both stories, of course, is that God will seek us by any means available until we are found.”
She has some great turns of phrase:

In the sweeping, God searches, but also cleanses. I like to imagine God, broom in hand, patiently sweeping away the dirt from our lives and restoring us to our God-given image. In this way we are each uniquely found by God, since we each have our own unique ways of being lost.

and her concluding paragraph touches on something that had not occurred to me

The lost sheep and the lost coin are more than the prized possessions of their owners; they are also parts of a whole. The sheep belongs to the flock and the coin to the purse; without them the whole is not complete. The search, then, is a quest for restoration and wholeness. In this sense, all of us who are part of God’s creation should be just as anxious as God until the lost are restored and we are made whole again by their presence. Then, with brooms in hand, we can answer God’s call, "Rejoice with me.”

I like that idea, that the lost are parts of a whole. I have, over the years, been so enamored of the reading that points to these parables as pictures of God as so very reckless in loving, leaving behind the 99, throwing a big party after the sweeping search. There is plenty in that read, it is true, but Copeland reminds me that there is a richness in recalling that we who are each uniquely lost are uniquely found in Jesus Christ.

CHOOSE LIFE

Luke 14:25–33

Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

“Choose life so that you and your descendants may live”
At least two questions immediately come to mind. First: Who would choose anything else? Second: Why do I choose so many other things?
As I have wondered homiletically for the coming Rally Sunday, I wonder at how we might preach Jesus’ call to carry your cross. . .
Over and over, as I read reflections for this coming Sunday, commentators want to speak of the cost of discipleship.
I’m not sure that is the most profitable way to look at it. (pun intended) Seems priceless to me.
Is Jesus’ call to carry your cross, a call for the journey? A journey which we make in the company of Jesus? This is not a knowledge thing, it is not a place one arrives at. This is an invitation to a pilgrimage, but not to some Holy Land, but to self giving love. It might well be difficult, since Jesus is the one who gives his life for the world, and pronounces forgiveness to all, even those who persecute him.
In a nice insight, Loader speaks of the call to carry your cross as one that is not a call to fanaticism that ends up “running roughshod over people for its cause...” It is a call to “engagement in a radically inclusive love, living from the life of the God of love...”
Choose life. Hate Family. Take up your cross and die. Give up all your possessions.
All these impossible requirements might well cause despair, or they might throw us on the grace of God alone.