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Gospel: 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.
Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.
When the poor man died,
he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.
The rich man also died and was buried,
and from the netherworld, where he was in torment,
he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off
and Lazarus at his side.
And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me.
Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,
for I am suffering torment in these flames.’
Abraham replied, ‘My child,
remember that you received what was good during your lifetime
while Lazarus likewise received what was bad;
but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.
Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established
to prevent anyone from crossing
who might wish to go from our side to yours
or from your side to ours.’
He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him
to my father’s house,
for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them,
lest they too come to this place of torment.’
But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets.
Let them listen to them.’
He said, ‘Oh no, father Abraham,
but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
Then Abraham said,
‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded
if someone should rise from the dead.'”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Jesus does not condemn this man for being rich; wealth is not a sin. He condemns him for being selfish.
Whereas the rich man dressed in fine purple linen, feasted daily at his home, and guarded his property with a rod-iron fence, Lazarus was a poor cripple covered in sores. The only creatures willing to make contact with him were dogs licking his wounds, adding insult to injury.
In fact, the rich man doesn’t even acknowledge Lazarus until they are both dead. From the depths of the netherworld, he calls upon Lazarus to be his servant, maintaining his sense of superiority.
“Father Abraham,” the man cries out from the flames, “send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue.”
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Since the rich man preferred to separate himself from Lazarus in this life, the stakes are raised in eternity. As the Lord describes in the parable, “Between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing.”
Lazarus, on the other hand, is helpless, so God comes to his aid, granting him the gift of eternal life. As the Lord foretold in his first public sermon, the Beatitudes: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.”
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So, what does this parable mean for us?
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The rich are not universally condemned. Nor are the poor universally blessed.
What matters is the state of our heart, evidenced by how we treat our neighbors.
In terms of the rich man, what he did not do to Lazarus, he did not do to Christ.
Appropriately, that mattered in the end.
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Image credits: (1) Pemptousia (2) The Rich Man and Lazarus, Fedor Bronninkov (3) Pinterest