Tommy Thompson
St. Thomas' Episcopal Church, Whitemarsh
16th Sunday after Penteocst
No
More “Us vs. Them”
For audio go to: http://stthomaswhitemarsh.com/no-more-us-vs-them/
His
name meant “God-helps” yet he was thrown at a rich man’s gate and offered no
help. Body covered in sores, stomach constantly moaning due to starvation, dogs
gathered around waiting for the right chance...where is God’s help in this!?
Was his help intended to be only a few feet away? Just beyond the gate where a
nameless rich man feasts magnificently at his table day in and day out.
To
understand what Jesus is trying to get across through this parable, we must
keep in mind what Jesus has been doing in the Gospel of Luke up to this point.
If we listen closely, we'll see a common thread woven throughout Luke that gets
more obvious the more we read...
We
see it in the beginning of Luke’s Gospel when the Blessed Virgin sings the
ushering in of the fullness of time with the arrival of her holy Son:
He
has shown the strength of his arm, *
he has scattered the proud in their
conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, * and has lifted up
the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, *
and the rich he has
sent away empty.
Luke
continues emphasizing the turning of the tables as the everliving Son of God
finds himself among poor shepherds in Bethlehem's cave. As Jesus walks through
Galilee calling unlikely candidates to be his disciples. As Jesus touches those
who religion has named as untouchable and as Jesus is accused of being a
glutton and drunkard because of the company he kept. The thread continues to
weave itself throughout Luke as Jesus allows a woman with a reputation to
anoint his feet with her tears and dry them with her hair, and as Jesus
journeys with women who once had evil spirits and infirmities. As Jesus goes to
the other side of the sea where one does not go to heal a demon possessed man.
Luke really intensifies things when after a Samaritan village refuses to
receive Jesus, Jesus tells a story naming a Samaritan of all people as the
model neighbor who demonstrates what it means to love God and love your
neighbor as yourself fulfilling the whole of the law. And just before we get to
today's lesson, we have to get through Luke 15 where all the tax collectors and
sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus, causing the Pharisees, again, to
accuse Jesus of “welcoming sinners and even eating with them!”
By
the time we get to the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, the stage has been
set. Jesus has been destroying the man-made walls that separate us, that
enslave us, that oppress and degrade. He is trying to get through to the
religious ‘faithful.’ God has arrived on earth and is breaking down all our
barriers that keep his help from reaching all of his precious children. He has
come to break down the dichotomy of dichotomies -- US vs. THEM! Jesus
intentionally crosses the border and eats and drinks with “them,” inviting
“them” into the new and all-inclusive “us -- God’s redeemed and restored
children!”
But
the Rich Man in Jesus’ parable represents the stiff-necked, hard-headed and
heartedness of the pharisees who simply can’t see what God is doing even when
his work is right in front of their faces. A man with a name -- Lazarus
(meaning “God helps”) has been tossed by his gate. But Lazarus is an
untouchable. He has sores all over his body...he is cut off from his family,
his kin, his community. He is one of them! Lazarus is really close by the house
of the rich man...so close he savors the bread that falls from the rich man’s
table (as it was custom for the rich to wipe their mouths with a certain kind
of bread and then toss it out the window). But the barriers created would not
allow him even a morsel. The rich man offers no help to the one whose name is
God helps.
Eventually
both the rich man and lazarus die. Finally a similarity in a story full of
contrasts! Both find themselves in Hades -- the place of the dead according to
first century Hellenestic Jewish worldview. But here’s where the similarities
end and the contrasts are picked back up but with a twist -- the tables are now
turned. Jesus’ hearers would’ve expected that the rich man would be the one
sitting in the bosom of Abraham...a picture of “belonging as one of the people
of God -- as the seed of Abraham.” But no -- it is the one the rich man ignored
-- the one cut off -- the outcast! The religious misfit! He is sitting in the
bosom of Abraham -- he is revealed as an heir of God’s promise to Abraham. And
NOT the rich man. Now Lazarus (God -helps) is rich, receiving help and comfort
and the rich man is now the one in agony in a place of torment receiving no
help.
The
Virgin’s song rings true!
He
has cast down the mighty from their thrones, * and has lifted up the lowly.
He
has filled the hungry with good things, *
and the rich he has sent away empty.
Yet
the man who was formerly rich still doesn’t get it! In his poor excuse for an
attempt at repentance, he continues to live out the same old dichotomy as
before. He sees Lazarus only as a means to his own end and not as an equal.
“Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue...”
“Send Lazarus to my father’s house so they don’t end up in the same predicament
I’m in...” But Abraham would have none of it. It was too late for the man who
was formerly rich. The mighty are being knocked off their thrones and the lowly
are being raised up. The dichotomy of US vs. THEM is being broken down with the
arrival of Jesus’ kingdom and the matter is urgent.
This
parable truly gets at the heart of the matter. Everyone is lazarus. We all are
broken in one way or another. We are sorely mistaken when we somehow think we
are well and those other people are the broken ones. That’s when we commit the
sin of the rich man...we don’t realize that we all bear the name of Lazarus --
God helps...meaning God helps through me and God helps me through
others...we’re all in this together -- there is no Us Vs. Them. So open your
eyes -- notice the one who has been tossed at your gate. Share your resources
with your brother. Allow your sister to share her
resources
with you...whatever it is that will contribute toward healing your brokenness
-- whatever will make your sister or brother whole.
This
summer our youth heeded Jesus’ words so beautifully. They embraced their inner
lazarus -- God helps -- and went out in faith to be the hands and feet of
Christ, breaking down barriers, providing help and relief to sisters and
brothers here at home through the our barn ministry, Summer Camp, Harvest Fest
and Be An Angel Party and abroad by cooking for Church of the Advocate and
serving folks there in the soup kitchen, packing food for Stop Hunger Now in
the Pac-A-Thon, Singing Xmas carols to shut-ins to lift their spirits,
contributing toward Hurricane Sandy relief in Mastic Beach, NY and building
relationships with wonderful children at Our Little Roses in Honduras.
It’s
not US vs. THEM. It’s us -- all of us -- God’s children...regardless of
ethnicity, gender, age, geographical location, socio-economic status, sexual
orientation or any other identifying markers that may be attached to us...we
are God’s children plainly and simply. And we all carry the name Lazarus in
some way -- God helps.
I
hope you’ll come to the forum today to hear how God has helped through our
youth’s faithful response to God’s gracious call through missions this summer. They’ve
set a fine example of the stewardship of both time and talents.
And
may we go forth today from worship and forum renewed to be and receive God’s
help in radical ways that continue to tear down the barriers that we have
erected to strengthen false dichotomies -- especially those built in the name
of the body of Christ so that folks don’t have to wait for the help they
deserve like Lazarus did but may receive it now because we chose to cooperate
with God’s grace being his loving and comforting hands and feet.
Amen.
