Have Mercy
A Sermon by Brent J. Eelman
Abington Presbyterian Church
September 30, 2007

Luke 16: 19-31
‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. ²⁰And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, ²¹who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. ²²The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴He 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.” ²⁵But 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. ²⁶Besides 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.” ²⁷He said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— ²⁸for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.” ²⁹Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.” ³⁰He said, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” ³¹He 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.” ’*
 

“I don’t see them!” I was helping my mother get ready for a picnic and she sent me to the kitchen to get the ketchup and relish. She said they were in the refrigerator, so I opened it up, and looked, but I didn’t see them. My mom came to the kitchen and with an exasperated expression, pointed out that the ketchup and relish were there, right in front of me…. But I didn’t see them.

While they were alive, did the rich man ever see Lazarus? I wonder how many times the “rich man” of this parable walked by Lazarus. Did he notice him lying there outside of his gate? Did he see the sores on Lazarus’ body? Did he see him at all? Did he know that Lazarus was even there? Would he protest later on that, “I didn’t see him. If I knew he was there, I would have helped him….I didn’t see him. I didn’t know he was even there.”

This is another parable that Jesus told that causes discomfort and unease. It is a parable of judgment. If it was a play or drama, it would be in two acts with two different sets. The first act would be on earth, in a middle-eastern city. It would take place outside of a sumptuous house. Inside the house would be a very wealthy man who enjoyed all the finer things of life. He wore purple, which was a sign of status and wealth. He ate very well. If his hands got a bit greasy with the food that he was eating, his servants would bring him loaves of bread. This bread was not for eating, but for wiping his hands and face. Then it would be thrown on the floor for servants to clean up later. Those were the crumbs that poor Lazarus would have enjoyed… I doubt that the rich man even knew that the bread with which he wiped his face and hands would have provided nourishment and hope for the poor man laying outside of his gate… if he knew he was even there. All we know is that the rich man showed no mercy to Lazarus. My hunch was that he didn’t even know Lazarus was there.

The story would change for the second act. Both Lazarus and the rich man were dead. What happened to them after death? The same thing? No. Lazarus went to be with Abraham. This was the Hebrew way of speaking about paradise. The bosom of Abraham was the destination for those who were faithful to God’s covenants. The rich man was buried in the ground. (Period!) The circumstances were now reversed, but they were still separated from each other. But it was no longer a gate that separated them. It was no longer economic circumstance that separated them; it was the large chasm between paradise and the torment of Hades that separated the two. Just as Lazarus would have been happy with a crumb falling from the table of the rich man, in this scene the rich man longed for a few drops of water to slake his eternal thirst. This was the great reversal of fortunes and the gospel of Luke consistently declares it:

In the first chapter of Luke, Mary, the mother of Jesus sings,

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
   and lifted up the lowly;
⁵³he has filled the hungry with good things,
   and sent the rich away empty.

But now it was not Lazarus who was begging for mercy. It was the rich man. He begged Abraham, “have mercy on me.” but received this answer: “Why are you asking me now? Moses and prophets were clear in how you are to treat the poor and suffering. Why are you asking me now?” Then the rich man begged Abraham to send an angel to his brothers that they might be spared his torment. Once again the reply: “They already know what Moses and prophets require… Do you think that anything will change their minds? If someone were to come back from the dead, it wouldn’t change their behavior!”

Ironically, we are here today, because someone came back from the dead… and the question is squarely in front of us. Does Christ’s resurrection change anything for us? Do we listen to the one who returned from the dead? Do we listen to Jesus?

II

One of the ways to better understand a parable is to identify with one of the characters. There are two: Lazarus and the rich man. The parable is different for each. For Lazarus it contains an assurance of justice and comfort. What part of us identifies with Lazarus? Is it not the part of us that suffers and hurts? Is it not the part of us that feels that fate has dealt us a poor hand? It might be an illness or accident that suddenly befalls us. It might be a series of circumstances that lead us to question the fairness of life. This parable of Jesus, is an assurance, that there is justice, if not in our lifetime, ultimately. The words of Mary ring true in her son’s parable: “The lowly will be lifted up, the poor given good things.”

Can we identify with the rich man? This is the challenge for most of us. My guess is that few of us consider ourselves rich. We would not use the term “rich” to describe our lives. We would say things like, “Comfortable,” blessed, or “well off.” But rich is not a term that we would use to describe ourselves, because most of us work hard, struggle at times, and feel stressed by the pressures of life. We believe that the rich have yachts, and houses with 24 bedrooms and 32 bathrooms. Most of us would say that we live fairly modestly.

The senior high youth group in my last congregation did not think of themselves as wealthy . They went on a mission trip to Costa Rica, not unlike the mission trip that we are planning for our entire congregation to Guatamala. The first night there, they were hosted by the villagers in the community where they were to work. The meal that evening consisted of a goat that was slaughtered for the event. This group had never eaten goat before and they left most of it on their plates…. They learned a few days later that this goat was the only meat that the villagers had to eat in a week. This was a feast that the villagers were giving for their young guests…. And they rejected it.

I suspect that what we would regard as comfortable is wealthy in the eyes of most of the world. As hard as it might be for us, I do think that we need to consider the different ways that we might also identify with the rich man.

III

Let us also consider the church today. We are here in this room because someone has come back from the dead to tell us what is expected of us in our lives. We are here, because we have the words of Moses, and the prophets, and we know their demands for justice. Will we listen?”

We might be tempted to say that there is no one outside our gate. As we go about our business, we probably do not see the Lazarus’ of this world. Or do we? Let me share with you some events of the last two weeks. On two different occasions, we had individuals stop by the church office asking for help. In both cases they were dealing with chronic illnesses and because of a host of different situations, they needed help, beyond what we were in a position to give. A call to all the various social service agencies in our area yielded nothing except the suggestion that we take them to the library or the mall, because it was air-conditioned there. These were individuals who “slip through the cracks”. That is another way of saying that they are the ones who are hurting and waiting outside of our gates… and we don’t usually notice them. Do you know how hard it is to say: “We can’t help you.”

This parable is a challenge to us and to the churches and synagogues of this community. Individually we don’t have the resources to help people with these types of needs. Together we can. The challenge is to drop some of our differences and unite over the call of the prophets, Moses, and Jesus to assist people who are in need. The Abington Community desperately needs an outreach mission, formed by the churches and synagogues, which will minister to a growing needy population. Churches in other communities throughout the country have gotten together and cooperated to develop agencies and missions that minister to the social and spiritual needs of the Lazarus’s in their communities. We cannot sit by and pretend that we do not see… lest we experience the same judgment as the wealthy man in Jesus’ parable.

I am going to do my best to get people to envision what this could be like, and I pray for your prayers. May we be able to have mercy on those who hurt, who hunger, and who are in need. This is the challenge of this parable. The judgment of this parable frightens me because we can do something about this. But its message of hope and good news, (gospel) should challenge us to minister and share in Christ’s name to the Lazarus’s who are at our gates. Amen.

*The New Revised Standard Version Bible, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.

Abington Presbyterian Church, Abington, Pennsylvania,  www.apcusa.org