Today, I need to talk to those of you who are rich. Perhaps no one in this gathering is rich but then that beggar, Lazarus, would probably think all of you are rich, and if you are, I urge you to listen to what I have to say. You see, I was that rich man in the story you just heard. I’m down here in this place called Hades, and I tell you, it’s hotter than hell down here!
Anyway, when I was alive, I was blessed with a nice house. I enjoyed fine meals, the best wines, fancy clothes and classy wheels, the whole nine yards. I was a consumer, freely spending my shekels. I never left home without them. I was addicted to buying whatever I wanted.
I never considered myself a bad person. I thought my wealth was a sign of God’s favor and yet, here I am in Hades and Lazarus, he is up there with Abraham. I never thought being wealthy was wrong. I was a good guy and I followed the law. Why, that man from Nazareth, named Jesus, who had some wealthy friends, never told them being wealthy was a sin, so what did I do wrong?
Well, for one thing, I didn’t listen to my rabbi. I had him to my home one evening for a banquet and he told me that I was guilty of avarice. “Avarice? What’s that?” I asked as I sipped on the delicious cabernet I was serving. “It’s another word for greed,” he replied. “It’s the love of owning things.” Well, he was right. When our possessions and money become our gods and mean more to us than our relationships with others and God, we are guilty of that capital sin.
And that prophet, Amos! He certainly warned me, fair and square. He said, “Woe to the complacent in Zion!” I admit he was describing me to the last detail. You’d think he had been to my home for a fine meal of lamb and wine, seeing me resting comfortably on my couch!
When I told my rabbi that I seemed to be growing distant from God, he asked, “So, you feel that you and God are growing further apart? Well, who moved?” He then told me about a man who tried to rob a merchant in the market in broad daylight. He grabbed a handful of gold coins and ran. The merchant shouted and with so many people around, the thief was quickly caught. The police questioned him, “How did you expect to get away with robbing that merchant with so many people around?” The thief replied, “What people? I didn’t see anyone. I only saw the gold coins.”
Well, my rabbi and that prophet, Amos, tried to warn me but I wouldn’t listen to them. When we get preoccupied with our possessions, we can lose sight of the people around us.
I knew this Lazarus fellow. Not well, I admit. Whenever he sat by my door begging for handouts, I pretended he wasn’t even there. Don’t you do that when you see a panhandler on a street corner holding a cardboard sign? I never thought to put myself in his place. And I tell you, that was a costly mistake. Look where I ended up! Lazarus is in heaven with Abraham and I’m down here dying of thirst! Ah, I learned too late that being indifferent and selfish is a costly sin!
I understand why Lazarus can’t give me a sip of water to cool my tongue, but I pleaded with Abraham, “Can’t you do something to warn my brothers not to make the same stupid mistake I did? Wouldn’t they listen to a dead person?” “Not at all,” he told me. “After all, thousands of people die every year from lung cancer because of smoking and yet people still smoke. Everyday people drink and drive and get killed and yet they still drink and drive. Millions of people have died in wars but people still fight wars. All those dead people have a message for the living but who listens to them?”
“But,” I protested, “I didn’t mean dead people. I meant some one coming back to life from the dead.” Abraham’s voice turned sad now, telling me, “God tried that with his only son, Jesus. Many believe him and listen to what he has to say. They follow his advice, but some do not. And if they won’t listen to him, they aren’t likely to listen to anyone else.”
Like me, they have grown complacent, barely following the law, convinced that they would still go to heaven, even though they have no desire to serve God and no need for God’s guidance. Intellectually, they believe in God and physically they might even worship God but their heart isn’t there. They only seek to satisfy their own worldly desires and wants. They are too preoccupied with themselves to see God in the face of others. Lazarus, on the other hand, never gave up his faith in spite of his hardships.
My friends, God’s son, Jesus, came to challenge us to live the faith we profess, yet a lot of us ignore the corporal works of mercy and the Ten Commandments. Tell me, when was the last time you gave a bottle of water to a panhandler or even greeted the poor chap with a smile? At Assisi last Tuesday, Pope Francis declared that the “great sickness” of our time is “the paganism of indifference” to human suffering. Millions around the globe today are victims of war and are pleading for peace, often receiving nothing but the “bitter vinegar of rejection,” their cries silenced “with the same ease with which television channels are changed.”
I’m speaking to you from the dead. I learned the hard way that our gift giving, loving God intends an abundant life for all creatures. Please listen to me before it is too late. I doubt you want to spend the rest of your days down here with me. After all, this place makes Death Valley feel like paradise!