September 26 sermon

Text: Luke 16:19-31
Preached September 26 at Dale and Holden Lutheran Churches in rural Kenyon, MN


Grace and peace to you from God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Alas for those who are at ease…and for those who feel secure….Alas for those who lounge on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock,..and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph,” says the prophet Amos in our first reading.

“Joseph” refers to the people of Israel, the many who were suffering while the few relaxed in luxury. Amos paints a picture of injustice, of an imbalance of power and resources, of a lack of concern for the vulnerable.

Amos shows us that God’s people have lost sight of the ways of God. Their vision of God’s kingdom has become distorted.

In our gospel reading, Jesus tells a story of “a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.” He’s really piling on the details here—purple dye, fine linen, and lavish feasts were all expensive. It would be like saying the rich man wore designer clothes, traveled by private jet, and ate at five-star restaurants. Jesus is really driving home the point that this man was more than comfortable.

By contrast, “at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.” Again, we have a detailed portrayal—Jesus makes sure we understand that Lazarus is desperately poor and hungry, and so sick and weak that he cannot even shoo away the dogs that pester him. And he is right on the rich man’s doorstep.

Later, both men die. Lazarus is taken to be with Abraham, and the rich man is doomed to torment. And even then, the rich man still doesn’t get it. He asks Abraham to send Lazarus to ease his suffering, or to warn his brothers.

The rich man calls Lazarus by name, so it’s clear that he was aware of Lazarus’s presence during his lifetime. But he sees Lazarus as a nuisance to be ignored or a servant to be commanded. He fails to see Lazarus as a fellow child of God.

The rich man has lost sight of the ways of God. His vision of God’s kingdom has become distorted.

I read a post recently on one of my favorite blogs (Dirty Sexy Ministry). The writer is an Episcopal priest, and she described her experience of injustice in taking her foster daughter to a free clinic. Let me share a little of it with you:

I arrived early at the clinic. The waiting room was dirty and almost empty. I gave my information to an angry receptionist and began the process of filling out forms. Then we waited. I looked at the doctors lined up on the other side of the reception window, reading charts and chatting.

Meanwhile we waited. Two other women with sick children entered the waiting room. They waited too. Two hours later, the nurse called us into the examining room. On the floor, there were old band-aids and cotton balls. We continued to wait another hour. The doctor came in and looked at my child.

They did not have her records from the hospital….I was furious, but…if I said anything, I could guarantee they would give me the old heave ho, but where would my daughter go?

I cannot yet take her to the doctor of my choice. She is still in foster care with me. I did not want to make trouble so I closed my mouth. As I walked out, the same two women sat in the waiting room with their sick children….I overheard someone on the street say: “What is that woman doing going to the free clinic? Is she on welfare? She could get a job.”

This is the other side of privilege. This is what it is like with limited options, to be treated as less than, to wait because you cannot do anything else. I never really had to wait like that before. At the clinic, they looked at those waiting with disdain and disgust, like they thought this is what we deserved. I cried that my daughter was treated that way. I thank God that she is a baby and unaware of what happened.

This experience is certainly not unique. In our society, the poor consistently receive inferior health care, education, and legal representation. In our society, we routinely throw away food while children elsewhere die of starvation and malnutrition. In our society, people can work hard for 40 years only to see their jobs or their pensions disappear.

We have lost sight of the ways of God. Our vision of God’s kingdom has become distorted.

So if these views of God’s kingdom are distorted and unhealthy, what does an accurate view of the kingdom look like?

When the rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus to warn the rich man’s brothers of the fate that awaits them, Abraham tells the rich man that his brothers “have Moses and the prophets” to guide their lives. In other words, God’s word provides us with an accurate vision of God’s kingdom. So what does God’s word tell us?

Jesus tells us in three different gospels that the greatest commandments are these: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12, Matthew 22, Luke 10).

Jesus even explains to us in the parable of the good Samaritan what this love of neighbor looks like (Luke 10). The Samaritan who saw his neighbor’s pain, had compassion on him, and attended to his needs is the one who showed love and acted in accordance with the ways of God.

In God’s kingdom, we care for one another.

The Old Testament is full of laws protecting the most vulnerable members of society, especially widows, orphans, and aliens, and in Matthew 25, Jesus also lifts up the lowly as being worthy of special concern. He says anytime we offer food, drink, hospitality, clothing, and companionship to “the least of these,” we are doing those things for Jesus himself.

In God’s kingdom, the poor and vulnerable are worthy of special concern.

The Magnificat comes early in Luke’s gospel. In this song, Mary sings about the mighty being humbled and the lowly lifted up. This reversal is reflected again in today’s story, where the rich man and the poor man exchange positions after their deaths.

Jesus’ audience would have assumed that the rich man’s wealth was a sign of God’s favor and blessing, and that the poor man must be sinful somehow in order to suffer so greatly. This story, and many others, reverses those assumptions.

In God’s kingdom, the world’s expectations are turned upside-down.

Loving God means loving our neighbors. If we love our wealth and comfort and privilege more than we love our neighbors, then we have lost sight of God’s kingdom. If we aren’t careful, wealth can insulate us from the needs of those around us.

The author of that blog post—the priest who took her daughter to the free clinic—says it this way: “When you usually sit on one side of privilege, you do not really know how the other side lives. You might care, but you can be easily distracted from the struggle for justice when you are comfortable” (Dirty Sexy Ministry).

This distraction is dangerous. When we lose sight of God’s kingdom, not only are we blinded to others’ needs, but we are also blinded to our own great need for God.

The powerful of Israel thought they were self-sufficient. They paid lip service to God, but didn’t consider themselves truly dependent. They learned how wrong they were when the Assyrians and Babylonians conquered their two kingdoms.

As I mentioned before, the rich man probably considered himself blessed and favored by God simply by virtue of his wealth. He learned how wrong he was as he suffered torment after his death.

When we become comfortable and complacent, we may start to feel self-reliant. When our lives are going well, it is all to easy to forget that “we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.” We stand always in need of God’s forgiveness and mercy, and the distraction of comfort can obscure that reality.

We receive a healthy and accurate vision of God’s kingdom not only in God’s word, but also at God’s table, where it is enacted in our very midst. Every time we gather here for Holy Communion, Jesus shows us what the kingdom of God is really like.

At this table, all are present, and there are no barriers between us. At this table, there are no gates or chasms between rich and poor, between privileged and oppressed, between mighty and lowly. At this table, we are all united, and we share one another’s burdens and blessings.

So how do we move toward living out this healthy and accurate view of the kingdom?

First, we claim the good news is that change is possible. In Christ, God offers us the forgiveness and mercy we so desperately need. No matter how often our view of God’s kingdom becomes distorted, God always clears our vision and leads us back to faithfulness.

Second, we hear God’s word often and come regularly to God’s table, where we participate in this vision of the kingdom that Jesus provides. At this table, we who feast sumptuously are united with those who are hungry. This banquet demonstrates for us, and for our whole hurting world, how things are different in God’s kingdom.

Finally, we trust God to reveal his kingdom where we least expect it. I invite you to start seeing the Lazaruses in your life. Ask people about their experiences and listen to their stories. Listen for the needs these stories reveal, and consider how you might act in compassion.

In this place, God forgives us for our failings, sets us free from our old ways, and provides us with a healthy vision of his kingdom. From here, we are sent into the world to “go in peace and serve the Lord,” and we do that by serving those in need. The Holy Spirit empowers us for that service, and it is our joyful response to God’s gift of forgiveness and freedom. Thanks be to God! Amen.