The
holy gospel according to Luke (16:19-31)
Jesus
said:
19“There
was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen
and who feasted
sumptuously every day.
20And
some poor person, named Lazarus,
was lying by his
gates, covered with sores.
21He
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
into
the bosom of Abraham.
The
rich man also died
and was buried.
23In
Hades, where he was being tormented,
the
rich man looked up and saw Abraham far away
with
Lazarus in his bosom.
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.’
27The
rich man said, ‘Then, father,
I
ask you to send Lazarus 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;
your
brothers should listen to them.’
30He
said, ‘No, father Abraham;
but
if someone goes to them from the dead,
they will repent.’
31Abraham
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.’”
The
gospel of the Lord.
-----
Throughout
this summer, we’ve talked quite a bit as a community of faith about privilege,
specifically white privilege, and racism.
Martha called us to reflect throughout our day-to-day interactions on
the way a situation would be different if we weren’t white, helping us to
understand more concretely what white privilege is. Carrie encouraged us to reflect on the importance of
welcoming immigrants and refugees.
And we have been working on deepening our relationships with the beloved
children of God working at the local farms.
In
Bible studies we’ve learned stories of immigrants and the struggles they
face. We’ve learned that there are
levels of violence and the violence we see in the news is most often a result
of structures set up so that people of color have fewer opportunities—less access
to good jobs, economic stability, and quality education, all of which make it
harder to live.
We’ve
talked again and again about violence in this country and around the
world. We’ve talked about mass
shootings and attacks. We’ve
talked about police killing people of color and police being shot. And we are still talking. This week, within a 24 hour time
period, Terence Crutcher was killed by police and called a “bad dude” based on
nothing but the view from the helicopter of him following instructions, all as
a result of him having car trouble.
And Keith Lamont Scott
was shot while waiting to pick his son up from school because police were
“trying to apprehend an unrelated suspect.”[1] And those are just the ones that make
the news.
There
are more shootings and more details, but I want us to think on a bigger
level. Rather than getting caught
up in the details of what could have been different or who should have done
what, look at the picture of city after city after city in which people of
color have been killed by police.
It’s
in light of this reality that we encounter Lazarus and the rich man today.
The
rich man is the picture of the most extreme wealth and privilege, expressed in
unnecessary extravagance. He wears
the most expensive cloth, and linens of the type the priests wear only when
they are serving in the Temple. He
dresses up soo nicely—to feast—to
enjoy an abundance of food, drink, and entertainment day after day all for
himself. There is no mention of
even a wife or children who might also feast. Just him.
Likewise,
Lazarus is the epitome of poverty.
Jewish New Testament scholar, Amy-Jill Levine points out that Lazarus is
placed at the gate of a rich man in the hopes that the rich man would honor the
Torah—the first 5 books of the Bible, ascribed to Moses—and the prophets, which
call the people of God to care for the poor and the oppressed. Lazarus is not only poor, but receives
nothing from the rich man. His
sores, in need of medical attention, only receive care from the dogs that lick
them. The dogs know better how to
follow Moses and the prophets than the rich man does.
Jesus
makes both Lazarus and the rich man huge exaggerations of wealth and poverty,
privilege and oppression. This is
no accident. Because we, like the
original hearers of the parable, are neither Lazarus nor the rich man—nor, for
that matter, Abraham. None of us
here are obscenely wealthy and concerned only for ourselves, nor are any of us
completely without privilege. We can
afford a roof over our heads, food and clothes, and maybe an extra coffee or treat
occasionally.
So
the question that Jesus’ parable poses is: if we are neither the rich man nor
Lazarus, how do we interact with others, especially those who are not as well
off as us? Do we even recognize
them? Do we ignore them? Do we welcome them in? Shoo them away?
Join in their struggle?
This
is what our conversations this summer especially have been about. We have proclaimed that
#BlackLivesMatter. We have talked
about privilege and what it means to live in this country as we hope it stands
for freedom, even while we witness around us the epidemic of people of color
not only being discriminated against and lacking the opportunities many of us benefit
from, but even being killed by police.
We’ve talked about how to make this country live up to our high ideals.
But
we are not the body of Christ just
so we can use our mouths and ears, talking and listening. We as the church are the body of Christ because God is active in
the world. We are the body of Christ because God works
through us in the world. We are
mouths and ears and eyes and feet
and hands and hearts of Christ.
Together, the whole Church, all the people of God are the whole body of Christ for the sake of
the whole world.
God’s
justice, peace, and love is active in the world through us. Today we are doing the prayers of the
people differently from usual.
Instead of sharing joys and concerns and praying aloud as a group, we
will have more contemplative options.
We will also have some more information about and pictures of Terence Crutcher and Keith Lamont Scott so that we can pray for their loved ones and all who are impacted by their deaths. On the back table, along with origami paper to write out prayers will be a couple of sheets of ideas of what you can do to work against racism, a book list of books you can read and if you want, we can read together. As well as some policies that you can advocate for with our elected representatives, both local and national and things that you can do in your daily lives to combat racism.
There
are many different ways that we can show up, that we can care, that we can live
out our callings as the body of Christ, caring for and with those who are being
killed, and working against racism.
These are some ideas. There
are many others that are also important.
As we reflect on Lazarus and the rich man, on Terence and Keith and all
whose lives have been taken from them and from their families, friends, and
communities, we get to choose how we respond. God’s love will be active in the world no matter what. God will always be working for justice
for those who are oppressed and marginalized. God will always be reconciling the whole world. How will you be a part of it?
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