"Warning of the Wasting and the Writings"

Lk.16:19-31 May 16/04

(with report from EMCCED conference, Sarnia May 3-5)

A Sorry Sight

Do you see them? The beggar at the rich man's gate? They're there, if you have eyes to see. They were there in Jesus' time, and they're still in front of us today. How we respond to the sight makes the difference between heaven and hell, between being saved and lost.

      "There was a rich man," Jesus said, "who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day." A rich man - who's that? Rick Tobias was the theme speaker at our annual District conference earlier this month; he is a Baptist pastor and executive director of the Yonge Street Mission in Toronto. He has worked with street people for many years. How does he define "rich"? At one point he told all the conference delegates, "If you're in this room, you're rich." At least by comparison with most of the world's population, and the people he works with. Another time, he defined the difference between rich and poor in terms of keys: the upper class has keys; the lower class has no keys; the middle class doesn't have keys either, but is friends with somebody who has a key and can get in to the swimming pool, or out of the cold, etc. On yet another occasion he said the difference between rich and poor boils down to one word: "enough" - a slice of pizza, a bed to sleep in, a roof over one's head... The rich have enough, the poor don't; "only the rich make more divisions than that".

      One of Rick Tobias' pet peeves is programs where somebody doesn't get enough. When Jesus fed the crowds, there were baskets and baskets of leftovers. Yonge Street Mission now feeds over 65,000 meals a year so people don't feel like they'd better take food home in their pockets, as they did at the first Christmas banquets!

      There was a rich man - he's not given a name, let's call him "RM" for short (Rich Man - Dives in the Latin). Did you catch what RM was wearing? Nice threads. Designer labels, none of that department store stuff. "Purple and fine linen" would be the most expensive clothing available at that time. Tobias reminded the delegates of how much extra clothing we had hanging in our closets, then challenged us: "If you haven't worn it in a year, LIBERATE it!"

      RM "lived in luxury every day". He could afford to buy nothing but the best. His meals were lavish banquets, much more than was healthy for him to consume. Sometimes we forget there are many people in the world who can't look forward to three meals a day. Kerry Bowser is an EMC pastor who also works at the Yonge Street Mission. In a seminar offering practical ways to show compassion, he suggested church potlucks be held at the beginning of the month rather than the end, because people on low incomes are more likely to have something they can bring at the beginning of the month.

      Do you see RM yet? Now look just outside his gate. There, Jesus tells us, was laid a beggar named Lazarus. Strange, it's the beggar who rates a name. Lazarus was outside the entryway: no key, he couldn't get in (and he wasn't friends with somebody that had a key). Yet Jesus said it would be the rich who find it hard to enter God's Kingdom (Lk.18:24). Though Lazarus was right by the gate, he might as well have been continents away for all the attention he received. As if there were a great gulf or barrier between them that prevented RM from noticing him. He'd been laid there next to the door as a silent appeal in expectation of help from one so rich; but the appeal went unnoticed, totally ignored.

      Lazarus was "covered with sores". An oozing, pussy mess. Rick Tobias described how it happens: a street person's skin gets wet, then dry, over and over, and eventually the skin splits open and infection starts. Sores develop. You may see the person shuffling along on their toes on the sidewalk, because their legs and feet hurt from the sores. Probably Lazarus didn't smell "fresh as a daisy", either. Kerry Bowser asked what message the poor receive when they walk into our church: is there a hidden message that they have to dress up - or be washed and have clean clothes? What does our face communicate when we greet them? Do we need congregational education not to move away when we go to shake their hand?

      Lazarus was "longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table." Not the food the rich man actually needed, but the scraps, the excess, the leftovers; that would have been an abundance for poor Lazarus. When giving to food banks, Tobias urged us to give more than the cheap pink salmon and economy peanut butter; he's convinced single moms deserve real sockeye salmon and the good peanut butter, too.

      Jesus notes, "even the dogs came and licked his sores." No, these are not angels of mercy in disguise; the point is, Lazarus was too weak even to shoo the dogs away. He was drained, sapped of strength, devoid of energy, wasting away. He was flat broke and in the gutter, a lost cause in the world's eyes. Tobias informed us he heard of one neighbourhood in Toronto in which, in a recent recession and string of layoffs, 67 families lost their homes. Some didn't even properly move out, just loaded their cars with what they could carry and drove off in the middle of the night. Too ashamed to do it in daylight.

      The dogs weren't helpers, but at least they were more attentive than the rich man. They noticed Lazarus; Dives was blind to what lay just past his door, he didn't care. Tom Oliver, a former missionary to Africa, has begun a Christian ministry called "LifeTalk" to educate Canadians about the AIDS crisis from a faith perspective. "AIDS is the leprosy of today", he said; the #1 killer in Africa, #4 killer in the world. In 2002, there were 1238 residents of Ontario who tested HIV+; in the first quarter alone of 2003, there were 341 positive tests, the highest of any quarter ever recorded, and 13% higher than the same period a year earlier. But nobody wants to talk about it. Canadians, particularly those in churches, seem to be pretending the problem isn't there. People wrongly equate homosexuality with AIDS; that accounts for only 40% of the new infections. As Mr Oliver tries to make contact with churches, he discovers there are real barriers to education; he hears the message, "we don't talk about sex in the church." Tom believes the church needs to "offer practical non-judgmental assistance", but RM just goes on pretending there's no needy soul on his doorstep.

      Lazarus was wasting away. Who do we know that's trapped, without hope? Rick Tobias mentioned a dump in Manila in the Philippines where children pick tinfoil off cigarette wrappers all day long. They take the tinfoil to the rice dealer, who gives them just enough rice to last another day. No matter how much tinfoil they bring, they always get only enough food to go on. They're trapped, like Lazarus.

      Or there was the man he knew personally whom he called Gabriel. He'd worked in Toronto in high steel, building skyscrapers. He was an excellent chess player. Gabriel's first wife died in a house fire. His second wife died of a heart attack. Gabriel developed an addiction to alcohol. Then he accidentally fell on the job one day and both legs were crushed. He would never be able to work in construction again. His alcoholism worsened. He repeatedly went to churches, the Salvation Army, was prayed over and received Christ and knelt at the Mercy Seat and laid hands on, but the addiction remained. He lamented to Tobias, "Why won't God take the booze away?" Trapped like Lazarus, a sorry sight.

Tables Turned

And so, in three short verses, are summed up a pair of lives at opposite ends of the wealth spectrum. A surprise was in store. When Lazarus died, Jesus says, "the angels carried him to Abraham's side." Heaven's personal treatment, God lifted him up out of the gutter to the highest point of imaginable bliss. Kind of like having your own personal limousine come to escort you to the heavenlies, red carpet rolled out and all. As for our friend RM, well, he didn't fare so hot. Well, actually it was hot - in hell, he was in torment, "in agony in this fire". Slowly it dawned on RM's mind that now HE was on the outside looking in; this was the unchangeable fate of the godless, there was "a great chasm" fixed separating him from Abraham just as Lazarus had been hopelessly separated from the laden dining table. Abraham the Jewish patriarch explains the justice of the arrangement by saying, "Remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony."

      Can this really be so? RM was probably thinking, can this really be happening or am I having a nightmare? For all we know, he'd gone to the synagogue like clockwork and even contributed heavily to the building program. But apparently that's not what mattered to God.

      Tobias observed that many so-called evangelicals, like liberals, cut parts out of the Bible we don't like. For example, passages that talk about our obligation to care for the poor and promote justice. He argued that "justice" is not defending the state of marriage in Canada (though that's important); justice rather means being the primary advocate for the widow, the orphan, and the poor. Noting that there are 400 passages in the Bible about God's care for the poor, he argued, "We no longer have the right to call ourselves 'Bible-believing Christians' if we do not give ourselves to caring for the poor." On another occasion, he said, "The church in North America will not again be strong until we take seriously the poor, the disenfranchised, the marginalized, and the oppressed." He reminded us how in John 8 Jesus intervened to save the life of the woman caught in adultery, then said, the first task of the church is to save lives, including physically and temporally; we need to intervene when people are threatened by the consequences of their sin. The church is to protect people from the consequences of sin, either societal or personal. Not abandon them to their fate, even if they do appear to be largely responsible. What is "pure religion", Biblically speaking? James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Rick noted nowadays some girls are "widows" by age 16, as Johnny has already loved them and left them.

      Tobias condemned "bootstrap theology" as unbiblical, coming from the pit of hell. All we have is a gift of God; either it comes to us as a gift "or we took it from somebody else, such as our parents". Jesus' parable of the rich fool who built bigger barns to store up his excess for his own enjoyment and security comes to mind (Lk.12:18-21). To help develop a Biblical theology of work Tobias suggested beginning with Eph.4:28: "He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need." Not "that he may consume it" or "that he may sell it for extra profit" but "to share with those in need." James (2:5) asks rhetorically, "Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?"

      When Jesus preached, when he really got a head of steam up to challenge listeners, his target audience was the religious and social establishment, those with the "keys" - US. Whereas when Jesus was teaching, sharing good news about God's Kingdom, it was to the multitudes, those who were "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (Mt.9:36). Christ told stories and used word-pictures that awakened people's imagination and reminded the poor multitudes who their Father really was - an Almighty God who cared for them deeply. He begged God for more followers - the church - who would be workers sent out into the harvest field.

      In hell, RM was still stuck in self-focus. First he asks Abraham to pry Lazarus away and send him to provide RM some relief, some comfort despite the flame. When that request is refused, he asks for Lazarus to be sent to warn his brothers still living. Finally (a bit too late) RM seems to be showing some concern for others -- through he's simply upgraded Lazarus from a menial servant to an errand-boy. Again Abraham refuses. "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them." RM argues that someone from the dead will be more effective in getting them to repent. But Abraham closes the dialogue, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."

      We Christians make a lot of the Resurrection, and rightly so, for it is sensational, an amazing miracle - not simply a resuscitation for a little longer temporal life, but a whole new created order. Yet here Jesus seems to be down-playing His resurrection, suggesting that Scripture itself is God's tool of choice for warning people of the need to repent. When we share God's commands and promises with people, the Holy Spirit's voice speaks through and with us to stir their conscience and waken them from sin's sleep. Jesus implies that a person's degree of responsiveness to Scripture will reflect their degree of responsiveness to the Resurrected Lord. And that response to Scripture can be gauged by how we treat the poor at our doorstep.

Lazarus, laid right outside RM's gate, wasting away -- and the holy Writings read every Sabbath -- both warned the rich man while he was alive, to no avail. Which warning will we perceive?

      Abraham's not even talking New Testament, he refers to "Moses and the Prophets". Rick Tobias noted that the Old Testament standard of social assistance was that one-third of the tithe was to go to the poor (Dt.14:29; 26:12). He challenged, "Find a church in North America where one-third of the tithe goes to the poor!"

      The Bible was inspired and written to communicate to us God's very nature, including His love for all creation, particularly the poor. Rom.10:12 says, "the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him". The Lord richly blesses - not stingily or half-heartedly. Ps.86(5), "You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you." Who calls on God but the needy? God abounds in love to those who are down and out.

Practical Approaches

Rick Tobias and the conference did not leave us just squirming in our seats. Many practical ways were suggested by which Christians could begin to help the "Lazaruses" around us. Tobias said to start with basic needs - food, clothing; "buy good food and share it". Volunteer at a mission near you (I found information on one in Kitchener called Ray of Hope, or there's our local food bank). Give to beggars, wisely: Tobias counselled us not to give to panhandlers if they were drunk, but sober; to give if it didn't look like the person could work. We can write letters; Rick was upset that we don't have a national strategy to care for the poor, regardless of political party (lest the poor become a political football).

      Kerry Bowser mentioned some city churches had approached local businesses to help staff an "Out of the Cold" program one night a week. The Banfield EMC church holds a Breakfast Club every Sunday morning in connection with Sunday School. Churches can offer an extension on their phone as a dedicated Prayer Line, with messages checked regularly by a Prayer Warrior. Church youth groups can tap into high school students looking for ways to complete their required Community Service hours, perhaps cleaning up a local park or doing yard- or housework for shut-ins. Churches can offer a clothing bank or exchange; I expect we've all got some garments that could be "liberated", say, for a buck-a-pound! People with gardens can tithe their gardens, planting an extra row of carrots. You can tithe your grocery shopping, adding a few extra cans for the food bank. Some churches offer tax clinics a couple of Saturdays in April; the advantage of this is that low-income earners can get their GST rebate. Imagine the word spreading on the street, "Go to that church - they SAVE you money!" We could host a 12-step recovery program such as AA. People can adopt a shut-in to do cleaning, laundry, etc. In September, a church could collect a backpack or two extra of school supplies and channel it to needy kids through the local school. Some churches in a community join together to co-operatively fund a Youth For Christ worker. These are just a few of the many practical ways we can help.

      Do you see them? The Lazaruses at the gate, the beggars, those covered with sores that everyone tries to avoid? Kerry Bowser concluded his seminar with this thought: "Any group that exists to meet its own needs is an example of fallenness." We need to be outward-focused, not inward-looking. Can we see Lazarus -- or are we consumed by our fine clothes and living in luxury? Maybe Jesus will help us get to know Lazarus by name. Let's pray.