Luke 16:19-31
September 25 – Rev. Justin Cheng

I speak to you in the name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit
One of my favourite stories is ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens. I have watched a lot of adaptations of this story from the classic version featuring Alistair Sim in the 1950s to the Muppet Christmas Carol. For those of you who don’t know the story, the story is about an miserly rich man, Ebenezer Scrooge who goes from being greedy and selfish to kind and compassionate, he changes his outlook in life when he encounters three spirits, the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, who teach him the true meaning of Christmas which is to be kind, to be generous and to be caring, especially to those most in need.
We get a similar type story to a ‘Christmas Carol’ in our gospel today, it is the story of the rich man and Lazarus in the afterlife. When we read this story, an immediate first question may be is whether we should take this story as a literal depiction of the afterlife. But in the same way that the point of ‘A Christmas Carol’ is not whether ghosts exist literally, even though ghosts are featured, I think to focus on whether this story is a literal rendering of what happens we breathe our last breath is to miss the point. Stories are meant to convey a spiritual meaning that are not dependent on whether they can be taken literally.
So, what is the spiritual meaning of this gospel passage? The rich man in life, ignores Lazarus at his gate preferring to focus on his own desires and wants. In the Hebrew Bible, the wealthy were expected to give to the needy who show up, begging for charity, for example wealthy farmers who were expected to leave some remaining crop for the widows and orphans. It is crucial that we see this obligation as more than sentimental pity. Ancient Israel understood itself as an extended family, the rich were expected to give to the poor in the same way a father gave to his children or an elder brother gave to his younger brother. The rich man is not faulted simply because he did not give to Lazarus, is that the rich man didn’t see Lazarus as a fellow child of God, a fellow Israelite, a fellow brother.
The family metaphor is important when we see the afterlife. For the rich man in his torments, cries out to Abraham calling him father. He identifies himself as an Israelite, a child of the covenant, and thus a son of Abraham. And yet even in his torment, he does not still see Lazarus as his equal, a fellow brother and a child of God. Notice what he asks of Abraham, he asks if Lazarus could come and serve him, if Lazarus could alleviate his torment. And then the rich man tells Abraham to send Lazarus to inform his own brothers to warn them of the judgment that awaits them after death. The rich man still does not see Lazarus as a fellow human being, a fellow equal, a fellow child of God. He sees Lazarus as his servant, his slave.
And here we understand exactly why the rich man is being tormented. There is no indication in the story that he is being punished for his past sins, rather the rich man is suffering because he refuses to love Lazarus as his equal, as his fellow brother. He refuses to love Lazarus because he clings to his own position, his own status, he needs Lazarus to be at the bottom so that he can be at the top. But in God’s kingdom, we rejoice and live in bliss precisely because we love God, and we love everyone. Heaven is where we all love each other deeply. The rich man suffers because he refuses to love. And we don’t need to imagine an afterlife to understand this. I think we know people, who for whatever reason, do not love other people, they cling to themselves, they do not care, they either ignore others, or treat others as simply people to use and exploit to serve their own needs. These people however tend not to be happy in a lasting and fulfilling sense, because to be happy, to be truly joyful is to love.
And so, my friends, the warning in this story is not, as it is sometimes assumed, that if we don’t be good, then we will be punished in the afterlife. Rather, it is deeper than that. It is that if we do not choose to love our neighbour, if we do not see them with dignity, respect and honour, then we end up imprisoning ourselves by our own indifference and hate. To truly enjoy the love of God given to us, is to join with God in loving other people as ourselves. To truly rejoice in heavenly joy, is to love other people as ourselves following Jesus’ example of compassion, generosity and tender care. In heaven, everyone gives and everyone receives and everyone rejoices in the love of God that surrounds and flows around us. In the opposite place, the people there hate everyone else, and what happens is that they end up hating themselves, because only true self-love can come when one gives love and receives love in return. We then are called to see others as beloved children of God and fellow brothers, sisters and siblings. May we see the Christ in others as they see the Christ in us, and when we see Christ everywhere and in everyone, then we know that we are in heaven, thanks be to God. Amen.