Tag: Luke 16:19-31

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First Sunday after Trinity

Readings: Genesis 15:1-6 | 1 John 4:16-21 | Luke 16:19-31

Text: Luke 16:19-31

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Last week, we confessed in the Athanasian Creed, “Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith.  Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt perish eternally.”  Today, we see the application of this biblical truth—The rich man is in hell, while Lazarus is comforted at Abraham’s side.

So, the biggest question from the Gospel reading today is: What shall we do, “lest we also come into this place of torment” where the rich man finds himself? At first glance, the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus seems to say that rich people go to hell and poor, sick people go to heaven. Wouldn’t that make it easy?  Then the Marxist ideology would be right which says struggling, disadvantaged people are more noble than “fat cat” CEO’s.  That’s the message we hear all the time, so much so that it seems to be evil simply to have money.  If you don’t believe me, just ask any Christian what kind of looks they got when they drove to church in a Tesla.

But it’s not that simple.  The point of this story isn’t found in purple robes and feasts or starvation and open sores.  In the Athanasian Creed and the Last Judgment in Matthew 25, we confess, “Those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire.”  What St. John says his first epistle is true, “whoever loves God must also love his brother.”[1] But there’s more to it than the outward actions.

Despite the first blush of this story, our lot in life doesn’t determine our place in heaven or hell.  If you’re young, healthy, and everything is going well, it doesn’t mean God loves you any more than a middle-aged woman who suffers with chronic pain.  If you can barely make ends meet and live with an endless stream of trouble, God’s love is undoubtedly yours because of Christ.  What you have or don’t have in this life where to look for God’s love.

The more important issue is, Where is your faith?  Jesus illustrates a rich man who believed in his material blessings and was comforted by them.  On the other hand, Lazarus despised his earthly life and looked only to God for comfort.  But it doesn’t have to be just deluded rich people and God-fearing poor people.  St. Paul writes to Timothy and to us, “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”[2]  Yes, there are wealthy people who boast in the comfort of their wealth.  But there are also poor people who look to money as if it were their savior.  There are millionaires with messy divorce fights over property and there are poor people who scrape and fight to get every last dollar they think they’re entitled to.  But before God they are all alike: “Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.”[3]  Whether you’re comfortable or lacking, if you believe your help comes from the things of this life, your faith is in the wrong thing.

In Colossians 3, St. Paul writes, “1If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:1–2) This is where your Lord wants your faith to be: in Him, who made heaven and earth, who adopted you as His dear children, and who gladly and freely gives you all that you need to support this body and life.

And if that’s where your faith is, what flows from that is contentment.  The unnamed rich man had faith in his prosperity. He was content with having everything his heart could desire—a fully belly, fine clothes, and people to wait on him.  Lazarus, though he had nothing, he was content with it.  That’s not to be confused with being happy about it.  But how can we make such a claim that he is content with his condition?  Because, in the Gospel, the Lord tells us something we don’t normally have knowledge of: Lazarus had faith in God, and thus went to paradise.

Faith in God brings about contentment with whatever your earthly lot gives you.  Again from Colossians 3: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5)  The trouble really isn’t what stuff or how much stuff people have; it’s our earthly sinful hearts that are filled with jealousy and covet that Tesla that our brother or sister drove up in. 

But you have been crucified with Christ and were put to death with Him.  All that fills you with discontentment has died on the cross.  Your true God, the maker of heaven and earth, has given you a new heart and His Spirit, so that you trust in Him for all things.   With your faith you acknowledge Him as your loving Father who always and forever cares for you, His child.

Whether you have much or little—it is enough.  You might have good health or poor health—it is enough.  Your living situation might be ideal or lacking—it is enough. Whether He gives or He takes away—it is enough.  It is enough because it is what your Heavenly Father has given you for today.

With a right faith and contentment in Him, He sends each believer out to love His neighbor.   The faithful who are amply supplied now get to share in something amazing.  St. Paul writes to Timothy, “17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share”[4] He has freed His children from the “American Dream,” which is the pursuit of affluence that ensnares so many. In its place, whatever we have is a gift from Him for serving your family, your brother or sister, and whatever need He brings before you.

But on the other side, if you’re the one in need, your place in this economy is no less important.  While you might not be able to be generous the same way someone who has more can, God has also given you empty hands to lift up to Him.  Receive whatever good things God gives you by the hands of others, giving thanks and praise to Him.  The Holy Spirit who has been given to you also will guard you from trusting in and hoarding these gifts from God, delivered by the hands of His faithful.

            When our journey is over, and God brings us from this valley of sorrows to Himself, these differences will pass away.  In the Kingdom of God, none are lacking and all are fully comforted.  And this amazing inheritance is yours through God’s gift of faith.  Therefore, it is our duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him at all times.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[1] 1 John 4:21

[2] 1 Timothy 6:10

[3] Psalm 62:9

[4] 1 Timothy 6:17-18

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First Sunday after Trinity (Luke 16:19-31)

Bethlehem Lutheran & Bethel Lutheran Church, Lebanon & Sweet Home, OR
First Sunday after Trinity + June 3, 2018
Text: Luke 16:19-31

Last week, we confessed in the Athanasian Creed, “Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith.  Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt perish eternally.”  Today, we see the application of this biblical truth—The rich man is in hell, while Lazarus is comforted at Abraham’s side.
 
So, the biggest question from the Gospel reading today is: What shall we do, “lest we also come into this place of torment” where the rich man finds himself?  At first glance, the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus seems to say that rich people go to hell and poor, sick people go to heaven.  Wouldn’t that make it easy?  Then the ideology would be right that says struggling, disadvantaged people are more noble than fat cat CEO’s.  That’s the message we hear all the time, so much so that it seems to be evil simply to have money.  If you don’t believe me, just ask any Christian what kind of looks they got when they drove to church in a new Mercedes.
 
But it’s not that simple.  The point of this story isn’t found in purple robes and feasts or starvation and open sores.  In the Athanasian Creed and Matthew 25:46, we confess, “Those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire.”  What St. John says is true, “whoever loves God must also love his brother,”[1] but it’s deeper than outward actions.
 
Despite the first blush of this story, our lot in life doesn’t determine our place in heaven or hell.  If you’re young, healthy, and everything is going well, it doesn’t mean God loves you any more than a middle-aged woman who suffers with chronic pain.  If you can barely make ends meet and live with an endless stream of trouble, God’s love is undoubtedly yours because of Christ.  What you have or don’t have in this life where to look for God’s love.
 
The more important issue is, Where is your faith?  Jesus illustrates a rich man who believed in his material blessings and was comforted by them.  On the other hand, Lazarus despised his earthly life and looked only to God for comfort.  But it doesn’t have to be just deluded rich people and God-fearing poor people.  St. Paul writes to Timothy and to us, “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”[2]  Yes, there are wealthy people who boast in the comfort of their wealth.  But there are also poor people who look to money as if it were their savior.  There are millionaires with messy divorce fights over property and there are poor people who scrape and fight to get every last cent they think they’re entitled to.  But before God they are all alike: “Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.”[3]  Whether you’re comfortable or lacking, if you believe your help comes from the things of this life, your faith is in the wrong thing.
 
In Colossians 3, St. Paul writes, “1If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:1–2)  This is where your Lord wants your faith to be: in Him, who made heaven and earth, who adopted you as His dear children, and who gladly and freely gives you all that you need to support this body and life.
 
And if that’s where your faith is, what flows from that is contentment.  In this life, the rich man was content with having everything his heart could desire—a fully belly, fine clothes, and people to wait on him.  Lazarus, though he had nothing, he was content with it.  That’s not to be confused with being happy about it.  But how can we make such a claim that he is content with his condition?  Because the parable tells us something we don’t normally have true knowledge of: Lazarus had faith in God, evidenced by the fact that he was in paradise.
 
Faith in God brings about contentment with whatever your earthly lot gives you.  Again from Colossians 3: “5Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5)  The trouble really isn’t what stuff or how much stuff people have; it’s our earthly sinful hearts that are filled with jealousy and covet that Mercedes that our brother or sister drove up in.
 
But you have been crucified with Christ and were put to death with Him.  All that fills you with discontentment has died on the cross.  Your true God, the maker of heaven and earth, has given you a new heart and His Spirit, so that you trust in Him for all things.   With your faith you acknowledge Him as your loving Father who always and forever cares for you, His child.
 
Therefore whether you have much or little—it is enough.  You might have good health or poor health—it is enough.  Whether He gives or He takes away—it is enough.  It is enough because it is what your Father has given you for today.cg4eede
 
Now that He has given you a right faith and contentment in Him, then He sends each believer out to love His neighbor.   The faithful who are amply supplied now get to share in something amazing.  St. Paul writes to Timothy, “17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share”[4]
 
But on the other side, if you are in need, your place in this economy is no less important.  While you might not be able to be generous the same way someone who has more can, God has also given you empty hands to lift up to Him.  Receive whatever good things God gives you by the hands of others, giving thanks and praise to Him.  The Holy Spirit who has been given to you also will guard you from trusting in and hoarding what you have.
 
When our journey is over, and God brings us from this valley of sorrows to Himself, these differences will pass away.  In the Kingdom of God, none are lacking and all are fully comforted.  And this amazing inheritance is yours through God’s gift of faith.  Therefore it is our duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him at all times.  Amen.
[1] 1 John 4:21
[2] 1 Timothy 6:10
[3] Psalm 62:9
[4] 1 Timothy 6:17-18

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Longing for the Riches of Heaven (Luke 16:19-31)

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost + September 25, 2016
Text: Luke 16:19-31
 
When you’re a kid you can’t wait until your birthday—when I’m 7, I’ll get to…   For adults that still happens, except that we’re not looking forward to being another year older.  We look forward to vacations, getting a raise, or buying a house.  This sense of anticipation, of longing for something better, is what drives people through life.
 
Anticipation is also a prominent feature in lives of God’s children.  We live in anticipation of something better, more glorious, and perfect.  As St. Paul says, “In this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”[1]
 
It’s wonderful to meditate on the hope of eternal life, where we will be with the Lord and never have to leave Him.  But while we’re here in this life, the flip side of our anticipation is longing.   It’s a longing that we’re filled with every time there’s a reminder of how far off heaven is.  Chronic illness, poverty, temptation, and children being drawn away from the faith.  Doubt and affliction assail us and fill us with a hunger that cannot be satisfied here in this life.
 
The story of Lazarus[2] and the Rich Man is a picture of this longing to be satisfied.
 
19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.”
 
We’re told very little about Lazarus, but what we are, we can assume that this is how his life was.  He was constantly hungry, perhaps he never had good health, and what little housing he had was barely adequate.  He lived in destitution.  In stark contrast, we see the rich man, who is the exact opposite—filled to the point of being gorged, dressed luxuriously, and having no pangs of want except when it’s time for the next meal.
 
Then comes that great equalizer: “The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.”  And now there’s a great reversal between the two men: the rich man is in agony, while Lazarus is comforted.   But this isn’t to say Lazarus is being rewarded for his years of poverty, or that the rich man is being punished for having it easy.  While Jesus goes on to stress the importance of hearing the Word while we’re living, this is what the Word of God tells us: This is a broken and corrupt world because of sin—human sin, and we are all contributors.  Poverty, disease, injustice, hatred, and even death are the fallout of sin.  Some of the things we’re personally responsible for, but others like natural disasters and freak accidents no party can be blamed.
 
The hope for healing this sick world came when God sent His Son into it.  Of Him, John the Baptist says, “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”[3]  Through the Christ, God will right what is wrong and bring about a new creation out of this one.  He began it in Jesus’ birth, completed it on the cross and in His resurrection and ascension, and He will fulfill it completely when Jesus comes again in glory on the Last Day.
 
As God’s children, we live in between those two monumental events: the Ascension and Last Day.  Our way to Abraham’s bosom has been secured by Christ and received by faith.  Our share in His eternal, perfect Kingdom will mean an end to all suffering, as the angel tells John in Revelation: “He who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”[4]  That is our sure and certain hope.
 
But today we wait, and next week, and next year…until whenever He gathers us to Himself or comes like a thief in the night.  As life wears on, though, it becomes more difficult to feel at home in this world.  As we age, lose our health, see friends and family members die, and maybe even end up stuck in a nursing home, we can identify with Lazarus more and more.  We long to be satisfied because we’ve had it with the sin and trouble of this place.
 
But even while we wait on the Lord to deliver us, we have the comfort and strength we’ll need.  Just because we’re in anticipation doesn’t mean that God has abandoned His people.  The sons of Israel waited 40 years before they were brought across the Jordan, but His presence went with them in the Pillar of cloud and fire.[5]  The exiles in Babylon waited 70 years before He brought them back to Zion.[6]  The point is that He has been faithful to His people in anticipation in generations past, and He’s no different to each of us in His Church today.
 
Lazarus was poor in every earthly respect you can think of, destitute of the “good things” of this world.  Yet even though he was poor and needy in these ways, Lazarus was rich through his faith.  God had showered upon Him the riches of being a son of God, a citizen of His Kingdom.   As a man of faith, Lazarus also realized that he was a sojourner on the earth.  His stay in this body riddled by disease and pangs of hunger was passing away with each day.  But because God had an inheritance overflowing with goodness, Lazarus departed this life for his permanent home with the Lord.
 
It’s the same way for you and me in Christ.  Whether we’re rich or poor in daily bread, God showers us with spiritual, eternal riches.  In popular culture we’re bombarded with dreams of eating out all the time, driving a new car, having a vibrant retirement where you travel the world.  But don’t feel that God is depriving you if you shop at Grocery Outlet, nurse a beater with 190,000 miles, and are too riddled with arthritis to make it down the stairs (much less to Tahiti).  God is not depriving you because you are His child.  The gifts He promises, He abundantly fulfills.  You have His Word and the gift of the Holy Spirit living in you!  You have His full forgiveness and victory over death itself!  You have a God Who neither slumbers nor sleeps and Who commands His angels to guard you against dangers physical and spiritual![7]
 
We live in anticipation as God’s beloved children, never alone and never forsaken.  “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” the Lord says, “for they shall be satisfied.”  At long last, the day will come for us to leave this valley of sorrow and be gathered to Abraham’s bosom.   In full assurance that God will grant this, let’s pray the last stanza of one of our hymns:
 
Lord, let at last Thine angels come,
To Abr’ham’s bosom bear me home,
    That I may die unfearing;
And in its narrow chamber keep
My body safe in peaceful sleep
    Until Thy reappearing.
And then from death awaken me,
That these mine eyes with joy may see,
    O Son of God, Thy glorious face,
    My Savior and my fount of grace.
Lord Jesus Christ, my prayer attend, my prayer attend,
And I will praise Thee without end.[8]  Amen.
 
 
 
[1] Romans 8:24-25
[2] Different person from Lazarus of Bethany.  Lazarus is the Greek form of Eleazar, “one whom God helps.” (Eerdman’s Bible Dictionary)
[3] Luke 3:5
[4] Revelation 7:15-17
[5] Exodus 33:14
[6] Jeremiah 25:12
[7] Acts 2:38-39, Job 19:25-27, Psalm 121 and 90.
[8] “Lord Thee I Love With All My Heart” (Lutheran Service Book 708:3)