Twenty Sixth Sunday September 30, 2007

Amos 6:1, 4‑-7 Psalm: 146 1 Timothy 6:11‑-16 Luke 16:19‑-31

The Prophecy of Amos against luxury and wealth, the story of Lazarus feeding on the fat of the land - are not comfortable images as we get into Thanksgiving Weekend (Canada). We think of Turkey and the stuffing plus cranberry sauce and pumpkins with dollops of ice cream. Could we not move this set of readings two Sundays from now when we get back into the gyms and fitness clubs to reduce all the over eating we did on Thanksgiving. Ah ! But the Gospels always come into our comfort zone, Jesus comes to visit us at most inconvenient times.



A In the Sixth Chapter, Luke says:

24 Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.

25 Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.

If Amos were to use the “Woe pattern” he probably would have said:

Woe to you who sit on comfortable mahogany and ivory furniture (not the type you get at Home Hardware or Ikea)

Woe to you who recline in comfort with tables full of Rack of Lamb and Mint Sauce, Roastbeef and horse radish, Turkey with all the trimmings.

King Jeroboam and High Priest, Amaziah told Amos to go back to Judah and preach there. We might feel like doing the same.

B We then read the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus.

Right from the out start we notice several things.

First the poor man is called: Lazarus. He is a definite identifiable person. The Rich Man however, does not have a name. Possibly you and I could put our names in place of the “Rich Man” - he is more or less like Mr. Everyman in Robert Bolt’s play on Thomas More.

Secondly: the Rich Man does not do anything sinful. We are not told that he has broken the Sabbath, or committed adultery. There is no account of him being a Tax Collector who gouged the poor. He is not like our Rich and Famous: Mel Gibson or David Hasselhoff, Keifer Sutherland or Bill Murray weaving around the streets with DWI charge. There is no account of him beating his wife nor is like the Queen of Mean: Leona Helmsley by being mean to his servants. He was not mean to Lazarus, he was in this deplorable stage, because he did not even know that Lazarus existed !

3. In fact our Rich Man was just enjoying the “fruit of the Earth and work of human hands as we say at Mass. However, one of our eighth graders summarized the story very succinctly. The 8th grader said, “As to the rich man

“He ate well”

“He dressed well”

“He went to hell”

Although at first glance

the food might catch our eyes, and

the sauces catch our smell,

the champagne fizz might catch our ears,

this is not a story of food and drink. It is not one of eat drink and be merry. Rather it is a story which reminds us of one of the first chapters of Genesis. After the murder of Abel, when God asks the murderer where is your brother, Cain replies: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

4. That question is the pivot, the fulcrum on which this whole Parable stands. Jesus himself enjoyed a good glass of wine, “the friends will not fast, while the bridegroom is still with them.” (Matthew 9: 15) He dined with the rich and famous: Simon the Leper, Matthew the tax Collector, the Zaccheus the Banker. And apart from Simon who was making silent judgments about others, Jesus did not lecture or preach to any of his guests on sharing, on giving up their riches. His whole teaching came from his attitude and behaviour towards the Gifts of God which surrounded him.

And that is precisely what we will be judged about: - Not on what we have but on how we use what we have. Some of us have very little but we hoard and protect it as if our lives depended on it. In fact we do not possess these “treasures”, they possess.

And in that sense we are the Rich Man in the parable today.

And in that sense we are those that Amos called: “those in luxury, lying upon beds of ivory, anointing themselves with the best oils, drinking wine from bowls.

Frank O’Dea is a success story in Canada. He went from the Bowery to the Boardroom. In his early teens, his life went off the rails into a downward spiral. Fighting his alcoholism and drugs, he went on to be the co-founder of the famous SECOND CUP COFFEE franchise. When asked, what does he do when he sees a fellow drunk begging on the street, Frank says if I sense that the money might make him rock bottom from which he can get up and make a life for himself, then I will give him the money. If not I do not give him money. It is not a judgment, it is a gut feeling.

However, whether we give money to the beggar on the street or not - that person has every right to be treated as a human being. A nod, a good morning, a gesture of “I don’t have change” are different ways of noticing the people like Lazarus in our Gospel today.

As we count up our treasures here on earth, two things might help us to NOTICE the people like Lazarus. First: You will never see a U-Haul Truck behind a hearse bringing along one’s possessions. Secondly: “The only things you can take with you into the next life are the things you’ve shared with the poor.”

God Bless you all.

Appendix:

John Paul II (saw) a terrible abyss separating wealth from poverty,

a chasm that means ill

for the poor in this world and

for the privileged when they face the next.

At a Mass in Edmonton, Ontario, that the pope's homily on Christ's last judgment reminded us of the fate of Lazarus and Dives:

“In the light of Christ's words, the poor South will judge the rich North. And the poor people and poor nations—poor in different ways, not only lacking.