Title: “The Chasms”
Scripture: Luke 16:19-31
9/26/04 17th Sunday after Pentecost, Yr. C
Rev. Joy R. Haertig
I mentioned a few weeks ago that when it seemed to fit, I would reflect further on the questions from the “Ask the Pastor” Sunday we had in August. One of the questions was if I pictured God as “the big guy in the sky”. I do not picture God as a being. In my mind, God is more of a Presence, a Spirit, Energy or Source of unfathomable Love in which we live and move and breathe. God is like a river - a river of steadfast love, mercy and grace. All of my life I have trusted that steadfast Love. I have not always trusted the institutional church, I have not always trusted my own theology, but I have always trusted in God's steadfast Love - even in my lowest times.
Time and again I give thanks for the steadfastness of that Love as we human beings find our way in this complex world. We are such complex creatures. We can be so giving, creative, inventive and compassionate and yet we can also create such amazing chasms between us (racial - economic - religious - cultural etc.) that it is a wonder our little planet has not broken into tiny pieces long ago.
In today's parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, we are told that there is a huge chasm between these two that cannot be crossed. The description of the rich man in his purple robe and Lazarus and his terrible sores tells us that the chasm had been created long before death.
It was not only a chasm of wealth or status, but a long held theological assumption that wealth was a sign of God's favor and poverty a sign of God's displeasure. The Rich Man was rich because he was so godly, and Lazarus was poor because he was so full of sin.
At first glance it may seem like an absurd theological belief to our modern ears - yet if we sit with it long enough I am afraid it begins to sound rather familiar. It is not that far from what many of us have been taught, perhaps not in so many words - but at least insinuated at the heart of our American upbringing. Cleanliness and a good work ethic lead to blessing, poverty equals dirty and lazy which equals “fallen from God's favor”.
William Herzog writes in his book on Parables that Jesus was well aware that a belief system such as this one helped sustain the current socioeconomic system of his day. If God ordained the good to be rich and the bad to be poor, then it must be okay. This parable then, of a poor man receiving God's blessing in heaven while the rich man suffered in a toasty place called “Hades”, was Jesus' way of pointing out the absurdity of this theology.
It is not a parable that intends to teach that wealth is evil and poverty good either, it is meant to uncover what I would call a god-less theology that is based on ignorance of God and ignorance of social systems.
Jesus, time and again, seeks to show us how the chasms we create are not built by God, but by human minds, actions and hearts that have closed themselves off from the complexities of existence, our human responsibility and the possibility of transformation.
When you encounter a homeless person on the side of the road or sleeping in a doorway of an office building early in the morning, do you ever wonder what their story might be?
Two years or more ago when the library was still out there in the narthex I came from a meeting down the hall only to discover a young man sleeping on our couch. He frightened me because I did not expect to see anyone and I was alone in the building. The truth is, I had nothing to be afraid of. He was cold and had found the door open and had been taught that churches were a safe place to rest. I gave him a big sweater out of the First Avenue Service Center box and sent him on his way. I did not take the time to ask him his story - but I certainly wondered about it as I watched him walk away into a cold Northwest night.
We like to think that life is just a progression of steps from birth to school, to work, to marriage, to family, to retirement, to grandchildren, to death and if we toe the line then we could all taste the American dream.
But I think life is more like a big puzzle. If we are lucky, we have a good support system that helps us eventually put the pieces in places that work for us- in particular the edge pieces because they help hold the rest together. And if we are really lucky, we even have enough support to make changes to the design from time to time.
People like Lazarus in today's parable have a puzzle too and a story about what has happened along the way that has made it particularly challenging to put their puzzle together.
William Herzog, a New Testament scholar believes that Lazarus' story might have gone something like this:
Lazarus began his life where the vast majority of the population was born, in the country, either on a peasant farm or in a village. A beggar such as Lazarus may have had the misfortune of being born second or third among the sons of the family, and because the family had only enough land for the eldest to inherit, he had to leave the family plot and seek work elsewhere when he began to consume more than he could produce within the economy of the peasant household.
Or he could have been a peasant farmer who had lost his patrimony through the oppressive foreclosure of mortgage by urban elite's, who would then have added his small plot of land to their expanding estates.
Whether a teenager that was turned out on his own or a peasant farmer that had lost his land, he may have worked as a day laborer in the countryside, tending vines or bringing in the harvest. But the work was seasonal. Perhaps he eventually tried to get work in the city, but time was running out, as there were many others looking for work as well. He became malnourished and vulnerable to disease. His cuts did not heal and soon he was unable to work and began to beg. In time, this too became difficult as he got sicker and sicker. (Parables as Subversive Speech by William Herzog)
So many things, far out of his own control, made it impossible to fit the pieces of his puzzle together that would have made life more comfortable and his health more stable.
When you hear Lazarus' story, it makes it difficult to cling to the theology that his sin made him poor, isn't it? It is so much more complicated than that. The more we understand this then the greater our chances of realizing that God's mercy and steadfast love is not something that is measured and doled out based on our earning it. (Thank goodness!)
I was reading something the other day that pointed out how the words cure and curious share the same root.
When we are able and willing to practice curiosity we are sometimes “cured” of our assumptions - stereotypes - fears and our god-less theology. When we practice curiosity, the homeless population takes on a face and a story.
I don't know how many of you remember this - but a few years ago we had a woman show up in church with a small photo album in her hand. She and her large extended family of teens from various walks of life - had benefited from one of our Thanksgiving baskets. We got to see pictures of the celebration that we helped made possible. She helped us practice a little curiosity! To my knowledge no one had ever done that before.
There they were - kids with spiked and colorful hair, worn clothes, smiling and laughing as they gathered around a long table. Hungry kids with an adopted mom - for a moment at least one puzzle piece was settled in just right.
Where was God's steadfast love in all of that?
With us because we were so generous?
With them because they were so poor?
It is not a question of either/or, God's steadfast Love - was everywhere - flowing freely for us to enjoy, share and receive.
May we be aware of what we do to God through the belief systems we build. From time to time it is important to check in and ask our selves - is our God too small? When we limit Love, not only do we leave out others, we sometimes leave out ourselves as if we are undeserving or unworthy. Steadfast Love that flows like a river is not earned, it just is.
Check in with yourself on occasion and ask, is your God too small?
Let us pray.