rich man, poor man

from my sermon on Sept. 26, 2010, from Luke 16:19-31

I enjoy being rich, don't you? Last Sunday evening, after a pretty full day at church ( I tend to work every Sunday), Cathy and I went to a concert given by Don McClean. You may remember this song from 1971, "The 3 men that I admire the most, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; they caught the last train for the coast, the day the music died. And we were singing, Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie, drove my Chevy to the Levee, but the levee was dry...." We won't sing the rest of that phrase! Cathy and I had tickets right on the front row. Not front and center mind you, in fact, they were on the very outside, but still the front row, not 15 feet from Don McClean. And it was so easy. We just went on the internet to One World Theater, picked our seats, put in our credit card info, and we were in.

It's good to be rich, isn't it? This past summer Cathy and I took off 4 weeks for renewal leave, going to Australia and New Zealand. Several of you said that this trip would be your dream vacation. We saved up for a couple of years, but it was easy for us to do. Some of you asked about a favorite memory. One is toward the end of our trip at the north end of the northern island of New Zealand along Cormandale penisula. There is a lot of geothermal activity there. So there is a beach right along the Pacific ocean where hot water bubbles up. You know what they call it? Hot water beach! So at low tide, you take a shovel, and you dig your own hot tub, not too close, not too far away, but just right. You lie in the hot water on the beach with the Pacific ocean waves right there, with blue sky and sea gulls above. It is pretty wonderful. It is good to be rich.

I pick up the commentaries on this passage, and they say it is okay to be rich, but it is not okay to miss those who are poor right at your door. Remember that Jesus here in Luke's gospel is on a long journey to Jerusalem. Most of the time he is instructing his disciples or talking with the crowds, but here he is dealing with the Pharisees. Now I am not going to beat up on the Pharisees any more than I am going to beat up on you. Lord, send me some Pharisees. They kept the holy law. They prayed, they fasted twice a week. They tithed! Lord, send me some Pharisees. But here they are portrayed as lovers of money. More than that, they seem to have adopted a theology that said, If you are rich, then you must be blessed by God. If you are poor, they you must be cursed by God. In fact, to help the poor might even be going against God.

So Jesus tells a story. There is a rich man. You can tell he is rich by his fine clothes. Purple cloth was made by getting dye from crushing special shells. Only the very rich could afford them. There was a poor man, and the contrast couldn't have been greater. He is thrown at the gate of the rich man. He is so hungry, he would eat the crumbs from the table if he could. And this is the yuckiest part, dogs lick his open sores. Upon death, the poor man goes to paradise, that is what Abraham's bosom means. People back then would eat lying down on one's left arm with their head towards the table and the feet sticking away. So the poor man was lying right at Abraham chest at the heavenly banquet! And the rich man goes to hell, a place of fire and torment. Now, we probably have our most descriptive language about hell found here, but I want to say this: hell is not so much a place as it is a perspective. Hell is not being able to see the needs of people right at your front door.

Even in hell, the rich man cannot see. He still treats the poor man as his servant. "Abraham, tell Lazarus to bring some water to cool my tongue, for I am in agony here." Back in the segregation era, Clarence Jordan created Koininia Farms where people from all races and classes could live in community together...in Georgia. He did his own translation of the New Testament set in Georgia called the Cottonpatch Gospels. He puts Abraham's response back to the rich man this way, "Lazarus ain't gonna run no mo yo errands, rich man."

The chasm, the big divide, doesn't just exist between heaven and hell. It begins with the divide right at the rich man's front door, not being able to see the poor man. The chasm begins right at the rich man's doorway to his heart.

So what if we are the rich man in this story? Then for me it is a cautionary tale.

Some of you will see yourselves as the poor man in the story. I know is still tough for you. Your job has been outsourced, or downsized, or right sized, or furloughed. The result is that you are making less. You may be underwater in your house, owing more than it is worth. Nearly every week I am talking with someone who needs money for rent, for utilities, for food. I know that many people are desperate, and I do not want to minimize your exerperience.

However, I want us to keep things in perspective. I did an internet seach. Don't you just love Google? I typed in the richest zip codes in the US. 78730, just north of the river here, some of you live there, was about 66th. 78746, right here where the church is, came in about 83rd. I did another seach: What if the world were 100 people? You will find that if you have internet, you are rich. Compared to the rest of the world, if you have clean drinking water, food, and shelter, you are rich.

We need to keep perspective. In the last downturn of the economy, I was pastor at St. John' here in Austin. There was a couple who struggled. The guy was laid off from his office job at a lumber yard. They lived on the wife's meagre salary. They almost lost their home. He got retrained and came back to work as a teacher. When they got back on their feet, they said to me, "We want to be the co-chairs of the CROP Walk for Hunger." They got a new perspective.

As I lived with this passage this past week, I started seeing things differently. I started to notice all of the people on the street corners with their signs asking for help: "Out of work," "Veteran," "Anything helps." I got a new perspective. Here is what I do; you may be called to do something different. I never give money. I have many times made up gallon ziplock bags with water and energy bars and peanut butter crackers inside to hand out for immediate relief. Sometimes I hand our HEB gift cards that can only be used for food.

After reading this passage, there is one more thing I do. I ask the person his or her name. In the story, what is the rich man's name? It is not given! What is the poor man's name? Lazarus. You know what Lazarus means? God helps. God does indeed help. The poor are not objects or numbers at our gate, but persons of worth.

So reading this passage this week, I pick up our conference newspaper the Southwest Texas Witness. Of course, the lead article is about providing food for the hungry. The church in Palacios starts a food pantry. The churches in Mason and San Angelo realize that the schools don't provide meals during the summer, so they start their own free lunch programs. It is not just individuals but also communities that need to keep perspective.

Why do this? It is not about a stewardship campaign. I don't have any pledge cards for you to fill out. It is not about getting money for the budget. It is not even to help the needy as important as that is. This is what I came to at last: it as about keeping us from going to hell.

You hear me say over and over that we are saved by grace, God's unmerited love towards us. There is nothing we can do to earn it. But seeing the needy at our door and serving them is a way that we live into our salvation. Missing seeing them is a way to hell.

So today, I would love for you to go to our Mission Fair and choose to do at least one thing....and to see that as way of keeping out of hell. We have many ways for you to avoid hell: you can help with Mobile Loaves and Fishes that feed the homeless from their trucks. You can help with Feed my People that cooks breakfast for the homeless on Tuesday mornings at First UMC. You can bring food next week for Granite Shoals Grace UMC food pantry. Bring over the counter drugs for Haiti as Tom is going on a mission trip in a week and a half. You can get involved with our sister church on the other side of I-35 Parker Lane UMC. It is a way of staying out of hell, of seeing the needy right at our door.

At the end of the story, the rich man seems to be finally getting it. He asks that Abrahan send someone back to his brothers so that they may avoid his fate. Abraham says that they have all the witness they need in Moses and the prophets. What does the law of Moses say? Don't harvest to the very edge of your field, but leave it for gleaning for the widow, orphan and sojourner in the land. What does the prophet Isaiah say? The fast that the LORD requires is to feed the hungry, take the poor into your house, and clothe the naked.

Maybe we are not the rich man or the poor man in the story, but the brothers. We have the witness of the Old Testament to God's desire for us to see the needs close by. Better than that, we have the witness of one who has come back from the grave, Jesus Christ. After His resurrection, in Luke's Gospel, he reveals himself in the breaking of the bread. May it be so not just at this table but wherever we share bread with others in need, especially right at our door.