Animation: a skunk (if you dare) or a stuffed animal that looks like a skunk [don’t show them what’s in the cage until they come up to see]
I have here a friend I’ve brought with me today. He’s here in this cage, and I’m going to take him out for a bit. Come on up some of you.
Here he is. His name is Sandy. [Take the skunk out of the cage ….make sure it’s a de-fumed one J….and hold him out to those gathered]
What! You are backing away. You don’t want to hold this skunk?
[Walk down the aisles with him holding him out to various people.]
No one wants to pet this little friend?
Well, I admit, this little guy does have a little B.O. problem. But would you bring him to your dinner table? What? No? Why not?
He belongs outside someone said. I see.
Well,…..I’ve brought this fellow here today, because your reactions to Sandy here are pretty similar to the reactions that the Pharisees had to those whom they considered “unclean” in Jesus’ day. They didn’t want to touch him. They didn’t want to be near him. He didn’t smell very good. He didn’t look very good either. And ….I think many of them thought the best place for Lazarus was on the street. And that’s where our story begins today –with a picture of Lazarus on the street outside the gate of a very rich man –a “certain” rich man!
Well…I’m going to be THIS “certain” little guy back into his cage so I can tell you yet another story. [Sighs of relief.]
A few weeks ago, I happened across a show on television about the kidnapping of 3 young girls, who had grown up within the confines of a basement room. As adults, one escaped to reveal the location of the others. But in the meantime, one of the young women died of sepsis, from having given birth under unsanitary conditions. While all three were given food and water, they were deprived of human love and kindness, of living a life among others, of medical care and proper living conditions. Abused by their kidnapper for over 20 years, the women were given no care except the basics to keep them alive.
We treat our dogs better than that.
Now let me tell you a story that Jesus told. There was a man who through no fault of his own was struck with leprosy, a severe form of skin disease that eats away at the flesh leaving open oozing sores. Once a prominent and upright member of his Jewish Temple society, upon learning of his disease, he was cast out of his community by the High Priest and forced to be dependent upon others for his basic needs.
Having lost his job and reduced to begging for food, he sits by the gate of a high-ranking member of his synagogue along with the other “street dogs” who also lay in wait of a crumb or two and dreams of being thrown a scrap or two of the leftovers from this wealthy man’s table.
Even if that “certain” rich man may have given Lazarus some scraps from his table, the leftovers from his sumptuous meals, Lazarus still died from lack of care. He was already ill, but he lay on the ground by the gate until he died. He may have been fed, but he was not brought into the house to be cared for properly, so that he could heal –or die—as a dignified human being. Instead, he lay on the steps just as the “street dogs” did.
“Am I my brother’s keeper? sasses Cain when God inquires of him where his brother is.
Jesus says, yes! You ARE your brother’s keeper.
Human beings need more than just a place “outside the gates” of our gated communities. Every notice how high salaries and high fences go together? The poor and needy need a place in our hearts and homes. Think of the many elderly left alone for years in nursing homes without a single visit. Or the handicapped deserted by their parents. Think of young children abandoned. The ill whom we don’t have time for.
Who else can you think of who has been treated this way? There are many more.
Jesus says that all of these are our brothers and sisters.
The rich man and Lazarus are in fact in relationship in death as in life –but their roles are reversed. In the afterlife depicted by Jesus, Lazarus feasts at Abraham’s bosom, while the “certain rich man” burns thirsty in the bowels of Hades. As the rich man realizes what he’s done wrong, he begs Abraham to send the dead to warn his five brothers, who are also doing as he was. But Abraham refuses, saying if they didn’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, the risen dead would do no good, an echo of Jesus’ raising of Lazarus and a foreshadowing of his own death and resurrection to come.
The story is a harsh one, and Jesus is boldly accusatory of the Jerusalem elite. But it’s a story we still need to hear today.
It’s quite possible that some of those priests in Jerusalem thought they were doing “enough.” They thought that following the “law” would take care of their access to reward. But Jesus says differently. It is our hearts that God most wants to see warmed to others.
Charles Dickens tells a kind of “folk tale” very similar to the one we’ve heard today from Jesus. In fact, Dickens says, he used this parable as a base for his story. Does anyone know what story I’m thinking of?
The Christmas Carol. Ebenezer Scrooge! In fact, Dickens uses the name Lazarus in disguise, as Lazarus is etymologically related to Eliezer –and Ebenezer! But in this case, while the Lazarus figure may seem like it should be his nephew, Bob Cratchet, or his son, Tiny Tim, Dickens uses the name to describe the raising of the “dead” of Scrooge’s soul, when he goes through his dramatic change at the end of the story!
The one raised in Jesus’ life is Lazarus. The one raised in Dicken’s tale is Scrooge! Dickens loved the parable of Lazarus and the “Certain Rich Man,” but he provided an alternative ending. In Jesus’ story, the haunted rich man (think of Scrooge’s dead associate Marley) begs Abraham to send the dead back as ghosts to convince his five “brothers” to change their ways. But Abraham refuses, saying if they didn’t believe the prophets, they won’t believe in the raising of the dead either! (Jesus zings the Sadducees here!). In Dicken’s story however, the dead do come back –to haunt Scrooge, the one whose soul will be saved!
But the message is the same: the way you treat your family, your “brothers and sisters” –every brother and every sister—will determine your own future in God’s kingdom.
And this is a message for the church today! Perhaps the raising of Lazarus should be a sign to us of Jesus’ resurrection to come! And our resurrection in Jesus and His promise of everlasting life to all of God’s faithful! How we live our lives matters. How we treat our brothers and our sisters—matters. We ARE our brother’s keeper! Choices have consequences.
In our lives, even in our churches, we take care of people, as long as they stay on the “outside.” But when they come into our churches, into our homes, we are no longer comfortable with that level of “kindness.” We love our soup kitchens, our food giveaways, our food banks, and our delivered turkeys at holidays. And thank God for those ministries.
But sometimes those ministries serve to salve our own souls more than the souls of others. While it’s good to sustain the body, as Jesus says, “man cannot live by bread alone” (but by every word from the mouth of God!) People need not just our handouts but our hearts in friendship. Jesus wants us to be in relationship with others, all others. For Jesus, all God’s children are our brothers and sisters, and they need to be treated with all of the dignity that God would afford them. They must be part of our communities and part of our worship. They must have a place at the table. And most of the all, they must be shown the salvation of Jesus.
As Jesus told the Pharisees in his first few parables that day, the lost are not to be banned. But the lost are to be brought home and their homecoming celebrated.
We are not to avoid those who are troubled, lost, sick, or alone. We are to introduce them to Jesus, so that they too can be part of God’s kingdom.
In life the “rich man” was clothed with the best –purple and fine linen. But in the afterlife, it was Lazarus who was clothed in the best---God’s robes of righteousness.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Even sometimes Madison Avenue gets it right: You are what you wear –but it’s the clothing of righteousness that is the Light of God within you.
*The photo for this sermon is taken from the “Dog Law Reporter,” blog from March 24, 2014, “The Dogs of India.”
Based on the Story Lectionary
Major Text
Luke’s Witness to Jesus’ Parable About “Lazarus” and a “Certain” Rich Man (16:19-31)
Minor Text
The Story of Cain and Abel (Genesis 4)
The Order of Priestly Dress –Blue, and Purple, and Fine Linen (Exodus 28 and 39)
The Colors of the Tabernacle Linen Veil (Exodus 36)
Regulations Regarding Skin Diseases and Pronouncements of “Unclean” (Leviticus 13)
The Lord’s Dressing of Bride Jerusalem and His “Dressing Down” at Her Betrayal (Ezekiel 16)
The Lord Clothes Joshua the High Priest to Govern Over Jerusalem (Zechariah 3)
Clothed With the Garments of Salvation (Isaiah 61)
Psalm 30: Clothed in God’s Favor
The Conversion of Lydia (Acts 16)
Luke’s Witness to Jesus’ Parable About “Lazarus” and a “Certain” Rich Man
There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Image Exegesis: Lazarus
“Woe, woe to the great city, she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls.” (Revelation 18:16)
Jesus tells the story of Lazarus and a “Certain” Rich Man immediately after his stories about a dishonest manager and the three “lost” parables. They are a set of five stories told specifically to both the Pharisees and Priests --and the “sinners” present-- which makes them all the more powerful. Both groups of people would have understood quite clearly who they were in the story.
At this point in Jesus’ ministry, he is throwing daggers at the Jerusalem elite, those whom he considers wrong, crooked, greedy, pompous, arrogant, or pig-headed when it comes to his identity and his message. And he minces no words. Or shall I say more precisely, he minces no metaphors! Jesus speaks almost entirely in story and metaphor, in order to point to messianic prophecy and eschatological outcomes. In telling these parables, Jesus is both rabbi and prophet, teaching those who could hear, but also warning those who refused to listen.
In the story of Lazarus, Jesus does not name his counterpart, the “rich man” in the story. But he indicates that he is a “certain” rich man. This is quite an important qualifier. Think of it this way….you are telling a group of people a story about someone everyone would know. You say in the context of your story, “…and a ‘certain person’ whose name I won’t mention [although everyone knows who you are talking about] is a real estate mogul who is quite rich and lives a lavish life and is dominating the political arena.” Everyone today would know you are referring to “The Donald,” even though his name has not specifically been mentioned. Or perhaps you find a broken lamp in your living room, and you say playfully that “a certain puppy dog” is sure to have done it! And everyone knows you are talking about your family dog. Of course. Who else?
In the case of Jesus’ parable, there are various guesses as to whom Jesus may be referring to. For this sermon we shall argue that Jesus is using the “certain rich man” both vaguely specifically and also metaphorically. Specifically (keeping it vague so as to protect himself), the “certain rich man” could certainly be Caiaphas, the High Priest.
There is significant scriptural support for this conclusion based upon the details of purple and fine linen clothing –the colors of the high priest (see the Hebrew scriptural stories in today’s lectionary). Most specific to this particular story is the dressing up of Joshua (the removal of his rags and God’s clothing him in purple and fine linen). This accompanies the “dressing down” of those who have led Israel astray and will be stripped of their finery!
However, it is also certainly possible (again supported by these same scriptures) to assume that Jesus could be referring to Jerusalem in general –God’s “harlot” city who has betrayed her covenant oath by means of worshipping money, power, and prestige more than serving as God’s shepherds to God’s people, especially those lost and in need. Following the lost parables, and the parable of the dishonest manager, this conclusion about the “Lazarus and Certain Rich Man” parable would be a reasonable one as well.
But whether referring to Jerusalem’s High Priest (and his five brothers….or brothers-in-law….depending upon which reference you read, who were also high priests in Jerusalem at the time), or referring to Jerusalem herself, it’s clear that this “certain” rich man holds metaphorical punch in relationship to her named “accuser,” Lazarus!
While the “certain” rich man was not named, most likely to protect Jesus from accusing him directly –such is the power of his parables—Lazarus IS named.
Scholarship have been divided on whether they feel Lazarus is the name of an “everyman” whom Jesus pits against this “certain rich man” or whether his story reflects an actual occurrence, in which Jesus’ best friend from Bethany was in some way ousted by the High Priest.
This is entirely possible, since Jesus’ friend Lazarus was most likely also referred to as Simon the Leper. Was Simon healed by Jesus and not restored properly by the High Priest? Did the healing of Simon cause animosity among the Pharisees? Who was Simon? Was he one of them, who was outcast due to his disease? We also know that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, a story which the more it circulated the more it infuriated the powers that be. Not only that, we know from the scriptures that Lazarus was a strong proponent of Jesus’ ministry and in fact spent time evangelizing others to follow Jesus. Lazarus did this so fervently that the Pharisees plotted to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus! (See John 12:10)
Since this parable occurs at the end of Jesus’ ministry, it is entirely possible that Jesus boldly used Lazarus as an example for the bad treatment of all those who have been banished and not properly restored by the Jerusalem authorities. In this vein too, the certain “rich man” may be a metaphor for Jerusalem itself and its wealthy lawgivers, as opposed to the “Lazarus” of their time –the “everyman” who is outcast due to no fault of his own.
Lazarus means “God is my help.” And in the story, God helps Lazarus, who has been mistreated in life. The parable depicts an afterlife in which Lazarus rests in the “bosom of Abraham” and the “certain rich man” thirsts in burning Hades. They are separated by a chasm, which cannot be crossed. Lazarus in the parable is “raised” just as in reality Jesus raised his best friend.
If the “certain rich man” is in fact the High Priest, then the parable becomes even sharper as this Sadducee is forced to participate in a scenario in which he refused to believe! Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife. This is one of the problems the priesthood had with Jesus altogether and his visions of resurrection, heaven, and eternal life. So, in the tale, the Sadducee is punished with the fate that he refused to believe existed. In John 12:10, the authorities try to kill Lazarus as well, because he was perpetrating the idea that Jesus raised him from the dead. It was most likely the raising of Lazarus that provoked Caiaphas to declare that both Jesus and Lazarus must die.
The story is highly eschatological and messianic. It points to Jesus as the messiah, indicating an end of times fate for Jerusalem’s worst. And it indicated a judgment concerning the “clothing” God promises to his faithful and covenant-loyal, which the Jerusalem authorities have not been. A reference to the story of Joshua, the High Priest is clear, in that God removes his rags and clothes him in purple and linen, making him the true overseer of God’s people.
The metaphor of clothing is most powerful in this story. The Lord clothes people who are in God’s good favor. In the scriptures, the Lord clothes His Bride in covenant, Jerusalem….but also has her clothing taken from her when she breaks that covenant. While Jerusalem’s kings were not behaving well toward God, God chooses the High Priest Joshua to look after His people, and thereby changes his clothing to show he is favored.
In this theological sense, you are what you wear.
The depiction of the afterlife is unusual, especially in its imagery of the unbreakable chasm between hades and Abraham’s bosom. Here, the references come either from Jewish folk mythology or from Greek descriptions of the afterworld. Did Jesus’ audience include many gentiles? Perhaps. We know that “tax collectors and sinners” had gathered round him to listen. This is what provoked the Pharisees to begin with.
Was Jesus telling a folk tale with which they would be familiar, with his own twist? We can’t be sure, but it’s clear that “Abraham’s bosom” would have been known to a Jewish audience. Jesus does not mention the kingdom of God here, or heaven, or paradise, or garden, or any other eschatological reference. But he refers to the “Bosom of Abraham” perhaps because this is what the Pharisees…and Sadducees might most understand. The Bosom of Abraham referred to the way men would recline at table at the feast. The favored one would put his head in the lap of the host during feast. Resting in the bosom of Abraham, sharing in the feast with the Father of Faith, was considered the righteous reward. The fact that Lazarus rests there at the grand Feast, and the “certain rich man” thirsts in Sheol, the place of judgment, sends a harsh message about God’s judgment of both men (or types of men).
The argument for “the certain rich man” being the High Priest (Sadducee) is even more convincing near the end of the parable when the man begs for Abraham to send the dead back to warn his five brothers (also who are like he is). The playfulness of “afterlife” and “coming back from the dead” to warn the others is poking fun at the Sadduccee who having been sentenced to the place in which he did not believe, and who wouldn’t believe in a raising from the dead, now begs in the story for the dead to visit his brothers, so that they may be saved from his mistake. We are now peering into the heart of Jesus’ sense of humor.
If this story is sounding a bit familiar, it should be. Every Christmas this story is told over and over and over again, but with a different ending. Our “old favorite” with a similar lesson to tell is called “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens featuring Ebenezer Scrooge. Dickens, a Christian, based his story of the crotchety old man on this parable of Jesus’. In fact, the root of “Ebenezer” (Eliezer) and “Lazarus” is the same . .. “ezer.” However, Charles provided a different ending.
Rather than refusing to send a warning message from the dead to the five brothers, Dickens decided to see what would happen if indeed three ghosts might come to visit Scrooge, at his friend Marley’s bidding. In Dicken’s story, Scrooge sees his former business colleagues in chains and in pain. They warn him of his own fate, should he continue to follow the path of selfishness and heartlessness. At the end of the Dickens’ story, Scrooge is a changed man. But Jesus leaves his story open-ended with a frightening warning! “This is what will happen to you as a result of what you’ve done!”
But what had the “certain rich man” done?
He had allowed Lazarus to lay at his own gate after all! Wasn’t that enough?
Perhaps he even fed him. The story tells us that Lazarus “longed” for the scraps that fell from the man’s table. Did the “certain rich man” share some of those scraps? We don’t know for sure. But we do know he allowed him to lay right at the gate where he would have to come in and out each day rather than banishing Lazarus to the outskirts of town, as custom would demand.
Perhaps the rich man thought he was doing more than needed.
But Jesus didn’t see it that way.
This is where the metaphor of the dogs come in. Why are the dogs there in the story? There is always a reason. “Street dogs” or “wild dogs” roamed the streets during Jesus’ day. They were generally not kept as pets, although the Greeks and Romans kept puppies as pets and would feed them scraps from the table. But the Jewish community did not keep dogs as pets. Dogs were feral animals that roamed about, and their comings and goings were generally disregarded. They would lay about on the streets and by the gates hoping for a scrap of food.
Even as Jews called gentiles “dogs,” here Lazarus …a son of God…is being treated just as the street dogs. Even if they were guard dogs, Lazarus lays on the street at the entrance to the gate along with the dogs…who lick at his sores, hoping for a scrap of food.
The “certain rich man” may have thought he was doing “enough.” But in Jesus’ eyes, he left a “son of God” lying in the street like a dog until he died. Lazarus was left like roadkill in the street. He was not brought into the man’s home (as with the Samaritan) and cared for. He was not provided for in some other way with medical help and food. He was not welcomed into anyone’s arms, as the Prodigal Son, who came home begging for food. (He would have gladly had the pigs pods!). If you look at this parable in context of Jesus’ other parables, it’s clear that this “certain rich man” turned a blind eye to God’s own people.
In all the Jesus parables, lineage comes not from blood, but by faith. Lazarus is celebrated; the rich man has already gotten his earthly reward!
In Jesus’ theology of the kingdom, the righteous are rewarded and the evil punished. Will this “certain rich Sadduccee” really want to take the risk of not believing? Would you?
The lesson is a tough one for all of us, especially those in the church who like to help “from a distance.” Jesus says however, these….they are your brothers and sisters. Don’t treat them like dogs to whom you throw a bone or hand out a dish of food. But treat them as your own kin. For they too are Gods’ sons and daughters. And when it comes time to enter into God’s kingdom, what will Jesus say to you?