Reflection by The Rev'd Dr Deborah Broome

A rich man and a poor man

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus in like manner evil things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham, 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, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’  Luke 16:19-31

This parable’s not original to Jesus – it’s a folk-tale known in several cultures – but what he does with it is interesting.  It fits with Luke’s theme of the great reversal – the poor man ends up in a good place and well-cared for while the rich man suffers, just like in Mary’s Song, “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”   And this rich man is very rich: he’s an important and respected person, with the right to wear purple – which not everyone was allowed to back then.  He lives in what in our day would be a luxury gated community.  There is a problem with the rich man, and it isn’t that he’s mean or abusive – he’s just blind, unable to see the poor man at his gate.  And when, after death, he does see Lazarus (the fact that it’s the poor man and not the wealthy one who’s named is part of the reversal theme), he seems to regard him as someone who could be sent to run messages, like some sort of errand boy.

One of the other readings this coming Sunday is that passage from the First Letter to Timothy: “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Money itself is neutral – it’s when you love it so much that it warps your priorities and becomes an end in itself that it turns bad.  Timothy is advised that those who are rich are called to use their wealth generously and for the good of others. 

Now I think we get that: we all get the message about using wealth to help other people.  But the thing is, I find it hard to think of myself as wealthy.  I’m on a stipend, and a lot of the people around us are on fixed incomes, or superannuation – and also helping out other family members where they can.  I guess not many of us would call ourselves “wealthy” – so it’s hard to work out where we are in Jesus’ parable.  We’re not Lazarus, lying there at the gate, and we’re not exactly the rich man either.

The problem with the rich man, though, wasn’t his riches.  It was his heart, and his priorities, and his inability to see Lazarus as someone worthy of his empathy and his help.  His inability to live by the values he claims to have.  We’re not Lazarus, and we’re not the rich man – so where are we?  But the point isn’t really about the amount of money we have, whether we’d call ourselves wealthy or not – it’s about what we do with what we have.  Do we use it to create hope where hope seems far away?  Do we see the people around us?  Do we spend our money in ways that allow others to feel part of the human community?  How can we use what we have in ways that matter to God?