October 30th Sermon
A Personal Note from Father Constantine, the author of this sermon: I posted this sermon last Sunday. But as I thought about it and what is happening in the world around me, I concluded that I was rather naive in some of the things I said in this sermon, and I removed it from the website. But it’s now (on Nov 3rd) back on the website because the message is still good, even if it is naive by most standards. I’ve made no changes to what I posted on Sunday.
There was a man…
I’m calling Lazarus in today’s Gospel reading ‘the invisible man’. Throughout his life he was invisible. The rich man never saw him. He might have caught sight of him begging at the front of his luxurious home, but he never saw him as someone he could have anything to do with. And that really is the crux of the matter, isn’t it?
We don’t see people that we really don’t want anything to do with. It could be the Trump supporter two houses down from you with the Stop the Steal sign on their front yard. Or it could be the transgender teenager that you don’t want your children to hang out with. Or it might even be the earth.
Yes, the earth, this beautiful planet God gave us to enjoy and to care for. This beautiful world that has seen so much of what human beings can accomplish – all the great, small and ugly things that we are capable of!
We see the signs of climate degradation in the news, maybe even in our own lives. But we prefer not to see in a way that impacts our lives, that impacts our consumer practices or who we vote for. In our own way, we are not much different from the man in today’s parable who chose not to see Lazarus.
It’s worth noting that today’s reading is not introduced as a parable. Luke does not call it a parable. As a matter of fact it comes in that major central section of Luke’s Gospel which covers the journey to Jerusalem, the final journey to Jerusalem that Jesus undertook. And it is the third parable in a row that is introduced by the phrase “There was a man…” Most often Luke introduces a parable by writing something like, “The Lord spoke this parable…” But not in these three parables.
- “There was a man who had two sons…”. ἄνθρωπός τις More literally, “A certain man had two sons…”
- “There was a rich man who had a manager…” ἄνθρωπός τις ἦν πλούσιος. More literally, “A certain man was rich who had a manager…”
- “There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen…” Ἄνθρωπος δέ τις ἦν πλούσιος More literally, “A certain man was rich and was clothed….”
It’s almost as if Luke does not want us to hear these three parables at the core of his Gospel as parables, but more as authoritative sayings drawn from life next door. Yes, the stories are extreme, but we live in extreme times. Jesus, through Luke, is telling us to pay attention to that neighbor that we don’t like or try to avoid seeing. Jesus is telling us to look and see, to look and understand.
Yes, the prodigal son and his brother are both extreme examples. But both are redeemed by the love of their father.
The manager in the second parable is dishonest and a thief, but he finds way to redeem himself by making smart use of money to cover up his dishonesty. His boss ends up complimenting him for being so cunning. Jesus even completes the parable by saying: And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of sinful money, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations.
But in today’s parable there is no redemption. It is the climax of this series of three big parables. The sins of the father’s two sons were easily overlooked because both came to a new understanding. The sins of the dishonest manager were overlooked because he made smart use of his dishonesty. It is almost implied in these two parables that even insincere repentance can lead to redemption.
But after telling the parable of the dishonest manager, Jesus adds some important words just in case we get too comfortable with dishonest money: “You cannot serve God and mammon.” And those words become a preview of the parable we read today, which also has to do with money. And lest anyone think that we are not bound by commandments in the Bible, Jesus also adds: It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one letter of the law to be dropped. The rich man in today’s parable failed to observe the requirements of the laws of Moses that required him to help a poor man. But even more seriously. the rich man was beyond redemption. His repentance was just as insincere as the repentance of the prodigal son and the dishonest manager, but it came too late, and he couldn’t even help his brothers. How does the parable end? “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.” Human beings are so stubborn, so set in their ways that even if someone should come back from the dead to warn them they will refuse to see or to hear.
So, dear friends, it is all about seeing – but seeing with understanding. Let’s learn to see what is around us. No one should be invisible because we don’t like him or her. Let’s see that Trump supporter or that transgender youth as real human beings with whom perhaps we don’t agree but who share the same earth with us and the same destiny. Let’s see and acknowledge each other, and treat each other with respect instead of the vicious insults that have become our daily language. And perhaps together we can do what is right. The future of the human race and our planet hangs in the balance.