Today's Message: 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Amos 6: 1, 4-7; 1 Timothy 6: 11-16; Luke 16: 19-31

How do I feel that I am keeping Jesus’ teachings?  Are there ones that I like and some that seem too hard for me ?  Do I realize and admit that all Jesus’ teachings are equal in their seriousness and must all be followed? 

Jesus constantly used care for the poor and the needy as primary in following His law of love.  Do I live this way?  The American ‘ideal’ is to take care of ‘me’ first.  Is this how I am living? 

I have been honored to visit Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru for three weeks to watch groups of priests and religious minister to the very poor.  I have also spent 6 days in Haiti with Food For The Poor watching how they care for the poorest of the poor especially in City of Soleil.  This is an extremely impoverished and densely populated shanty town. It has grown to an estimated 200,000-400,000 people who live in extreme poverty.  It is regarded as one of the poorest and most dangerous areas of the Western Hemisphere.  I have seen much poverty when I travel and where I live.  I receive countless appeals in the mail for help for people in need.  How aware am I that I am part of the privileged class and do not have to worry about a job or health care?  Do I realize that I am called to help, to care for the needy?  How do I respond to this need?  These are very sobering questions that the readings today tell me to take time and reflect on my blessings, gifts and how I am giving.

Amos is seriously telling the people to see how God has blessed them.  Instead of responding with love and care for those around them they are living the life of luxury.  They are enjoying their banquets.  They have finely crafted furniture and eat fine foods.  They drink choice wines and anoint themselves with perfumed oils.   They pamper themselves and neglect the spiritual works of mercy. They have no gratitude for what God has done for them.  Amos predicts that when the kingdom finally collapses, they will be the first to go into exile.  They are complacent, satisfied and absorbed in their rich life.  Have I become too complacent?  How do I stay focused on God’s graciousness, care and love and my need to live these?

Paul responds to my concerns and questions in a way that a few Scripture Scholars call his last will and testament encompassing the two letters he wrote to Timothy.  We can see this as Paul’s farewell address telling Timothy to remain strong and faithful to Jesus’ teachings. Jesus showed love and lived love and told all to follow the Great Commandments of Love.  Starting with chapter 6 Paul is blunt:

-      “…whoever does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the religious teaching is conceited, understanding nothing…

-      …from these come envy, rivalry, insults, evil suspicions and mutual friction among people with corrupted minds, who are deprived of the truth, supposing religion to be a means of gain.

-      ….For we brought nothing into the world, just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it.

-      If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that.

-      Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction.

-      For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.”

-      So what are we to do?  Paul beautifully and succinctly tells us:  “…pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love , patience and gentleness.”  He tells us to be totally devoted to God and realizing that heaven is our goal and its attainment by living a total life of love. 

Luke points out the huge gap between the rich and the poor in Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus.  Jesus is addressing His words to the Pharisees.  Previously in this sixteenth chapter, Jesus spoke the Parable of the dishonest steward, last week’s gospel.  In the very next verse (16:14) Luke states:  “The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all these things and sneered at Him.”  The Pharisees didn’t care about the poor…they cared for themselves.  Today Jesus challenges them and  each person to make a choice between following the rich man or following the teachings of Jesus.  The rich man has enormous wealth.  He lived extravagantly and  he considered this normal.  He evidently has friends enjoying the same lifestyle.  Jesus does not say that he is a bad person.  He is simply ignorant of the plight of the poor.  He has totally isolated himself from this part of the real world.  Now Lazarus is not described as particularly virtuous.  However, he has nothing; simply a beggar.  We can assume that he is homeless, living on the street, probably diseased, and totally hungry.  His ‘prize spot’ is right at the doorstop of the rich man.  Why this spot…probably because those going in might be sympathetic to his plight.  The rich man never sees him; yet he passes him whenever he comes in or goes out.  They both die, now their fate has totally reversed.  Lazarus goes to the ‘bosom of Abraham,' the highest place of honor in the messianic banquet.  The rich man is condemned to the torment of the nether world.  The amazing point that Jesus makes is NOW the rich man notices Lazarus and pleads for help.  If not for him, what about his five brothers?  Luke concludes:  “But Abraham replied: ‘They have Moses and the prophets.  Let them listen to them.  He said, ‘Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’  Then Abraham said, If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.’”  Imagine how the Pharisees felt now?  In chapter nineteen, Jesus enters Jerusalem…and He dies in chapter twenty-three and rises in the next chapter.  It is not important to me what the Pharisees did but what am I doing and am I listening?  So much for me to reflect on:

•     The people in Amos’ day were pampering themselves, living in luxury.  They ignored the spiritual demands of the Law of Moses.  Am I?

•     Sometimes my wants become necessities.  It has been very hot this summer.  I didn’t live with air conditioning, just fans.  Am I willing to live with less in order to help minimize global warming?

•     The rich man was simply living according to the customs of rich people then.  Am I insulated from the sufferings of the poor?

•     Do I realize that I have responsibilities to others?  This is a good starting point for a disciple of Jesus. 

•     Am I complacent in any way?  How?  What will motivate me to live the ‘little virtues’ of empathy, care, forgiveness and love and live for others?

Sacred Space 2019 states:

   “Note that the rich man is not presented as being cruel to Lazarus or mistreating him.  He was condemned for doing nothing, for seeing the miserable state of Lazarus and doing nothing about it.  Ask the Lord to help you see the extent that you do something about the misery you see about you and to help you see what more you could do.

   ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets…’  We are tempted to think that if only God were revealed to humans in more obvious and powerful ways, people would believe.  But Jesus’ story of Lazarus and the rich man tells us flatly that belief involves an open heart, not merely a convinced mind.  I pray for help in appealing to people’s hearts—their soul needs—rather than trying to argue them into faith.”