Walking with Jesus: Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

For Sunday, September 25, 2022

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

We walk into church and immediately put our fingers in the holy water font and sign ourselves with the Sign of the Cross saying, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” We do this so often that we seldom focus on its meaning. We are reciting our belief in God as the Trinity of Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is also a reminder of our entrance into being a Christian — Baptism — our profession of faith in Christ and the Catholic Church. It’s also an acknowledgment of our desire to continue to live God’s life by following His all-encompassing love commandments. I am saying YES, I believe. Help where my belief is weak, shaky, hiding or not programmed. This is our faith. This is our belief. Is this what we believe? Are we living it?

Each week we are giving God an hour on weekends and then going back home to our lives. Are we going back without taking God with us? In his Easter sermon 227, St.  Augustine exhorts and challenges us, “If we receive the Eucharist worthily, we become what we receive.” In receiving Christ we become one body in Him and through Him, one with the Father. We enter into a unique and personal relationship with the Trinity and with each other. We become what we eat. The Mass ends … we are sent out: Let us go in peace to Love and Serve the Lord by being the grace we have received. Herein contains the challenge and the promise. We can mentally leave Mass behind … but the good news is that the Mass does not end. WE ARE SENT OUT TO BE CHRIST TO ONE ANOTHER. Am I? Are we?

Today we hear from Amos, the earliest of the prophets who have books in their names. In fact, his wise oracles were first passed on orally, to be collected in book form much later. The time in which he lived was dominated by the threat of destruction by Assyria, but he didn’t talk about this. His emphasis was on the issue of social justice with an enthusiasm that is unequaled anywhere in the Bible: Don’t be complacent … living in your luxury with fine clothes … being entertained with fine food and drink. He is speaking to the rich and smug religious leaders of his day: You show your blatant ingratitude toward God. Tough times are ahead! You don’t care. So many are suffering. Do you see them? Your lack of compassion causes the needy to suffer! He adds, “… (you) shall be the first to go into exile, and (your) wanton revelry shall be done away with.” [Amos 6:7] They are blind to the disaster approaching. Am I?

During the past few weeks, Paul has been emphasizing to Timothy the vital importance of maintaining sound teaching, keeping focused on “… pursuing righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience and gentleness.” [1 Timothy 6:11]. This seems to be a constant refrain to the Ephesus community where he ministers. Are they becoming upset with false teachers? Are they distracted by non-believers? Are they slow to correct and remind people of the richness of their faith and belief in God? Are they becoming bitter and ignoring “love, patience and gentleness?” Am I? Are we?

We come to the gospel story of the nameless rich man and Lazarus. It is certainly clear that the rich man’s sin is not being wealthy. He has all the comforts typical of a wealthy person: fine clothes, sumptuous food. In contrast Lazarus is clothed in sores, wishing only the garbage that falls from the rich man’s table. Only the dogs come and lick his sores. Jesus does not portray the rich man as a bad person, nor Lazarus as being virtuous. Herein lies the problem: Neither is aware that there is anything unusual about this — it just is the way the social situation is. The story builds up to the point when both die: A grand reversal takes place. The poor man goes to the bosom of Abraham — heaven. The rich man goes to the nether world — hell — where the suffering is great. The biggest anguish for the rich man is that he can see how the poor man ends up. The rich man pleads for relief, which is totally impossible. Is it also too late for his brothers? The Moral: Wealth, nor anything else, can take the place of God. Only God can save. How am I living God?

So I reflect on:

• When life’s problems come, the best place is God’s way. Do I think back to Jesus’ promise of heaven and how that has gotten me through dark, earthy times?
• Do I realize that I am accountable for what I do in this life? Amos warns of complacency of the rich. What is the one thing God would want me to do today to make this world a more just place? Do I do this? Do I avoid it? Do I wait, thinking I have plenty of time to do it later?

Sacred Space 2022 states:

“As in so many other parables, Jesus reverses the usual order in telling the story of Lazarus, the poor man — the rich man remaining anonymous. As I bring my life before God, I allow my usual priorities to be changed as God values and cherishes what I may have come to take for granted.”