Amos 6:1-7
6Alas for those who are at ease in Zion, and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria, 4Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory, and lounge on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the stall; 5who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and like David improvise on instruments of music; 6who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! 7Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile, and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away.
| 1 Timothy 6:6-19 | Top of Form Bottom of Form |
6Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; 7for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; 8but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. 11But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. 12Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
13In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. 16It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. 17As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 19thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.
Luke 16:19-31
19“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. 24He 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.’ 25But 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. 26Besides 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.’ 27He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— 28for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ 29Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ 30He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31He 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.’”
Last Sunday’s gospel, that of the unjust steward is commonly seen as of almost impenetrable difficulty, something Luke seems to have seen himself. Today, we follow with the rich man and Lazarus and we have readings which make critical comments on the possession of money and its dangers.
This is core territory for the bible. There are something like 3000 passages in the bible which major on the concern for the vulnerable and poor, as many as the proverbs Solomon reputedly wrote. No other gospel is as clear as Luke on There are several thousand who has God’s favor and concern.
The rich man is massively rich, his purple attests this as it does his closeness to government. His wealth is in the top decile of the top decile, those who is this land increase their wealth year in year out, untaxed and unearned.
Lazarus is not noticed, his needs ignored, unattended by the one who is bound to look after him. All he has of his own are his sores and his name. Luke without any nuance places him in paradise, attended by angels, whereas the rich man is in demonic fire. Here, Jesus teaches that those who do not stand with the poor, those who do not follow the sustained teaching of the law and the prophets will be on the wrong side of eternal judgment.
The rich man does not see Lazarus, he does not see even that he has done any wrong. The old poem Dives and Lazarus gets this well
Then Lazarus laid him down and down
And down at Divès’ door:
Some meat and drink, brother, Diverus,
Bestow upon the poor.
Thou’rt none of my brothers, Lazarus,
That liest begging at my door;
No meat, nor drink will I give thee,
Nor bestow upon the poor.
The poor are down and down and down, whether the homeless, the low waged the refugee the migrant they are down and down and down.
The rich man in the poem rejects Lazarus; there is a strange myth that the rich will give generously. Basically that is exceptional. Money has its own power and it shapes those who gain it and who search for it. It has its own power and it destroys the Dives more thoroughly than the poor..
There is a moral duty to redistribute wealth. There is a catch of course, and that is that the Rich man does not see his brother in Lazarus, the rich fear and hate the poor. Not for nothing has Osborne’s the two child cap been called ‘spiteful’. It will go, of course, but it will leave almost 5 million children in poverty, 5 million and rising.
The present administration will scrap the two child cap, more than a year late. But can one hope for even modest commitment to wealth redistribution?
St Paul, if it be he says to us If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. Nothing about housing and old age, about care for children health care, social life, arty stuff? Paul criticises and warns against the possession of wealth but he does not call for its use. To buy a small trowel for a child who wants to dig or dress for another who wants to look nice, should we not say ‘we will be content with these’.
Yet as the same reading indicates, those of have more than this, they have either big assets or income. Wealth ca be used, that is its purpose; aso Paul says command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches and he goes on to suggest that they ‘share’ their wealth. It looks like a qualification of the testimony of the gospel. Indeed the course of the church has been accompanied by a devotion to the love and abuse of riches which had no eyes for Lazarus. No-one can be unaware that this state regarded other humans as financially quantifiable property and therefore needing to be compensated if slavery was to be abolished. That law defending property remains and is a serious block to any who would seek the adjustment of property to social ownership.
For Luke, the power of wealth to possess the soul of the sinner is a It has been said that the issue is the heart and soul of the wealthy, key issue. There are to be sure wealthy who are generous and greatly so – the diocese of Birmingham would not be had a socialist not given £10,000 to the fund, his tomb is in the church.
Yet this is not sufficient. Wealth tends to possess, great wealth possesses absolutely. Benedict inveighs against possession, none should have anything of their own, for both spiritual and human reasons.
That power of possession of the love of wealth, that power which will to hold us away from the needs of Lazarus, a great evils.
.I end with a verse from the peom
As it fell out upon one day,
Rich Divès made a feast,
And he invited all his friends,
And gentry of the best.
Then Lazarus laid him down and down
And down at Divès’ door:
Some meat and drink, brother, Diverus,
Bestow upon the poor.
Thou’rt none of my brothers, Lazarus,
That liest begging at my door;
No meat, nor drink will I give thee,
Nor bestow upon the poor.
Then Lazarus laid him down and down,
All under Divès’ wall:
Some meat, some drink, brother Diverus,
For hunger starve I shall.
Thou’rt none of my brothers, Lazarus,
That liest begging at my gate;
No meat, no drink will I give thee,
For Jesus Christ His sake.
Then Divès sent out his hungry dogs,
To bite him as he lay;
They hadn’t the power to bite one bite,
But licked his sores away.
Then Divès sent to his merry men,
To worry poor Lazarus away;
They’d not the power to strike one stroke,
But flung their whips away.
As it fell out upon one day,
Poor Lazarus sickened and died;
There came two angels out of Heaven,
His soul therein to guide.
Rise up! rise up! brother Lazarus,
And go along with me;
For you’ve a place prepared in Heaven,
To sit on an angel’s knee.
As it fell out upon one day,
Rich Divès sickened and died;
There came two serpents out of hell,
His soul therein to guide.
Rise up! rise up! brother Diverus,
And come along with me;
There is a place provided in hell
For wicked men like thee.
Then Divès looked up with his eyes
And saw poor Lazarus blest;
Give me one drop of water, brother Lazarus,
To quench my flaming thirst.
O, was I now but alive again
The space of one half hour!
O, that I had my peace again
Then the devil should have no power.