Homily on Lazarus and the Rich Man
St. Luke 16:19-31
[Bottom line up front: actions have consequences; when we do something less than God’s complete will, we suffer. Not because God wants to punish us, but because love is the foundation of all creation and the plan for redemption; when we work against this plan, we cannot thrive.]
Every nation is blessed with certain resources and gifts. While you wouldn’t know it by following the news, America remains a land of incredible riches. Combine this with the traditional spirit of hard work and entrepreneurship, and it is easy to see how we became – and remain – one of the richest nations on earth. We are part of that. We have worked hard for what we have and have attained a standard of living that most other nations can only dream of. Income inequality here is high and growing, and I am not saying that everyone here has it easy – we all have bills to pay; but we have to start by facing the facts: we are blessed with wealth. I am blessed with incredible wealth and you are blessed with incredible wealth. If we do not accept this fact, then we will not have “ears to hear” the message in today’s Gospel.
In this chapter of Luke, Christ is trying to teach people like us the proper way to administer our wealth. If we are serious about living well, if we are serious about inheriting a life of eternal joy, then we would do well to listen. It amazes me how quick we are to take the advice of financial gurus and mutual fund marketers about how to spend our money, but we ignore Christ when He does the same. It is true that Jesus was not known for the investments He made in stocks, bonds, or real estate; but either He is Christ the Messiah, the Son of God, the Logos through Whom this world was made, the all-knowing Creator who became man to lead us into a life of perfection – or He is not. And if He is not, then He really is nothing of any consequence to us; but we know He is. We claim to believe in Him. That should mean we take His words seriously.
God knows our temptations, He knows our sin, He understands us, He understands our situation, and He has given us a way to overcome temptation, to triumph over sin, and to thrive in this world right now. When He gives us advice on how to pray, we should take it. When He gives us advice on how to fast, we should take it. When He gives us advice on how to treat our family, our friends, and our enemies, we should take it. When He gives us advice on what our sex lives should look like, we should take it. And when He gives us advice on how to spend our money, we should take it.
His instruction is not given as arbitrary rules to test our obedience, but as a loving guide who wants to lead us out of danger and into peace and true abundance. He wants to end our suffering and the suffering of everyone we love … and He has given us the plan to make it happen. We call that plan “Holy Orthodoxy”, and because it is designed for real people living in the real world, it has a lot to say about how to get every aspect of our life right: our sexuality, how we spend our time, and yes, even how we spend our money. Like travelers in a hostile land, we ignore our guide and choose a different way at our own peril. We should always learn from people who know how things work and whom we can trust, and no one knows more or deserves our trust more than Christ.
The saints found amazing joy because they trusted Him so completely that they followed His Way for every aspect of their lives. It was no longer “they who lived, but Christ who lived in them.”
In the lead-up to today’s reading, Christ says something like this; “The one that is faithful in little things is also faithful in big things; if you have not been faithful in something as petty as money, who is going to trust you with something real and substantial?” (St. Luke 16:10-11).
To Christ, money is always a means to end; its use either brings the holder closer to or further from holiness. We also think of money as a means to an end, but only in worldly terms – so we really need to listen to this. He teaches us that the important thing in any transaction or investment is not what is being bought or what the eventual return might be; by far the important thing is what that transaction or investment does to our souls.
The rich man in today’s parable missed this point. He used his wealth for his own comfort and to impress others. In this, he was using money the same way we are taught to use money. He may have worked hard for it, made prudent investments, and done his research so he could get the best deals he could in the marketplace. But he missed the most important thing about money. He missed its real instrumental purpose; he ignored the “one thing needful.” He missed the spiritual dimension of money. He was blind to this, and so he didn’t even think about spending a bit less on fancy clothes or eating out so that he could help out this poor man living at his doorstep. And we know the result: he killed his own soul.
When the Church tells us to give the first tithe of our income cheerfully to our parish, it isn’t because God wants or needs our money. Nor is it a way to extract more revenue from parishioners. Sacrificial, proportional giving is designed to get us to see money for what it really is: the means to an end. Not as a means to an end for greater comfort or as a means to an end for a secure retirement – or even the means for the parish to pay its own bills; but as a means to an end for our salvation.
God has blessed each of us with an abundance of material wealth. Will we be faithful with this? If we are not; if we squander our material wealth on things that do not matter; then we are also sure to squander our spiritual inheritance.
And our Lord tells us in no uncertain terms what we are really buying when when our budget is centered on the things of this world; the “torment” of “Hades” and the “agony” of the “fire.”
Is that really a good investment? It’s not about punishment: it is about getting exactly what we paid for. Whom do we trust to give us investment advice? Are we serious when say that we have given our life to Christ? When we claim to be living the Orthodox Way? What are our riches buying us? Are we really being prudent with how we spend our money?
If we do not trust God with the things that are central to our lives, whether that be our children, our sexuality, our time, or our money, then how can we claim to trust God?
And the bottom line is that we we ignore Him, His knowledge, and His teachings at our own peril.
[Witness the transformation that Christ has made in this sinner’s life.]
