Lent - Day Sixteen

Gospel	Luke 16:19-31 ©

Dives and Lazarus

Jesus said to the Pharisees: ‘There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day. And at his gate there lay a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to fill himself with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even came and licked his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.

  ‘In his torment in Hades, he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his bosom. So he cried out, “Father Abraham, pity 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.” “My son,” Abraham replied “remember that during your life good things came your way, just as bad things came the way of Lazarus. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony. But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to stop anyone if he wanted to, crossing from our side to yours, and to stop any crossing from your side to ours.”

  ‘The rich man replied, “Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father’s house, since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too.” “They have Moses and the prophets,” said Abraham “let them listen to them.” “Ah no, father Abraham,” said the rich man “but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent.” Then Abraham said to him, “If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.”’

Sticks and stones will break your bones...says the old saying. But sometimes the words hurt worse.  On the night before we began our journey to Jerusalem with the Master, we were in a small desert town and I observed just how mean one human being could be to another and how loving another person could be.  This little town was a typical desert border town.  It was anything but serene.  Every other storefront was a saloon or a bawdy house and both of these institutions stayed open all day and all night so there was no peace.  We were on the west side of town, near the trailhead and all of the work for the day had been done and we went off to explore the town, such as it was.  There was a little old man, his features baked by a lifetime on the desert, so skinny that if he turned sideways he wasn't there!  He was outside of one of the seedier restaurants in the town on the ground.  He had been thrown out because he had no money and had not eaten in a couple of days and was begging for some scraps from the kitchen.  The owner, a big muscular man flung this man out of the restaurant into the dust of the street and spat on him for good measure and then went back into the Che Tomaine. The Master, who had been standing behind me went to the man's side, picked him up and brushed him off.  Then he walked the man to a supply store where he bought him a working man's outfit then he escorted him to the best restaurant in town where he bought and paid for all of the food the man could eat.  The beggar was mystified.  He was more familiar with feeling the dust of the street on his face and today he was fed like a king and dressed properly. The Master made to leave and the beggar said, "Thank you, but why?"  

The Master looked with love at the beggar.  He did not see a man down on his luck and he told him that he was loved by God the Father, God the Son, and under the protection of God the Holy Spirit and as such he deserved to be in good dress and accommodations. The Master went on to say, that the love that bears for any man makes each man, woman, and child special and they should be treated that way.