26th September, 2010 Twenty - sixth Sunday of the Year - C
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The Parable in this weekend’s Gospel is often called The Story of Lazarus and “Divés”.
These are supposedly the names of the poor man, who certainly is Lazarus, and the rich man, who I think is deliberately not given a name. .
The word “Dives” is a Latin word that is a description, not a name, and it translates as “Rich”.
In many Biblical stories the importance of the person is often shown by the fact that they are given a “name”.
It is very annoying, then that people try give a name to the rich man when it is clearly not the intention. The important person in this story is Lazarus. The whole point of the story is to turn on its head the usual expectation of status and importance. Even in torment, the rich man still doesn’t “get it.”
He asks God to send Lazarus over to Hades to serve him. However, his request is rightly denied. Lazarus is poor no longer!
As St. Basil said in one of his homilies on this parable, “Tell us the reason why you have received your possessions. Is it so that God may be unjust, God who unequally distributes those goods necessary to life? Why are you rich and another poor? To the hungry belongs the bread that you keep; to the naked, the cloak you keep tucked away… You commit as many injustices as there are people to whom you could give.”
One of the great failings of the rich man in this parable is that he is ignorant and apathetic to the needs of people around him… people who turn out to be his brother, his sister… and co-heirs to the Kingdom he will never actually inherit….
Consequently, this parable is inviting us to change our ways of seeing things. The gospel tells us in countless ways that the last will be first. They should also be first in our commitment,// in our building up the church,// and in our establishing a new society — a society and church based on gospel values….. and made up of many people like Lazarus, who are despised now by those who, according to the parable, do not deserve to have a name.
The parable leaves no room for doubt. To the unnamed rich man's attempt to allege the ignorance of his peers as the reason for the indifference to the plight of poor Lazarus, "Father Abraham" categorically answers that they have the word of God to listen to. The words and teachings of the Scriptures are more than enough to guide us in how we should live……. (to who are open to its challenge). In spite of the clarity of the gospel message, today we admit that we too can also look for subterfuges or ask for miracles in order to avoid the gospel demands that are really plain enough unadorned.
Those who ignore the poor are rejected by the Lord. Saint Paul gives us the reason for such a behaviour: "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Greed leads us to place our trust in money, when this trust and all true power comes only from God. This is why Paul calls it idolatry. And the poor are victims of this distorted worship. This conduct — and its consequences — is separated by a great chasm which is unable to be crossed to the Kingdom…..
There is a true story told of a lady
Who received an appeal from a reputable foreign mission, asking for an aid donation. She wrote a little cheque and felt good about it. Then she went to the local shopping centre promptly spent twice as much on nonsense. In the midst of all this, something about this struck her deeply, and she was overcome with a sense of shame. She returned home and wrote five more cheques, to catch a few more lazaruses, at the door….or beyond….
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REFERENCES:
· FR. PAUL W. KELLY
· 2010 – A BOOK OF GRACE-FILLED DAYS. BY ALICE CAMILLE.
· SHARING THE WORD THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR. GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ.
