Twenty-sixth Sunday In Ordinary Time
LUKE 16:19-31
Luke continues his instruction on the use of wealth with another parable. A rich man clothed in purple and fine linen indulged in his daily banquet. Purple dye was obtained from a Mediterranean shellfish. The dye was used for clothing often restricted to royalty and to those on whom rulers bestowed the privilege of wearing purple. Jesus’ torturers dressed him in purple to mock him as King of the Jews. The purple and scarlet robe in Revelation 17:4 symbolizes imperial rank. A poor man full of sores, Lazarus, had been dumped at the rich man’s gate. He hoped to be fed from the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. The name “Lazarus” means “God helps.” There was no human help for Lazarus. God’s creatures, sometimes called “man’s best friend,” offered some help. “The dogs came up to him and licked his sores.”
Lazarus died and angels carried him to “Abraham’s bosom.” This is a metaphor (symbol) for the place of honor at Abraham’s table in the banquet of the heavenly kingdom. The Greek word Luke uses can mean “Abraham’s lap,” like a father holding his child. The Gospel of John describes the total unity of Jesus with the Father in similar language, “the only Son who is on the lap (in the bosom) of the Father,” John 1:18. Luke’s story contains the only two occurrences of the term “Abraham’s bosom” in the Bible. The term is better known through the song, “Rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham, etc.”
Now comes the rich man’s time to die, but what a different outcome. Instead of being in
”Abraham’s bosom,” he is in Hades and in torment. “Hades” was originally the name of the Greek god of the dead. He was assigned this “ministry” when the gods divided the universe, when Zeus and Posseidon became lords of the sky and the sea respectively. The name “Hades” evolved into the place where the dead were to go. By Christian times, Hades was thought of as a place with gates or doors where the wicked of this world got their due by being punished with eternal fire. It was a common belief that the damned and the saved could see each other, that the saved rejoiced over the suffering of the damned, while the damned lamented the joy of the saved.
With that popular belief in mind we can understand what Luke describes next. The rich man looked up. He recognized Abraham far away. He still recognizes his relationship with Abraham, and has a request, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this fire.”
Another common belief of the time was that sinners were punished in those faculties of the body by which they had sinned most. For the rich man who feasted daily while ignoring the poor, it was the sense of taste centered on the tongue that was tormented. The poor whom he had neglected cannot now help him. Their roles are reversed. Lazarus was now feasting at the table of Abraham, while the rich man begged for a drop of water.
Abraham recognizes the rich man as family. In his response he addresses him as “Son.” He details for the rich man the reversal of roles for him and Lazarus. Besides the reversal of roles, there was an unsurpassable canyon between Hades and Abraham’s bosom (heaven). The rich man resorts to Plan B. “Then I beg you, Father, send Lazarus to my father’s house to warn my five brothers, so that they too may not end up in this place.” Abraham cannot accept Plan B. Instead he offers what was available to all earthlings with whom this story was concerned. “They have Moses (the Torah), and the Prophets.”
These are two of the three major divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures, our Old Testament. The rich man insists on his Plan B, and says, “If someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.” The response, “If they do not heed Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced by a resurrection from the dead.” Luke’s point is that the Scriptures warn us not to ignore the suffering of the poor and the sick. If we do not accept what the Scriptures teach, then we also ignore him who taught the same and rose from the dead to prove the validity of his teaching.
AMOS 6:1a, 4-7
About 740 B.C. the oracles of the Prophet Amos echo Luke’s gospel in condemning the rich who neglect the poor, “Woe (a curse) to those who are at ease in Zion (Jerusalem and the southern Kingdom of Judah) and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria (the northern Kingdom of Israel). He denounces their banquets of lamb and veal, their idle songs, their wine, their daubing themselves with finest oils (extra virgin olive?). Was it wrong to thus enjoy life? Yes, because the rest of society was collapsing around them. “You have turned justice into poison and fair judgment into venom,” Amos 6:12.
1 TIMOTHY 6:11-16
The author of this letter has just denounced false teachers “who know nothing.” Timothy, called “man of God,” is unlike them because he has learned from Paul. As bishop, he must pursue justice, faith, love, dedication, and gentleness. A good measure for any leader, and a reflection of Micah 6:8, “Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly before your God.”
