The Eternity You Make

March 14 2021

Luke 16:19-31

         A few weeks ago our three children came over to our house to celebrate Jennifer’s birthday. They bought everything for dinner and prepared it all and they even made a cake but in these COVID days there was of course, no candles. It was a really great day, and we had time after lunch to catch up. We called and invited my parents to come on over and join the festivities and the house was filled with laughter and conversation. Now, somewhere along the line, when things calmed down a bit, our middle daughter turns to me and wants to talk about hell. Now, that may seem a little weird but you have to know my daughter because this is fairly common. If she wants to know something, she will just ask no matter how weird it might seem. So, we had a nice little discussion about where the Bible talks about hell and the roots of the ideas that Jesus spoke of that are found in the book of Isaiah. Afterwards, I thought I should have talked about the scripture we read about for this Sunday as it appears to speak a lot about hell. Yet, upon closer inspection there is something different about this story that doesn’t really match up with the other mentions of hell in the gospel accounts. We see this most clearly in the word used for hell in our scripture for today which is Hades.  As we look at the story it will become clear as to just why Luke used this specific word. What we will also discover is that our scripture is a lot more than just a mere story about hell.

         So, with that lets take a look at our scripture from the sixteenth chapter of Luke. It’s important for us to remember that this story follows the fifteenth chapter because as we learned last week as we studied the story of what we call the parable of the prodigal son, this chapter of lost and found stories is addressed directly at the Pharisees and scribes who grumbled at the fact that Jesus hung out with tax collectors and scribes.The parable of the prodigal son, while the end of the fifteenth chapter, wasn’t the end of Jesus’ story telling but was instead the very middle  of it. The importance of the parable of the prodigal son is that the Pharisees and scribes were represented by the older son in the story. They were the ones who did not treasure their relationship with their Heavenly Father because if they did they would be rejoicing that the tax collectors and the sinners, represented by the younger son, had found what had been lost to them, namely a relationship with their Heavenly Father. This is what they treasured most, a relationship with the Father who loved them and all they had to do is to ask and it was given to them, seek, for it and they would find it; knock on the door of the Father’s house and he would welcome them in.

         Now, what we must also understand is how does all of this tie in with this season of Lent that we find ourselves in. This is the season where we follow Jesus all the way to Calvary. Like Jesus, there is a cross for each of us that Jesus commands that we carry every day. Lent causes us to be honest and ask ourselves are ready to face the tribulation and suffering that come to those who have received the word of God? Lent is where we remember the teachings of Jesus, his parable of the sower that teaches us that if we want to be people who go all the way with Jesus then we need to be people who have deep roots, a strong faith that will give us the courage to endure.As we have followed Jesus through Luke’s gospel, we have learned that in order to love God we must also love our neighbor as ourselves. This is demonstrated most clearly at the cross. Instead of taking the life of his enemies, Jesus instead gave his life for his enemies and the Heavenly Father raised him from the dead because of this. So, loving God through loving others is the goal. Then once we understand the goal Jesus taught us that every Sabbath we are to remember that God in his grace has set us free, free from sin, free to be responsible and make the choice to love always. We have been set free so we can give our whole selves, to lose ourselves so that the kingdom may come. The remembrance of God’s grace is the source of our worship, why we found God worthy to receive all that we are. Right here is what gives focus to our freedom. We are free but what do we do with our freedom? In this freedom we give ourselves to God, he is worthy of all that we are because of his giving us the free gift of his grace. So, keeping in mind this idea of the worth of God we come to the story of the prodigal son and again the central thought is that a relationship with our Heavenly Father is the greatest treasure for us to seek. When we go in search of this treasure we find that the treasure comes to us and this treasure actually sees us as their treasure.So are you beginning to see why in our freedom that we would choose the cross? The reason why the cross is chosen over every other choice is that we treasure our relationship with our Heavenly Father. This is what motivates and propels us along the road to Jerusalem.

         With all this understanding we come to the sixteenth chapter of Luke where Jesus tears apart the treasures held dear in the hearts of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus wants to make clear to his disciples and those who would come after them the dangers of earthly treasures. This was their real reason for portraying themselves as good uptight law-abiding citizens because they could use this status to live a very good life. Just like in our day, it was easy for the people who looked upon all their pomp and pride to be envious of them, to desire the life they lived. In this sixteenth chapter of Luke, Jesus is telling his audience to not be fooled. The Pharisees were the dishonest managers, pawning themselves off as the rich and famous all to make friends and influence people yet what was going to happen when the money runs out? Did these fakes and phonies really believe that friends gotten through the lies and wealth were really going to be there if for some reason the money dried up? No, they would be long gone because that’s the way the game is played.That’s the problem with the wealth of earth; it is a cruel system that is very unforgiving. Friendship based on earthly wealth only lasts as long as the earthly wealth does.

         With this we come to our scripture for today. The story Jesus tells is a parable not unlike the parable of the prodigal son. Upon reading it we cannot forget that Jesus just moments before told his audience that one cannot serve God and money because one cannot serve two masters. They will either hate the one and love the other or they will be devoted to one and despise the other. So, this just begs the question just who is it that you are going to serve? In the next breath, Luke tells us that it was the Pharisees who were lovers of money these were the ones who ridiculed Jesus. So, when Jesus begins to tell a story about a rich man it isn’t hard for us to figure out just who the proverbial finger is pointing at. This rich man we are told was living the high life. He was dressed in the clothes of kings, he ate at his very own all you can eat buffet. And we are told, that at the gate to this man’s mansion was a poor man named Lazarus, a name that means, “God has helped me”. Now, Lazarus was covered in sores, he had to be in great pain and he was very hungry wishing so much to clean the floor of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s plate. These scraps would normally be the food of the dogs and it is ironic that these same dogs came and licked the sores upon the body of Lazarus. It is no surprise knowing the shape that Lazarus is in that Jesus tells us that he died. Upon his death, we are told, that Lazarus was carried to the bosom of Abraham. Now, we have to stop the story here for a moment to consider just what is happening here. What does it mean for Lazarus to be held in the bosom of Abraham? Well, if you think about, the ones who would naturally crawl up in your lap are your children. This gives us a clue to the connection that this has with the rest of the story. In the eighteenth chapter of Genesis we read where God, speaking to his angels about Abraham tells them, “I have chosen Abraham that he may command his children  and his household after them to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring Abraham what he has promised him.” The rich man being a descendant of Abraham was supposed to have been a man who knew the way of the Lord, a man who practiced righteousness and justice. This is what Lazarus should have expected he would receive when he found himself in front of the rich man’s palace. Yet, unfortunately Lazarus did not find this at all. Since he had not experienced righteousness and justice in this life then what we find is that he would experience righteous and justice in the life beyond death.

         Well, what we discover next is that the rich man has also died and no, he does not find himself in the arms of Abraham. Instead we are told that the rich man finds himself in Hades. Now, this is a very interesting title for this flaming part of the afterlife. Often what is used is the Greek word, Gehenna, which was the name of what to us was the local landfill, where the garbage and dead animals were hauled off to. There all that was thrown there would smolder and stink and it would provide a good illustration of where one did not want to spend endless days upon their death. But this is not the word Luke uses; kind of weird isn’t it? Well, the answer as to why Luke refers to the rich man’s eternal home as Hades is that if you look at the roots of the word, Hades means “not seen”. When people died they went to a place that could not be seen. But there is more to it in this instance. You see, the rich man it seems never saw Lazarus; he was blind to the plight of this child of Abraham who was laying right outside his door. So, now it was the rich man’s turn to be the unseen one. No more able to see and be seen by all the rich and powerful he became instead was put in much a similar a position that Lazarus had been in a different life.

         Jesus continues to tell us that the rich man in Hades was in torment. The Greek word for torment used here is the word basanos. This was a word that meant a certain type of touchstone. This stone was used to test gold so by rubbing this stone on a piece of gold a person could see if it really was pure gold. So, why would this word be used to describe torment? The reason is that even though the rich man looked great on the outside the truth was on the inside  he was a mess. When rubbed with the touchstone of death he was instantly confronted with the reality of who he really was, his outer mask being ripped away by death’s cruel hand. The revelation to who he truly was and the realization that there was no longer anything he could do about it, gave him great agony. This explains why the rich man describes that he is in anguish. This Greek word has roots that mean to sink down, which is what his sorrow did it was more than just skin deep it was an all consuming sorrow because he was a man who had put his hopes in worldly wealth and now he knows what a horrible waste of his life his pursuits were.This then is where the torment and anguish come from, that death is a sudden revealing of the truth of who we are with there being no longer any hope of changing that reality. The rich man’s thirst is a dramatization of his inward longings that money could never satisfy and because he never found the source of true satisfaction he was now going to have to live forever with his longing unfulfilled.

         So ingrained is this life that this rich man used to live that we find that he is unable to break free from it even in death. The rich man still refuses to acknowledge Lazarus speaking only to Abraham. If that weren’t enough, the rich man tries to command and control Lazarus, still holding on that illusion that he is rich and powerful. How pathetic he appears, trying to pretend to be in control, wasting his breath barking out orders instead of pleading for mercy admitting the wrongs of his life that had become all to clear to him. Yet even still, Abraham calls the rich man his child. This, I believe is Abraham’s way of saying to the rich man that as his child he should remember what he had been taught about righteousness and justice and come to his senses. It is this teaching about righteousness and justice, a teaching the rich man ignored at his own peril this is the reason for the great reversal of fortunes that this rich man finds himself a part of. As Abraham continues, Lazarus would not be able to do the rich mans bidding even if he wanted to because there was a rift between them and the rich man. Just what is this chasm, we might ask? This chasm was the distance that the rich man kept between himself and Lazarus. It was the rich man who had caused this divide. This big ditch was, we might say was an evil form of social distancing, this refusal to get up close and down and dirty with the hurting, suffering people of this world and in doing so perpetuating the hurting and the suffering. Once again, upon death, this truth becomes a frozen reality that isolates those who in this lifetime isolated others. This rift created by the privileged who set up their own false kingdoms is what kept them from ever being able to reach the kingdom of God.

         Well, you have to give the rich man credit because he just does not give up. His final idea is that he will beg Abraham to send Lazarus to this rich man’s family, because he had five brothers who must have been just as awful as he was. Lazarus was to go and to warn them to change their ways before it was too late. Abraham scoffed at this idea telling the rich man, “They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them.” But the rich man would not give up, telling Abraham that if someone were to go to them from the dead surely this would change their mind. But as Abraham again tells this rich man, that if his brothers were not willing to hear Moses and the Prophets then they will not be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. You see, this is what makes this story so tragic is that this rich man, who represents the Pharisees, these were supposed to be experts in the law of Moses yet they still treasured worldly wealth and ignored the poor. They should have heard loud and clear what Moses told the people of Israel in the fifteenth chapter of Deuteronomy. There we read, “ If one of your brothers or sisters becomes poor, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother but you shall open your hand to him and lend to him sufficient to his need, whatever it may be. You shall give to them freely and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless our in all your work and in all you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in your land.Therefore, I command you, “You shall open wide your hand to your brother and sister, to the needy and to the poor.” When you read this can it be more clear as to what the people of Israel were to do when they encountered someone who was in need such as Lazarus was? What the Law spells out is the very nature of what is meant by righteousness. In the Hebrew language, righteousness is the combination of charity and justice. Justice is the giving of what is entitled to a person. If I owe a person one hundred dollars and I give them one hundred dollars that is justice. Charity is giving to someone what is not entitled to them; the gift is simply that a gift. Righteousness holds these two ideas together. How is this possible? This way of justice and charity is possible because the people of Israel were taught that all that they had given them was given in trust that they would use what God had given them in the way that God commanded them to do so. So, in a way, righteousness is a compulsory kind of giving. We have to give because what we give is not ours but God’s and as God would have us give that is the way that we must give. Now, we have to ask just why would God set things up like this? I believe God wants us to understand righteousness in this way so that we might avoid the tragedy of what happened to the rich man in our story. If the rich man would have just remembered that his wealth was a gift given to him by God, that God was trusting him to do what was right with what he had been given then the story would have changed. This rich man would have used what God had given him to help Lazarus get out of poverty. Then upon his death this rich man would have been welcomed home, to be with Father Abraham, celebrating life with Lazarus. Think how this would have changed his future. The rich man would have found the life that truly satisfies, a life of truth and peace, a peace that lasts for all eternity. This is the result of treasuring what we were always meant to treasure, this relationship with God which leads us to rich relationships with each other. May we hold on to this treasure always.To God be the glory! Amen!