Year C Proper 21 Luke 16:19-31

When I was a child, my summers were all spent in a wonderful place called Chautauqua Institution, which is a small, gated community, founded by Methodists in the late 19th century in western New York State. Until the unfortunate incident this summer, where author Salman Rushdie was attacked on stage there as he was about to address the audience, Chautauqua had been enjoying a renaissance.

During my childhood, however, Chautauqua was having a low period, a time when everything slowed down, the famous no longer came to speak, and life was easy and slow. It was a time still fondly remembered by those of us who were then young.

Fortunately for Chautauqua, but not for us “old timers”, there was a renewed interest in the place. The Institution that runs Chautauqua worked hard to attract the many famous speakers, performers, and politicians (even presidents) who began visiting in the summer. But with the rich and famous came all sorts of changes.

In the center of Chautauqua stands the amphitheater, the place where Mr. Rushdie was so badly injured, but for over a century it had been a place that safely welcomed all sorts of international speakers and artists. I can’t tell you how outraged we old timers were when the powers that be decided that to insure no one got a seat who hadn’t paid for one, something quite easy to do in the old days, a brick wall was erected around the Amphitheater.

Really! They did that! When there was a huge outcry, those in charge said people could pay for a brick in the wall and have a dedication put on it. So now it was not only a wall, but a fundraiser. We shook our heads. Chautauqua was founded as a learning center for Sunday School teachers. Somewhere, it seems, the thinking went wrong. The Institution set its sights on the very rich, and the rates and changes of today reflect this new/modern way of thinking.

Jesus said, "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores . .

The Bible lessons today touch on a subject we would rather ignore: the use of money and its role in our lives. When it comes to money, none of us is holy. Those who are rich think they have too much to lose, so they would rather ignore these Bible lessons; and those who are poor run the danger of slipping into false pride or sloth; so it is easier for both groups to avoid looking carefully into the matter of riches.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells a story that has been used through the ages to prove various favorite theories of the day: the existence of heaven and hell; the evil of riches; the nobility of poverty; the utter impossibility of change after death, and so on. But what Jesus is focusing on here seems to be the stark and painful truth which would eventually lead Him to the cross. He portrays Abraham as telling the rich man who begs from Hades, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead,”. The rich man had just asked Abraham to send somebody from his side to warn the rich man’s relatives who were still living on earth.

The conclusion of the parable has very little to do with riches; it has to do with our response to the Good News of God sent to us first through the Prophets and then through the Son.

Jesus is more direct in John’s gospel: “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?” These are sad words, and they come out of Jesus’ painful realization that the people who heard His Good News of God’s love, chose not to believe Him.

The riches on which they put their trust took many different forms. Some, like the rich man in the parable, lived in luxury, while poor people sat at his gates begging for crumbs. How many individuals, how many nations, how many of us fall into that category of passing by, of ignoring the poor and the dirty, the beggars and the outcasts among us?

Others, like the Pharisees and those who were out to get Jesus, put their trust in their knowledge, in their pride and conviction that they were right. They were not poor in spirit. How many of us fall in that category?

Who or what can change hearts? Miracles did not change those who were not willing to believe in Jesus. His loving acts did not impress them. His wonderful words left them cold. His contemporaries, like our contemporaries, probably thought that they were rich because God rewarded them. But God’s values are different from those of human beings and, in the end, the condemnation falls on those who ignore mercy and compassion in favor of luxury and the easy life here on earth.

There is a wonderful passage in Paul’s epistle to Timothy.

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

He warns the rich not to set their hopes in “the uncertainty of riches.” How easy it is for us to think that we are secure if we have money in the bank! Yet, money still is unable to buy love, or good health, or life eternal. Instead of riches, our hope should be in God, who provides us with everything for our enjoyment. It is very interesting that he doesn’t say that God provides for our needs; he says: ‘for our enjoyment.’ This goes beyond need.

The beauty of nature is for enjoyment; the song of the birds in the morning, the lovely aromas and colors of flowers, the wondrous sounds of music, the comfort of good books, the satisfaction of a nourishing meal when one is hungry, the sweetness of a drink of cool water on a hot day… all these are given for our enjoyment and are not limited to those who have money.

But the encouragement does not stop there. The rich are not condemned; instead they are pointed in a direction that is beneficial not only to the recipients but to the rich themselves. The rich are urged to do good and to be rich in good works (the emphasis of riches is put not on material wealth, but in the wealth of goodness); they are told to be generous, ready to share. And why all this? In order to store up treasures that are for the future. This means both the immediate, earthly future and the future after this world. It has the benefit of giving one a hold in the life that is really life, the writer says. What does that mean?

Life lived only for the self and for acquisitions becomes boring and empty. Life lived for others becomes enriched. This is a reality easily tested. May we all “take hold of the life that is really life” by paying attention to those we see daily, to those it would be easy to ignore. May we look at them and share with them before it is too late. Above all, may we hear the words of Jesus and respond to His call as He reveals to us the loving heart of God. Amen.

Let us pray:

Lord God, You know our covetousness, our selfishness, our unwillingness, like small children, to share of our time and of our goods. Teach us to prize not the things of this world, but only You, and to selflessly and unconditionally love and give of all that we are and all that we have, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.