Ask Not For Water, But Life

“…Father Abraham…send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.”  (Luke 16:24)

Scriptures:

            Psalter: Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16 (Responsively)

            Gospel Reading: Luke 16:19-31

Let us give ourselves permission to engage in a walk in the past.  I know that a stroll down memory lane will date us—label us as “Older Adults.”  Nonetheless, let’s take the risk.  Raise your hand if you remember the early TV comedian Jack Benny.  In a very old routine, Jack purports that a thief puts a gun in his ribs and says, “Your money or your life.”  Jack says nothing.  The thief, becoming very impatient, says, “Answer me.   I said “Your money or your life!”  Then Jack replies, “I’m thinking…I’m thinking.”  The thief’s question to Jack Benny’s is a paraphrase of Jesus parable about The Rich Man.  The rich man thought it over and chose his vast wealth. 

In Biblical scholarship, the rich man is given the name “Dives” because in the Latin Bible “Dives” is the word for rich man.  Did you know that the poor man is the only character in one of Jesus’ parables to be given a name?  Lazarus is a Latinized form of another Biblical character named Eleazar.  The name Eleazar means “God is my help.” 

Jesus immediately attacks the Pharisees, who have been making fun of him.  Perhaps, one point of the parable is “Never make fun of God!”  Jesus knows that the Pharisees are “Lovers of money.”   And so Jesus flies into them with this stinging parable.

 There was a certain man who lived a very good—really good life: his hand made suits were the Brooks Brothers in quality and his beautiful shirts and ties made him this season cover boy for GQ.  Underpinning the parable and the rich man live is a vast portfolio capable of bankrolling him and his opulent life style indefinitely.  Dives was at the top of the list of the “Rich and Famous.”   

Outside the rich man home, in the dirt streets, there was a certain poor man named Lazarus, who was covered with sores whose meager, subsistence is living came from Dives’ garbage.  Jesus tells us that the dogs came to lick Lazarus’ sores.  No doubt these were Dives’ poodles.  Dives’ Dobermans probably took no small delight in forcibly reminding Lazarus of just whose garbage was sustaining his life. 

The poor man dies and God’s angels of mercy fly him straight into the bosom of Abraham.  Dives whose over-indulgent life of French cooking and Brooks Brother’s finery finally does him in, and the Biblical account immediately transport him through the portals of Hades.  It is clear that the accommodations of Hades are far inferior to Dives’ fancy life.  In the midst of Abraham and Lazarus’ friendly chat, Dives cries out to Abraham to pity him by providing an ice drink of water to relieve the blast furnace of Hades heat.  Dives has forgotten nothing about the ways of the world and how to get what you want.  And so, he requests of Abraham.  Send Lazarus.  Lazarus, indeed!  Even in Hades, Dives clings to his self-image as a winner who by divine right can command a lackey like Lazarus to play fetch and get him a drink.

But Abraham responds with the stark, hot realities of Hades.  First, Dives has enjoyed an entire life of good things while Lazarus has lain in the dirt of his misery.  Second, in case Dives has not noticed, this circumstances have been reversed with Lazarus!  The score is Dives—zero and Lazarus a thousand points.  The rules of the game are strict: no overtime attempt a win and you can’t even punt.  Finally, Abraham proclaimed, “Between us there is a great chasm, and it cannot be breached. “   

The still unphased Dives, who has always been a winner and made a buck even in the worst of business deals, comes up with a Plan B.  How about Lazarus taking a break from Abraham’s comfortable bosom and delivering a message to Dives’ five brothers that their current investment plan needs drastic revision.  How could anyone—including his brothers--not be persuaded by this coming-back-from-the-other-side Lazarus’ testimony. 

Abraham responds with what can only be described as “Understated enthusiasm.”  Abraham knows that no Biblical telegram will persuade the brothers to listen.  

Robert Capon, in his book The Parables of Grace, speaks for Abraham with these words:  

Look, Dives, Abraham says, I’m going to tell you something.  When we talk of resurrection up here, we’re not talking about some dumb, corpse-reviving scheme in which the dead get up and go back to the same old life they had before.  We’re talking about a whole new order…The way we have it worked out is, even when (Jesus) the Incarnate Word gets raised from the dead, he only hangs around for forty days, the pfft.  Because …people would never get the idea that the resurrection was a new order they can only get in touch with by faith. 

Jesus, the Incarnate Word, is about a new order, a new way of do the business of our practicing our faith.  In fact, faith is the key!  

 The nagging, unrelenting point of the Parable of the Rich Man is that it is about us.  It is a hard admission to make that you and I are far more like Dives and Jack Benny that is comfortable for us to admit.  Your money or your life?  “We are thinking, we are thinking.”  Upon hearing the parable, we sense and know that that penetrating truth of the story of Dives and us is this: Dives illness is not so much greed, as it is a terminal case of “Spiritual Deafness.”  Spiritual Deafness!  What is Dives sin?  His sin—that which shut him off from the heart of God and thrust him into the never land and nothingness of Hades is was not that he lived an immoral life—not that he did the wrong thing.  Dives great sin was that he did nothing in life.  His great sin is that he did not even NOTICE Lazarus.  Dives life was nothing and in the life-on-the-other side he got the same thing—nothing.  “Nothing at all”—that could be a definition of life outside the bosom of Jesus the Risen Christ.   

When in the presence of the Father of his Faith Abraham, what did Dives ask for?  Only a drink of water—a small, modest request that was actually nothing—NOTHING at all.  Why? because his life was nothing—nothing at all.  What haunts us about this parable and Dives is the possibility and probability of our own spiritual deafness.  When in the presence of God, will we ask for life or will our spiritual deafness cause us to ask only water--for that which is inconsequential?  Remember the old spiritual advice: Be careful what you pray, you might get it.  Ask Not for Water, but life!  And how do we live our life of faith so that we have the willingness to hear and desire to listen for God speaking to us.  How do we desire—have the faith, the trust--to let God Words make its way to us?   Your money or your Life?  Water or Life?  Let’s think together. 

I believe that the single, most enduring characteristic of a healthy church and a spiritual healthy Christian is This: In the midst of life we are people of HOPE.  HOPE is a precious spiritual commodity and the antidote to spiritual deafness.  Let us not be naïve regarding this hope that sets us apart.  Let us not be naïve regarding a hope than can let God’s Word make its way to us.  Our hope must live in tension with our current circumstances and our hope must sustain us in the darkest of times.  The basis of our Christian Hope is that there is no evil than can shake our faith.  We are called, as people as faith, to hold in tension hope and realism.  Please know that our hope must take into account the brokenness of life.  

Holding the reality of his life and holding onto Hope was what Dives could not do. Instead of striding into the reality of Lazarus’ misery, he retreated into the enclave of his luxurious life.  In avoiding reality—in never even noticing Lazarus--he conceived of a life that was nothing.  There was his sin—to live for no purpose.  It is no surprise that Dives could only ask for water. 

 We can look at our current times and find any number of reasons why we should hole up—cocoon ourselves—just like the rich man.  Here are a few of the paint strokes that shape the picture of our current times: the war in Iraq, its cost which will be passed onto our children and grandchildren, the complex issue of providing health care for the people of our country, global warning, and the threat of international terrorism just to name a few complex challenges.  Social scientist tell us that for the first time, our generation is not sure that our children’s and grandchildren’s future will be capable of sustaining the standard of living we are enjoying.  What are we to do? 

First, we, as Christians are called not to withdraw from life.  Rather, we are to live in the world and to do so with a powerful, unwavering hope.  And what is the basis for our hope?  What hope could be so trustworthy and unshakable?  My friends it is the hope of the resurrected and living Jesus Christ.  Nothing we have endured, nothing we are currently facing, and nothing that the future can throw at us is any different that the aftermath of the crucifixion, which the disciples faced.  Following the chaos of the crucifixion, the disciples’ hope was utterly shattered—all basis for hope was lost.  But, in the aftermath of Jesus’ death, when the news of the resurrection seemed so foolish, the Biblical account speaks, not of spiritual deafness, but of God speaking to the disciples through the voice of an angel: “Jesus is not here; he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.”  (Mark 16:7) 

 What appeared to the disciples to be the end was actually the beginning.    The basis of our hope is that the Risen Christ is leading us into the future by going ahead of us into the world.  Christ goes ahead of us to meet you there.  Tony Robinson, in his book What Does Theology Have To Do With It? speaks so well when he says, “Healthy congregations are able to follow Jesus to all sorts of places, trusting that what may seem to us to be places of desolation and death are places where God is present.” 

 I believe Jesus offers us the Parable of the Rich Man so we might have the hope that God is leading us in the future, even beckoning us unto him.  What are we to do?   

Ask Not For Water, But Life