September
26 2010 Reading: Luke 16.19-31
Theme:
A story of judgment and grace...........
Some 30 years ago or more, my wife Ellen and I
arrived in
I still remember the bright coloured dresses
of the women stallholders,
reds, greens, yellows, sky
blues, the things for sale, umbrellas,
children’s clothes, shoes. And the vegetable market, with women
sitting in front of a little pile
of tomatoes, or six or seven potatoes carefully placed on top of each other, or selling beans, cassava, or mealy meal.
And of course what also stays in memory, is the absolute poverty of the poor in and around
the markets, the lame, or the blind, beggars, in shreds of clothing, some with
terrible sores..........
In the gospel of Luke the Lord Jesus tells a
story picturing that kind of poverty. A rich man, Dives he is called, lives in
luxury, enjoying the best food. At his door there is a beggar, Lazarus. Lazarus
lives at the utterly opposite end of life from the rich man,
he is lame, ill, covered in sores. The rich man lives in comfort, but there is
a gulf between him and Lazarus, who lies there at the outside gate, eating
scraps, so weakened, he is unable to fend off the dogs.
This is the situation - the Lord describes, a
picture from everyday life for those listening to Jesus.
But you will remember, however,
that in
the gospels, Jesus, in His teaching, holds up normal everyday life,
and contrasts with life
in God’s kingdom,
contrasts normal everyday life,
with what God wills for us............
Jesus declares that normal everyday life is reversed in God’s kingdom.
At the very beginning of Luke’s gospel there
is a song of praise
which sings this: “God has
put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has
sent empty away” there’s everyday life
reversed...........
In chapter 12 of Luke, Jesus tells the story
of a rich man who had all he wanted, but who was poor in God’s sight - there’s
everyday life reversed...........
When Jesus attended a dinner in the house of a teacher of the Law, he told a parable in which places at a banquet were reversed. Those who sat at the top
places were told to go to the lowest, those who sat at
the lowest places were invited up to the top.
there - normal everyday
life reversed in God’s kingdom,
For as the Lord Jesus makes
clear everyday life is not the only way of living,
there is another way, the way of God’s kingdom........... when God takes centre place in our lives............
So, the rich man, Dives, lives in comfort and
luxury, Lazarus, lies at his door, hungry, ill. That’s just normal everyday
life for Jesus hearers..
However, the Lord Jesus in the parable tells
us that Lazarus
dies.
Colin Morris a missionary who was in a mission
station on the copper belt in Zambia opened his door one morning to find a poor
man, in ragged shorts, a ragged shirt - who had died there during the night.
The only thing the man had on him, was a biro pen in one of his pockets,
nothing else, no documents, no money, nothing - Colin Morris went on to write
an impassioned book about it........... here was a man
just like Lazarus....
However, the Lord Jesus in the parable tells
us that Lazarus
dies.
and in heaven, it turns
out, things are reversed.
In heaven, Lazarus the poor beggar is
welcomed, cherished, comforted and finds rest, while the rich man, Dives is in
torment....................
So, this
parable certainly brings us up short ! What does it
all mean ?
What does it all mean ?
Well, what Jesus tells here is a story of
judgment and grace.............
First Judgment
Judgment, came upon the rich
man for what he had done wrong............
What had Dives done wrong ?
What was the sin of this rich man ?
Well to answer that we need to look closer at
the gospel...........
Jesus’ relationship with God, with His Father in heaven, is absolutely at the heart of His life. For Jesus Christ, God’s kingdom is more than an important thing, it is life itself, and for Jesus everything else in life is ordered round God’s kingdom.
Sent by God, the Lord Jesus has
come to invite us into God’s
kingdom,
when we accept that invitation, we come
back into a relationship with God.
When that happens, everything else in life finds its proper place round the living God at the centre.
and obviously, the way we live life will
change, slowly, very slowly perhaps,
but if the living God, as our Father, becomes the centre of life
for us, then obviously the things we think, the things we do, the things we
say, will, over time begin to change......... there begins a new way of
living in God’s kingdom,
a more real, and a truer way, of living, inGod’s kingdom, that Jesus often speaks of,
And love and compassion are at the heart of this life.............
love
for God, compassion for others.
So back to the question:
What had Dives done wrong ?
What was the sin of this rich man ?
After all, he hadn’t ordered Lazarus away from
his gate. He hadn’t made any objections to a filthy beggar eating scraps at his
door. He didn’t kick Lazarus in passing and wasn’t deliberately cruel to him. What
had Dives done wrong ? What was the sin of this rich man ? Professor William Barclay says: It was this - he never
noticed Lazarus, he just accepted him as part of the landscape and the rich man
thought it was perfectly natural that Lazarus should lie there in hunger while
he, the rich man, lived in luxury.
So, says Professor Barclay,
what Dives had done wrong, his sin was that he looked on suffering and need right there before his eyes but felt no pity or sorrow; he looked at another human being, hungry and in pain, and did nothing about it. He just never noticed.
The rich man, Dives, in this story has riches, possessions, luxury but, it seems, nothing at the centre of his life....... no relationship with the living God........
no sorrow for his own sinfulness....... no love for others, no compassion at all
So, he was rich in possessions but poor in the eyes of God
This is a story of a man who meets with the judgment of the living God
But what Jesus tells here is a story of judgment and of grace.............
But there is also grace.....................
You
see, while there is judgment for Dives, the rich man,
there is grace for the poor
man Lazarus.........
Lazarus is the only character in any of the
parables who is given a name. And the name Lazarus means God is my help.
And the story Jesus tells shows just how, for Lazarus, God is his only
help.
John Calvin says tenderly here:
‘The angels carry poor Lazarus, for here is a
soul precious to God, hidden in such a poor, frail body’
This is what the living God is like. This is what our loving Father in heaven is like.
The Lord Jesus declares that
the living God is gracious to those beyond, to those far away, to the lowest !
When the invitation to his
banquet was turned down by wealthy men,
instead
of abandoning the feast, instead of forgetting all about it
in a story Jesus told, the sends out and gathers in the poor, the destitute, the poor, from the city streets, the country lanes, the highways and byways !
His invitation presses on to
reach out in grace to those who are beyond, to those far away – to the weak and
the powerless ?
The living God meets us in His
own Son, our Lord Jesus.
with
an invitation which reaches out to us in grace,
the
same invitation that came to Lazarus...........
And yes, this is a
story about judgment and grace..............
But as we have heard many
times, Jesus came into the world not to judge and condemn the world, but to
save the world … says John 3.17
And to save the world the God
of grace and love, has
sent His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to us, for us.
And the message of the Cross is this: that Jesus Christ has taken the sin, the guilt and the judgment that was ours, and has dealt with it once and for all at the Cross. In taking the sin of the world, our sin, upon His shoulders, He has taken our judgment too. So, we, like Lazarus, who were once far away, come near, into the presence of the Holy God, through Jesus.