I am thrilled to mark this 140th anniversary of this wonderful congregation and the tenth anniversary of your Pastor’s ordination. I bring greetings from the other congregations the Council and the staff of our Metropolitan New York Synod and from the entire Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and our presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton.
I want you to know how thrilled I am to see the vitality of this Congregation and the mission in which you are increasingly engaged. Not only here in Newburgh but throughout your Conference and in our Synod and how grateful I am for your Pastor’s great service not only here but in the larger Church as Dean of the Conference and a great friend and ally supporter and source of wisdom to me. So I am pleased to be with you, but I’m not going to talk to long.
Sometimes the (Gospel) readings present big challenges. Like today! So as I preach to you please know I’m not going to preach on the upcoming Presidential Election although I was sorely tempted to with these readings, and this startling Parable from our Lord Jesus. So stick with me, here we go.
These readings don’t do much to help us celebrate an anniversary. They don’t do much to help us celebrate anything. On the face of it the words of Jesus sound harshly opposed to Capitalism to anyone with property, to folks who buy their clothes at Brooks Brothers or gorge themselves at gourmet meals. Jesus’s Parable tells us these people will end up on the Hot Seat so to speak. Thirstly watching Lazarus and the lower classes making merry on the rolling on the lawns of paradise. Now before you despair before you give all your surplus funds to the Metropolitan New York Synod, it’s more important for us to grasp what this parable really means. I am going to make three suggestions.
This story does not attack the rich man for his riches. Luke’s rich man has a problem for sure but the problem isn’t that he’s rich, the problem is that he doesn’t give a hoot. The problem is he doesn’t care. Here he is regularly arrayed in fine clothing feasting each day as if there will be no tomorrow. And here is this beggar lying at his front door, a beggar named Lazarus with oozing ulcers too weak to keep the dogs from licking his sores, so hungry that he wants only to have crumbs that fall from the rich man’s table only those scraps those same dogs might get. And the rich man doesn’t care about Lazarus, the outcast there at his door. Life goes on the same as ever. Business as usual, pleasure as usual. Note also the sad stern ending to this story. The rich man finally moves out from his own tortured thirst and thinks about someone else. He has concern for his five remaining brothers. They’re living the same kind of life he lived. And so they’re at peril of the same fate. The rich man begs Abraham to warn them with a real shocker. He says send Lazarus back from the dead. But note Abraham’s response. Why Lazarus? They have Moses and the prophets. They have the word of God in their very midst, God’s revelation in their sacred scrolls let them listen to Moses and the prophets. Oh no wails the rich man, that won’t be enough. But if someone should come back from the dead they’d change their ways. Nope, Abraham says if they don’t listen to the Word of God they won’t be convinced even if a corpse talks.
Those who can resist the word of God in Scripture won’t find it difficult to explain away some guy whose been dead.
If you ponder the Gospels you may be puzzled by Jesus’s approach to riches. He’s not terribly consistent, when you get right down to it. At times he condemns wealth in harsh language yet he has friends who are pretty well off who throw him dinner parties and are invited to inherit kingdom. He counsels us to use our possessions prudently and he commands us to share what we have with the less fortunate. How many people did you feed at Shepherd’s Kitchen yesterday?
A radical Jesus and a moderate Jesus. And trust me I won’t even try to reconcile the paradox of that. For today simply note this. What was more important to Jesus than wealth or poverty was whether they care. Rich or poor did their hearts go out to others? The rich man is in Hades in torment not because he’s rich, not because his possessions are incompatible with the love of God and love of neighbor, but because the rich man is indifferent to the outcast outside his door. He simply doesn’t care. His only concern is the narcissistic concern with himself. Perhaps this is why Jesus tells us that even a visitor from the dead would not help the five remaining brothers. Not because they are rich but because they are numb, unfeeling. Not caring affects not only the outcast lying at the gates but also those who don’t care. They end up not caring about God and they don’t know it.
Which leads me to part three, us, a word about you and me. There’s something comfortable about this Parable from Jesus and something uncomfortable. You are not condemned because you have more than you need to survive. The haves are not automatically in Hades. And the have nots automatically at Abraham’s side. Jesus is not talking about Communism here. Private property is not a no no. A fat savings account is not blasphamy, surf and turf is not unchristian. Calvin Klein against your skin is not a detestable sin. The problem is not caring for the outcast at my gates. And for this part I need to speak rather personally and invite you to make your own connections. I have a high priced education, I have reasonably good health, I work hard but it’s a Ministry I love and I have a great wonderful family and marvelous friends. I joy in loving and being loved by people. And there are many times when I am keenly aware of God’s presence in me and my life. I am a very rich man. At my feet there are all kinds of people who are outcasts for a great variety of reasons, like their age or the color of their skin or their sexual orientation. They may not look like Lazarus but like him they are. They ask for a word of hospitality, for a little time, for compassion even more than competence, for understanding borne of love. For an ear to listen for hands to touch, for a smile a tear. In short, they look for community in the embrace of a gracious God. And see, that’s really why I am glad to be with you here at Christ Lutheran Church and with you my dear Brother on this wonderful anniversary Sunday. I am delighted to be with you because I know of your love in Christ Jesus. Of your willingness to engage in God’s mission here in Newburgh and throughout the world. To reach out with care to the people around you. I know Churches struggle to be a community in Christ and I know of your faithful singing, and doing no strings attached Gospel of Gods Grace.
And that’s that we are celebrating. So God bless you friends as you continue in God’s future. Sharing with one another this community with the outcasts that are at your door, with the world sharing the gracious word of God’s Good News.