Reflection for the 16th Week after Pentecost, 2022
Scriptures: 1 Timothy 6:6-19; Luke 16:19-31
Key verse: “Thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life. (1 Timothy 6:19)
How do you like this week’s story from Luke about a rich man and Lazarus? Jesus likes to use parables to teach his followers about what matters to God. In each parable, he always gives context, describes actions, and indicates the results. From these, we, as his followers and disciples, discover the path that God has paved for us to walk, and hear the Good News that brings hope to our chaotic life.
Each parable reminds us of God’s generosity that is needed the most in this world. God is generous because we know that before we even learn about Jesus Christ, we have already been accepted. Before repenting, we have been forgiven. Before doing charitable or any honorable deeds, we are loved. Our God is generous. The very reason that we want to learn about Jesus, to repent for our wrongdoings, and to do good works is out of our gratitude to God alone.
So, after reading the parable from Luke 16:19-31, what path are we discovering that God has paved for us to walk, and what is the Good News that brings hope to our current chaotic life? In this parable, both the rich man and the poor Lazarus are dead. In their afterlife, the poor Lazarus is no longer experiencing evil things but enjoys good things that the rich man had while he was alive. I am thinking about the evil things that Jesus is referring to in 16:25. What are the evil things that Lazarus was experiencing while he was alive?
It shouldn’t be hard for us to imagine all the biases and prejudices that people like Lazarus are experiencing. They are despised and rejected everywhere they go unless they hang out with people like them. We don’t know their stories, their life experience, their support system, their health, or their suffering. On the path that God has paved for us to walk, we see a chasm that divides between people who can relate to the rich man and people who can relate to the poor Lazarus. It is a chasm created by all evil things. To whom can you relate more? And what hope does the Good News of Jesus bring?
Have you said or heard this phrase, “I have no life”? People like Lazarus have no life. In his letter to Timothy, St Paul urges him to tell those rich not to obsess over money that brings self-destruction, but to be generous to those who have no life. He advises the faith community in 1 Timothy 6:19, “Thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.”
Jesus' cross has redeemed every soul to have the life that really is life where God’s habitation is, namely, the temple. We are the temple that is created by the Spirit and belongs to God as it’s said in 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19-20. St. Paul also wrote that God would destroy anyone who corrupts or destroys the temple where God’s habitation is. Will we let our loved one suffer from hunger, have no place to be, be despised and rejected? It’s all about relationships. It certainly is good news to those like Lazarus but more like a commandment to those who live sumptuously like the rich man who didn’t care for those in need.
Knowing that the name Lazarus in Greek means 'God is my help,' what does this say about the fact that the rich man didn't even have a name? We all enter the world penniless and will leave it penniless. On the path God has paved for us to walk, may we be aware that not all treasures we have been storing up can be a good foundation to bridge the chasm. Jesus’ parable is like the light showing the chasm before our eyes and protecting us from falling off the cliffs. And may the good news from today's parable awaken the people of God like salt seasoning where life is lifeless. Amen.
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