Homily

Poor Lazarus! He had no cardboard sign; he had no felt-tipped pen to write with. And even if he had them, he could not have written, "I am a veteran, God bless." But seriously, Lazarus is in seriously bad shape. The fact that dogs were licking his sores is a clue that he was probably too weak to even fend them off, whether because of his illness or because of hunger. In contrast to this poor beggar is a man who is very, very rich. He wore linen, and that would refer to very expensive Egyptian underwear. He also wore purple garments, which would be the most expensive clothing one could purchase because the purple dye used to color these clothes was something only the wealthiest of people could afford. And he didn't just eat well. He enjoyed a lavish banquet table every single day. In just a couple of sentences, St. Luke paints a great picture of the situations of these two Jewish men who are on the opposite ends of material and physical comfort. And between the two of them, there is a great divide separating them from one another. But that divide is not the fault of Lazarus. The rich man has created it. He has separated himself, certainly physically, but more importantly, he has separated himself morally and spiritually from the beggar who day after day lay outside his door. And when that door was closed, and the sight of the wretched beggar was shut out, the rich man entered his own private world of self-centered living. He creates the divide between himself and Lazarus, and, as Luke so colorfully explains, he creates at the same time the divide that will separate them after their deaths. In a sense, he gets the same thing he wanted during life—to keep away from Lazarus. It's just that this time when he lives in a very different style than the beggar, it is because now he is the one in pain and torment, not Lazarus.

Has the rich man changed his mind here in this hell he finds himself in? Absolutely not. Please don't be tempted to think he has changed. He wants pity, but there is no sign he every showed any pity while he was still alive, no sign of regret for past sins. That is hell. And I ask you to consider the extreme arrogance of this man. He never gave Lazarus a scrap of food or drink while he was alive. And what does he say to Abraham? "Send Lazarus to bring me some water. Send Lazarus to go warn my brothers." Now he treats Lazarus as though he is his servant, to be ordered around to do what he wants. Send him here, send him there—the man is still totally and completely without any repentance or sense of sorrow for the way he lived. He is only desperately sad about where he is right now. The divide he created between himself and Lazarus is now an eternal divide between them. No more rich banquets for him. And we can be sure his linen underwear is scorched. And the royal purple colored garments? What good are they now? In hell each person thinks of himself as king.

So as I sit with this parable this year once again, I think, "what would it have cost him?" I mean what if he had just given Lazarus a baloney sandwich one time, maybe, maybe it would have kept him out of hell. So here he was, so very wealthy, why not give this poor guy a baloney sandwich every day? It wouldn't have put the slightest dent in his bank account, so why not do it? I mean, this poor guy is right outside your house.

One reason I can think of, why he didn't do it is because of fear. It's not the only reason, but I think it is a good one to look at. Even though you don't mind spending money on fine clothes and rich dining, when it comes to spending it on other people, you may be worried that there won't be enough left over for you, as crazy as that might seem I ask you to consider why wealthy people remain wealthy. Also since money so often generates power, I think there can be a certain fear that if you start using money on other people, you are diminishing your own power, your bank account of strength. A baloney sandwich may not seem like much, but it's the principle of the thing, of course. Start here and who knows where it will end? Behind it all is fear that there won't be enough for him if he starts giving things away; not enough money, not enough power.

And I think that fear of not having enough is something we can all relate to, even if it doesn't fit into life because we are wealthy people. Even as not so wealthy people, and perhaps because we are not so wealthy, we too have our fears that there is not going to be enough, and that, in turn affects the way we live—afraid perhaps that there won't be enough money, enough help, enough praise and appreciation. We may be afraid there won't be enough time, enough trust, enough truth from others, enough love. We may be afraid there won't be enough pleasure or satisfaction, or enough opportunity to get ahead, or enough security, or there may not be enough health, or length of life. We may even be afraid that there may not be enough pie left for us.

So how much do we live as though we're afraid there won't be enough? I think it's worth the time to consider how much money, love, attention, gratitude, talent and everything else in life we may be hanging onto, because we are afraid that if we give more, we won't have enough for ourselves.

And then, that those things, in a similar way to the rich man, those fears that there won't be enough also reveal our own lack of trust in God's providence.

I don't think any of us here would have stepped over Lazarus to get into our houses, but it's another question as to how we would help him. Would our charity be based on carefully considering how much we can afford to help him without too much discomfort for ourselves, or would we help him based on our faith and trust in the loving providence and generosity of the Lord toward us? They are two different motivations and styles of charity. One is from a belief and trust in God's loving care for us, the other based on the fear that if I don't protect my own interests nobody else will.

Even the wealthiest can fear there won't be enough, even if it is not about money. Our fears can not only push away from properly treating Lazarus, and keeping a bit of distance from him, they also put us at a distance from God. It's good for us to think about our own fears and how they affect our relations with other people, and how they affect then our relationship with God. It's with good reason that St. John Paul II chose as one of his main preaching themes the slogan that should be on the lips of every Christian: "Be not afraid!" May the Lord help us.