The Chasm – Lent 2014 – Week 4

Luke 16:27-28 And he said, “I beg you then, Father, that you might send him to the house of my father.  For I have five brothers, that he might warn them so that they might not come to this place of pain.”

Sometimes, when my wife and I have an argument, our attempts to come together again seem futile.  Maybe we’re both tired or have had one of those weeks where it seems no one gave a hoot about our opinion, but, for some reason, a discussion that should have taken just a few minutes ends up swallowing an entire hour of our night.  And there are times when I want to throw up my hands, leave the room, and give up on ever reaching any reconciliation, ever bridging the gap that night.  There is, it seems, no hope of it.

There’s a shift in the story we’ve been following these past few weeks.  Upon finding himself in that far distant place, the Rich Man begged for aid for himself.  Just a little water upon my tongue, he asked, would cool me.

But, then, Abraham says those fateful words: no one, even if it was their heart’s desire, could cross from here to there.  And following that revelation, we see in this week’s verses, the Rich Man begins to plead for his family.

In one sense, this shows growth.  He is, at least, no longer thinking only about himself.  But this change in focus reveals, to me, something sad—the Rich Man has given up hope, any hope, for reconciliation.

Rightly so, you may say.  He’s made his choices; he lived his life divided from others who reached out to him.  He chose feasts and fancy clothes over love.  In the words of an earlier generation, he made his bed, now he has to lie in it.

And maybe that is true for the world to come.  Maybe there is no hope if one finds themselves on the opposite side of that chasm.  But, either way, it isn’t true on this side of the grave.

On those evenings where my wife and I argue and one of us decides to give up and go on to bed, it doesn’t end like that.  After a few minutes cooling off, we emerge from the bedroom and change the tone of our discussion.  We reach out over the divide, filling in the gorge that’s appeared at our feet.

Paul writes that nothing in all of creation is powerful enough to separate us from the agape of God.  His words are a reminder that God’s love is so fierce and so amazing that it can ascend any height, plunge to any depth, and bridge any canyon.  And if it can do that, then is there ever a reason to lose hope, to stop reaching forth even if it is just for a bit of cool water?

The Chasm – Lent 2014 – Week 3

Luke 16:24-26:  And, when he had called, he said, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he might dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; because, I suffer in this flame.  But Abraham said, “Child remember that you, you received the good in life and Lazarus, likewise, the bad.  But now he is comforted, but you suffer pain.  And, besides, in the midst of us and you a great chasm has been established that even those who want to pass from here to there are not able; nor, those there cross over to us.

While I love the movie “The Shawshank Redemption” I’m not a fan of the novella upon which it was based.  One reason for this is that it lacks, I think, the sense of justice that makes the movie so satisfying.  Those who received the bad now receive the good, and those who enjoyed the good things…well, let us say that by movie’s end they suffer pain.

In this twenty-first century world, Jesus’ parable has a ring of justice to it.  Oh I know, and the commentaries remind me, that the first-century hearers of the tale would have been shocked by the rich man’s suffering.  During that time, it was believed the prosperous on earth were showing outward signs of God’s blessing.  But here, some twenty centuries later, it is not shocking but satisfying.  The mean man who ignored poor Lazarus all these years is getting his.  Let such justice roll down like waters, I find myself thinking.

Do not think here that I’m going to critique the desire for justice in the world (this one or the next one).  Such a desire is a good thing.  It can wake us up to notice who is at the feast and who is begging for crumbs.  It can cause us to act on behalf of those who are receiving all the bad.  And, on the best days, it can help us ease the suffering in this life.

But it can also create a chasm between us.

Too often when I hear a story on the news of some money-grubber who has tricked the elderly out of their savings or some heartless monster that has treated dogs or cats like things rather than the beloved, fuzzy part of God’s creation, I want justice.  I want due punishment meted out.  I want them to find themselves looking from afar at the aged and animals gathered around and cherished at Christ’s table.

Rightfully so that I or any of us desire to see criminal acts stopped and restitution made.  But what that desire, unchecked, does to me is not so right.  I, of course, see myself at Christ’s side, looking far off at this one, this monster that has treated one of God’s beloved in such an inhumane way.  I laugh at them as the flame rises, burning away everything they had.  I feel a deep satisfaction as they begin to cry out in the pain they have brought upon themselves.

Before I know it, a chasm deeper and wider than the eye can comprehend has formed at my feet.  If left unattended, its sides will continue to steepen and its gulf widen.  Who knows how long it will take, but sooner or later that separation, that great difference between myself and this one upon whom I so long for justice to roll down will be impossible to cross.

And, at that point, who knows which side of that gorge I will find myself upon.

The Chasm – Lent 2014 – Week 2

Luke 16:22-23 And it happened, the poor man died, and he was carried by the angels into the bosom of Abraham.  The rich man also died and was buried.  And in Hades, lifting up his eyes, himself in torment, he sees Abraham from a distance and Lazarus in his bosom.

Christmas may be out of place in Lent, but when I read about the rich man, at his death, simply being buried I cannot help but think of Scrooge.  The Ghost of Christmas-Yet-to-Come presents a future where Dickens’ Scrooge dies alone.  There are no mourners at his grave.  In fact, those who hear of his death are only concerned with dividing up his estate.

There’s nothing in the words or the story that Jesus tells to give us any indication that our rich man suffers the same fate as Scrooge was foretold, but it certainly wasn’t as glorious and glamorous a passing as Lazarus’.

And what happens to him?  Why, our poor man is borne up on wings of angels to what is often translated as Abraham’s Bosom.  That word for bosom also means breast and it reminds me of the image of the Beloved Disciple, at the Last Supper, reclining against Jesus’ breast.  It implies a place of honor at the feast.  In my contemporary mind, it calls up a sense of comfort, safety, and love.

But what of our rich man, the nameless soul who was not carried by any angelic beings but only buried, alone, in the dirt?  Is there anyone with him?  Or are the only others in sight—Abraham and Lazarus—so far, so very far away?

I’ve begun to wonder if this was his torment.  After a lifetime of ignoring people, of stepping over and around those near to him, was this the sight that Hades wrought to torment him?  In the end, after keeping his distance for so many years, did the rich man find himself truly seeing how far he’d separated himself from others?

Scrooge, at his sad and lonely grave, begins to weep.  He, like our rich man, recognizes the distance he has allowed to grow between himself and those around him.  Facing a tangible reality of that separation, Scrooge vows to live.  He promises to live life and cherish not just it but the people in it.  He swears, having seen, finally, how far away he has pushed and pulled himself away from those around him.

I have to wonder, have I?  Have I seen the distance I’ve allowed—deliberately or through negligence—to creep between myself and others?  Most certainly, I haven’t.  If I had, I wouldn’t hesitate to bridge that distance and bring them close.

But do I have the courage to bring them so close that I must dare the vulnerability not just to recline and rest upon their chest but to allow them to rest upon mine?

The Chasm – Lent 2014 – Week 1

Luke 16:19-21:  And there was a rich man.  He dressed in purple and fine linen celebrating all day sumptuously.  And there was a poor man named Lazarus—thrown at the entrance—covered in sores, desiring to be satisfied with the fallings from the rich man’s table. Even as the dogs came, licking his sores.

Lent is a time to think about separations, the things that divide us from one another.  First among those thoughts are those things that separate us from God.  But as the two commandments—love God, love your neighbor—are connected, so are our thoughts about what separates us from each other—the people who surround us and come in contact with us each day.  In this Lenten season, I invite you on a journey with me through a story that, I find, is all about separation.

You’ve heard this story before, and if you haven’t I imagine you’ll immediately pick a good guy and bad guy out of these first two verses  With just two descriptive terms, Jesus has given us free reign to picture this Rich Man—nameless, faceless to us—just as we like.

To me he’s one of those big bank people.  He made out like a bandit during the housing crisis a few years ago, was probably one of those responsible for the subprime loans and other financial shenanigans that caused your 401K and mine to lose half their value.  Oh yeah, I know this guy.  He’s got two or three houses, a private jet, clothes that cost more than my car.  He’s probably got friends who call up Congressmen every time a new tax comes up just to make sure he doesn’t have to give up one penny of his fortune.

He’s greedy, willfully blind to the need in the world around him, and I can’t help but snicker a little that one day he’ll be begging across the length of some deep, vast chasm.

At least, I do until I remember that’s not what this story is about.

Lazarus, we are told, deeply desires to be satisfied from the fallings from the rich man’s table.  The “desire” here is the same the prodigal son feels when he is starving and coveting what the pigs are fed.  We know for what his heart longs, for what would bring him joy.

But what is the desire of the rich man?  We know he has blinded himself to the suffering and need of Lazarus just outside his door.  Day after day he maintains the separation, the chasm that separates himself from Lazarus.  But who remains separate from him?  Who is blind to his suffering and need?  From whose table would the fallings—the crumbs—be enough?

I have no idea if this Rich Man or any of the nameless, faceless wealthy in our world today are longing for something.  But I do know that when I let my prejudice, my anger blind me, I will not ever reach out across the divide that separates us.  And I will never know if it is my table from which they long to fill themselves.