FR. TERRY RYAN, CSP
LUKE 16: 19-31
SEPTMBER 25, 2016
Sometimes people say that they have
given up on God or do not believe in a God because there is so much suffering
in the world and God does not prevent it.
The story of Lazarus and the rich man is used to make their case against
God. In fact, God did try to help
Lazarus. God did not ignore
Lazarus. God’s plan was for the rich man
to take care of Lazarus. The rich man
was a believer. Abraham was “Father” to
the man. He also knew Lazarus. The rich man was supposed to be God’s skin in
the world and take care of Lazarus. He
did not do his job. All of us fail at
one time or another to be God’s skin the world.
We all have more of something while someone else we know has far less,
and we ignore them
In
school situations, one person has friends, is in a popular group, while someone
who they know by name, does not seem to have friends or to connect. The popular person ignores the lonely person
who they see every day! Some people use
information as power. They don’t share
it with others who are ill informed.
Some people have skills but won’t share their expertise.
This
gospel is not a critique on wealth or poverty.
Neither the rich man nor Lazarus is judged for their situation. The rich man had it good in his lifetime and
Lazarus had it bad. Sometimes we tend to
blame the poor for being poor. Somehow,
it is their own fault, so we don’t have to do anything to help them. Or we judge people with lots of money, to be
an evil and wrong situation. The wrong
of the rich man is that he did nothing for Lazarus who was right in front of
him every day. Even in the Netherworld,
the rich man never repented or apologized or admitted that he messed up. He wanted Lazarus to take care of his thirst
in the flames. He who ignored Lazarus
did not want to be ignored himself.
Some
of us think that if we actually saw Jesus risen from the dead we would become
believers, or stronger believers and practice our faith better. Abraham has it right. Sometimes we are so self-imploded that even a
person raised from the dead won’t change us.
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