And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps
that fell from the rich man's table.
As fallen people we are capable of egregious blind spots and shocking lack of sympathy. We tend to try to justify ourselves with knowledge that the problem of poverty, of sickness, and of oppression, is intractable, too large to ever be solved. Didn't Jesus himself tell us that we would always have the poor with us? Yet, although we not be accountable for all poverty, or for ending suffering for all times, we will be judged by what we did for those who were lying at our door. The rich man lived in such proximity to Lazarus that he had to all but step over him to continue to pursue his life of indulgence. It wasn't so much his fine clothes or sumptuous food that were problems in themselves. It was the fact that these things were chosen while Lazarus was still neglected and suffering. He was not necessarily being called to divest himself of all of his wealth for the sake of the poor. It was for his lack of actively expressed compassion for Lazarus in particular that he was judged. We can easily imagine that if he had made even a moderate effort to tend to Lazarus, one which he no doubt could have made while continuing to enjoy his standard of living, that Lazarus would have become an advocate for him in the hereafter, quick to help to ease the burden of whatever fires of purgation he faced.
When the poor man died,
he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.
The rich man also died and was buried,
and from the netherworld, where he was in torment,
he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off
and Lazarus at his side.
Jesus often spoke of a great reversal of fortunes between those who chose to selfishly enjoy the things of this world, as though they could provide ultimate happiness, who made idols of wealth, pleasure, and power, and those who were deprived during this earthly life. Those who practiced oppression could only do so for the short years of their temporal existence, before finding the power dynamics reversed and the tables turned completely. Those who used abundant wealth to pursue their own pleasure would one day, not to far hence, find that wealth to fail. On the other hand there were who did not wield wealth in a primarily self-interested way during this life. They may have been deprived of wealth by systems of oppression or even by a choice to pursue better things. But whatever the case, the imbalance would be addressed. They seemed in this life to be the unfortunate ones. But in the scheme of eternity they would be the ones who were truly rich.
The more we can intentionally learn to live for the love of others the more we invest in treasure we can keep, wealth that will not fail, and in coming out on the positive side of the scales when the imbalances of this world are addressed. We really want to learn to trust in God to provide for our ultimate happiness. Lazarus had no choice, really, but to hope in this. But we have many apparent alternatives we may mistakenly choose, none of which can truly satisfy. Hence we must be attentive to this warning.
Then Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.
Concern for the poor was not something new in the Christian revelation. It was always a primary concern of God throughout the Scriptures. He sent prophets again and again to call people to care for the lowest and the least of these. A miracle might help one to come to faith, but it wouldn't necessarily provide long-term motivation for the commitment God required. If they were willing to ignore his voice speaking through the prophets of the past then they would find that they would even be able to ignore him speaking through his Son. In other words, if we're waiting for a miracle to prove to us we need to take care of for the poor seriously, it happened. If we're waiting for a word from God, he has already spoken. The time now is for us to do what Paul enjoined Timothy, to "Fight the good fight of the faith". Let us learn to imitate the Lord whom the psalmist describes as the greatest advocate for those in need:
The LORD gives sight to the blind;
the LORD raises up those who were bowed down.
The LORD loves the just;
the LORD protects strangers.
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