Year C – Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

There are times when we look at ourselves and honestly feel that we are living good lives because we are not doing anything wrong to others. We are making all the effort not to hurt others. We mind our own business and are quite happy enjoying the many good things we have. As Christians can our life be centred on ‘I, me, and myself’? Is it sufficient to avoid doing evil to others? What about all the good we have not done? May His Word open our eyes to see our responsibility to and for others!

Last Sunday’s reading from Amos dealt with the question of social injustice. Today’s reading is a denunciation of private luxury. Amos denounces the conspicuous consumption of the leaders of Samaria and also of the leaders of Israel. They enjoy their luxurious life-style while being unmindful of the poor and needy in their midst. Their indulgent behaviour will bring down the wrath of God: the coming invasion of the enemy and exile. In the opening and closing verses a bitter irony is sounded. Those who are first in terms of leadership and ostentatious living will also be the first to go in exile. Amos prophesied that their neglect of the poor around them would bring their doom.

Riches and Rags

There is a Jewish story about Rabbi Joshua, son of Levi, and a trip to Rome in the third century. He was astounded to behold the magnificence of the buildings. He was especially struck by the care lavished upon statues, which were covered with exquisite cloth to protect them from the summer heat. As he was admiring the beauty of Roman art, a beggar plucked at his sleeve and asked for a crust of bread. The sage looked at the statues and turning to the man in rags, he said, “Here are statues of stone covered with expensive clothes. Here is a man created in the image of God, covered with rags. A civilization that pays more attention to statues than to human beings shall surely perish.”

In the second reading the writer exhorts Timothy to live according to the manner of his calling, faithful to his baptismal promises. The letter advises the young bishop Timothy about his new role as leader of the community. It also reveals the kind of persons we as Christians ought to be. We have to have integrity, which means putting everything together for God and for fellow human beings. To God three virtues are especially due, piety, which connotes awe and respect for God, fidelity and love. Towards people we need to cultivate a gentle spirit, that overlooks wrongs done to self and challenges the injustice done towards others along with a temperament that is always ready to forgive.

In today’s gospel as in the first reading, Jesus contrasts the life style of the rich with the lowly condition of the poor. Luke’s description of the Pharisee reflects the tension that existed between the Jews who remained in the synagogue and the Jewish and gentile Christians. Jesus tells the parable of the rich man Dives and Lazarus and develops it in three stages. In the first stage we see the contrasting life style of the rich man living a complacent life, satisfying his every whim and fancy in food and drink. At his gate Lazarus is down, with the dogs that surround him, waiting for the leftovers from the rich man’s table. The rich man is oblivious of Lazarus and his fate; his only thought is to have a good time. The second part is after-life where the roles are reversed. Lazarus is at peace and has a place in the bosom of Abraham while the rich man is in torment, pleading with Abraham to send Lazarus to his aid. The third part is back to the rich man’s house where his brothers live the same way as he did. The rich man wants his brothers to be warned by Lazarus about what awaits them if they continue to live as he did. His request is not granted as they have the prophets to warn them. The parable ends with the necessity to listen to God’s word now and act on it by concrete acts of love and compassion towards the poor.

“In his commentary on this parable, Joachim Jeremias says some thing about what the parable is not. Although Jesus uses images that were popular in his time, his parable is not about life after death. In addition, even though he contrasts the final destiny of the rich man and the poor man, his story is not a condemnation of wealth in itself, nor an approval of poverty in itself.” – Albert Cylwicki. The parable addresses the topic of the use of possessions in relationship to discipleship. The parable cuts two different ways. For Christians who are well off Luke warns that possessions can be an obstacle to discipleship. For Christians who are struggling against poverty, it assures God’s care for them.

In Luke’s view, riches in themselves are neither good nor bad. Riches are not necessarily a sign of God’s blessing, neither is poverty an indication of God’s punishment. It is one’s use of possessions that is important. The sin of the rich man was not that he did something bad to Lazarus. He had not ordered Lazarus removed from his property; he had not kicked Lazarus or shouted obscenities at him. The sin of the rich man was that he simply did not notice Lazarus. His sin was not a sin of commission, that is, doing something he shouldn’t have done, rather it was a sin of omission, that is, not doing something he should have done. The sin of the rich man is the same sin that is being committed over and over today. Often we believe we are good people because we have not done anythingbad to anybody. But have we done the amount of good that we are capable of?

Buying Time

A man came home from work late and tired. He found his five-year old son waiting for him at the door. “Daddy, may I ask you a question?” “Yeah, sure, what is it?” replied the dad. “Daddy how much money do you make an hour?” “That’s none of your business! What makes you ask such a thing?” the man asked angrily. “I just wanted to know. Please tell me how much you make an hour?” pleaded the little boy. “If you must know, I make $20 an hour.” Looking up he asked, “Daddy may I borrow $10 please?” The father was furious. “If the only reason you want to know how much I earn an hour is just so you can buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you can march yourself straight to your room, and go to bed. I work hard hours every day, and don’t have time for such childish games.” The little boy went quietly to his room, and closed the door. After an hour or so he calmed down, and began to think that he may have been a little hard on his son. The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened it. “I’ve been thinking. Maybe I was too hard on you earlier” said the man. Here’s that $10 you asked for.” The little lad sat straight upright, beaming. “Oh, thank you daddy!” he exclaimed. Then reaching under his pillow, he pulled out some more crumpled notes. The man seeing the boy already had money, began to get angry again. “Why did you want more money, if you already had some?” the father demanded. “Because I did not have enough, but I do now,” the boy replied. “Daddy, I want to give you this $20, if you’ll spend one hour with me.” Jack McArdle in ‘And that’s the Gospel truth’

This story of the rich man and Lazarus changed his life At the age of 21, Schweitzer promised himself that he would enjoy art and science until he was 30. Then he would devote the rest of his life to working among the needy in some direct form of service. On his 30th birthday he informed his parents and friends that he was going to enrol in the university to get a degree in medicine. After that he was going to Africa to work among the poor as a missionary doctor. His relatives and friends tried to change his mind pointing out the folly of his enterprise, but Schweitzer stuck to his guns. At the age of 38, he became a full-fledged medical doctor. At the age of 43, he left for Africa where he opened a hospital on the edge of the jungle in what was called Equatorial Africa. He died there in 1965 at the age of 90. What motivated Albert Schweitzer to turn his back on worldly fame and work among the poorest of the poor in Africa? He said that one of the influences was his meditation on today’s gospel about the rich man and Lazarus. He said: “It struck me as incomprehensible that I should be allowed to live such a happy life, while so many people around me were wrestling with …suffering.” Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’

May we discover that we cannot live for ourselves alone, we are responsible for others!