Trinity I                                                                                                                                                            Fr. Forrest Burgett

Trinity Anglican Church                                                                                                                                   Given 06/06/10

“If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”

(St. Luke  xvi. 31.)

Today, we have another of Jesus’ teachings concerning wealth.  Don’t you sometimes get tired of hearing His constant teachings against wealth?  We work hard for the resources required to support our families.  Most of us aren’t trying to corner the market on wealth.  We just don’t want to be a burden to others.  And that is surely a noble objective.

Remember St. Luke’s story about Zaccheus, the vertically challenged tax collector, who climbed a tree to see Jesus over the crowd?  That story seems to contradict our Gospel today.  As a tax collector, Zaccheus was certainly not poor. Yet, he received approval from Jesus when he announced he gave half of his goods to the poor.  Jesus said “This day salvation has come to this house”.  Does that mean we should give away half of everything we have?  Income, social security, property, sales, and estate taxes encumber a portion of everything we earn.  By the time we add our gifts to the church and charities, we surely have exceeded half.

Some folks have rejected wealth wholesale and still found no answer.  The communes in the sixties and seventies were a valiant attempt. But it didn’t seem to be the panacea they expected.  Obviously there is a facet we haven’t identified yet.  What are we supposed to do?  What did Jesus really have in mind?  After all, Jesus did not shun people of wealth.  He appeared to be quite dependent upon the largess of other people.

St. Matthew gives us an easier example to understand.  “No man can serve two masters:  for either he will hate the one, and love the other;  or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon.”  In this statement, it is clear that Jesus is pointing out the difference between owning wealth and being owned by wealth.  If wealth is important enough you become its servant, you will have no time to serve God.  To serve God first and always is the pledge of poverty taken by true men of God.  They will not avoid wealth altogether;  but they will not let it divert their attention from God.

Today’s Gospel illustrates that point.  We have a rich man whose normal day was like a party.  His actions clearly showed the most important considerations of his life.  His wealth gave him the opportunity to enjoy things most people could not afford.  He had choices not available to people with fewer resources.  But with his vast opportunities comes the burden of making wise choices.  We know little about Lazarus except he had few choices in life.  We don’t know what he did other than suffer.  He had no opportunity to help others.  In fact, he was doing a rather poor job of taking care of himself.

So far we have only covered the introduction to this parable.  But it contains a serious warning about the ease with which we can exclude ourselves from the possibility of heaven with the pleasures of today.  Of course, the rich man was not condemned because of his wealth.  He was condemned because of the importance he placed on his wealth.

Consider the rest of the parable.  When the rich man was resigned to his situation, he expressed concern for his brothers and their inevitable fate.  He asked that Abraham send someone to his brothers that they might change their ways.  Abraham pointed out that they already had Moses and the prophets for guidance.  The final sentence is our warning and the text for today.  “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”  The Word of God should have been sufficient for all of them.  The Word of God is the sum and substance of the faith and belief of a good orthodox Jew and it applies to good orthodox Christians as well.

When St. Luke put these words of Jesus into print around 80 AD, Jesus had already risen from the dead.  The Apostles were out preaching the Good News that Jesus had overcome death, that He was risen and alive, and that they had seen Him.  In keeping with the prophecy of Abraham, their preaching, in many instances, fell on deaf ears.  Yes, they made converts, but there were so many people who heard the Word and walked on consumed by the concerns of the day.

This parable makes a number of good points.  We understand we must not treat wealth as a God.  Do we also understand that there will be no appeal once judgment is received?  We are inclined to forget that the Word of God is sufficient for our salvation.  We forget that contradicting that word places our eternal fate in great peril.  We forget our fate is not determined by what we have but what we give.  Jesus is saying, “Everything that you are, everything that you have is a gift from your Father.  And because everything is a gift from your Father, be generous with those gifts.  Love one another.  Share with one another.”

The emphasis is not on the gifts you have received but what you have done with them.  This clearly states that wealth will not get you into the kingdom of heaven.  On the other hand, those whose resources are meager should not rejoice that their salvation is assured.  The emphasis is not on the quantity of gifts but the way you use the ones you have.

Sharing is not as simple as it sounds.  We often think of those gifts we enjoy bountifully when we think of sharing.  If we have a good deal of wealth, a little won’t be missed.  If we have a great deal of spare time, dedicating some to others is relatively easy.  I say relatively easy because first we must overcome our tendency to focus entirely on ourselves.

Our most bountiful gifts are not the most difficult to share.  The gifts we treasure most and are often most reluctant to share are the ones we find most difficult to attain.  Again, the rich man was not condemned because of his wealth.  He was condemned because he did not care.  Caring is the critical aspect of sharing.  We all have the ability to share ourselves with each other.  But, what and how we share indicates how much we care.

While giving and sharing requires individual initiation, it is an interactive process.  To share is to receive as well as to give.  To give graciously is generous indeed.  But to receive graciously is also a generous gift to the giver.  It says we accept them as they chose to express themselves.  We must not only give from our heart;  we must receive with our heart.

In our Epistle today, we heard “One who has no love for the brother he has seen, cannot love the God he has not seen”.  The commandment we have is this:  “whosoever loves God must also love his brother.”  This is what will identify us as Christian people to the world around us.

This is the gift that you and I offer to our Father through, with, and in Christ in this Eucharist.  The bread and wine that we place on the altar are symbols of our gift.  We offer everything that we have and everything that we are, body and soul, to God.  We place them at His disposal, as He shows us His Will.  We ask His help to do His Will in the way that we deal with one another.

What a gift we have to offer to God this day!  Let’s not hold back.  We believe in the One who rose from the dead.  We love the God that we do not see.  And we show it by loving the brother and sister that we do see.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;  but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.           (St. Matthew  vi. 19,20)