God’s dream for humanity
Did you ever play the game who or what is missing? In elementary school, I can remember sitting around the circle with my class. One student would go into the hallway. While that student was in the hallway, the teacher would chose a student in the circle to “hide.” Maybe they would hide in the closet or the bathroom. When the student from the hallway returned, it was their job to identify who was missing from the circle. Could they guess who wasn’t there? Sometimes, this was also played with a tray of items where one item is removed, and similarly, the group attempts to identify that missing object.
My classmates and I always conjectured that we would remember every object, and that, of course, we were sure that we knew everyone in our class. So, now I wondered how well you would do. You have been looking at this group of 16 people for a few minutes. Now, I would like to ask for the slide to change. Which person is missing? I will give you a minute to look at the images of these 16 people. Does anyone know? (The Asian woman in the second round with the long hair)
And here is our image back. You notice the picture that I hid is now circled for us to see. It was the Asian woman in the second row with the long hair) Sometimes, even when we think we are paying attention, we miss what is going on around us.
Jesus had been teaching for days and verses, by the time we get to the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Jesus, in the gospel of Luke, wants us to see all the people. All of the people who are part of God’s world. In the previous chapter, Jesus had told the parables of lost sheep, lost coins, and the lost son. And the parables continue. Jesus tells us about Lazarus – no relation to the Lazarus, who we know from being resuscitated, and the rich man. In life, the rich man ignores and does not see Lazarus. But the dogs care for him, caring for his wounds. Both men die. Isn’t it just like Jesus that the story is not what the listeners would have expected? The rich man is now in torment (ouch!), and Lazarus is in the bosom of Abraham.
The rich man cried out to Abraham, not even to Lazarus. From his position of privilege, he cries, Father, send Lazarus to serve me. He did not see Lazarus in life and now wishes to yoke him in death. To make a connection to Abraham as a religious elite, “I’m one of yours,” he codes to Abraham. Even in death, the rich man is so self-absorbed that he asks Abraham to tell Lazarus to serve him and bring him comfort. The audacity! The arrogance is almost too much to fathom. The rich man’s sense of entitlement gets in the way of recognizing why he is in so much pain. You almost feel sorry for him. His inability to see Lazarus, “the other,” has grown in such a way that it not only harms others, but also restricts him from the very grace that would alleviate his suffering.
Jesus continues in the parable to describe the chasm. Abraham says that those who wish to cross from here to there cannot do so. This is not a story of one being poor and one being rich. Abraham will not see Lazarus as a fellow human being. It is the refusal to see the common humanity that creates the great divide. When we ignore our neighbors in need and don’t reach out to support them, we remove ourselves from experiencing God’s grace.
Yes, the rich man wants to warn his brothers. But he misses the point. He can only see the needs of this immediate family. Rather than reaching out to all people as part of the family of God, the rich man is myopic. Abraham reminds him that they have all of the prophets, Moses and the Scriptures. Everything they need for salvation is already available to them. The rich man is called to see Lazarus, who he did not see in life, but in life after death.
Now, it would be tempting for us to hear Psalm 40 exclusively as a personal lament of our own circumstances. However, we would have missed the wisdom that the psalms were collective worship. Listen for the collective lament – Come Lord quickly, and favor us! Long we persist in blinders that only think of our immediate circumstances, but the collective lament reminds us that God’s justice is for all people. Those we see, and those we have missed. We lament where God’s dream for humanity has not yet been fully realized.
In the parables of Jesus, the listeners of the day and today find themselves. Where are you represented? It might be hard for us to hear; however, many of us are siblings of the rich man. We are given a second chance. Amid all that is challenging and ugly, we can work in partnership with each other and with God to be the change we want to see in the world. We can model with integrity the embodiment of love, peace and hope through Jesus Christ. Among all of us gathered here, we have the wisdom found as followers of Jesus Christ. The authority of divine love points us to right relationship with our neighbors to the right relationship with the Lazaruses of the world.
Much of the wisdom of this parable is not that we should help “those poor, lonely people over there on the margins” in a paternalistic and self-congratulatory way. Instead, we are to practice recognizing the connected humanity of our neighbor and building real and lasting relationships of mutuality and respect. In our communion liturgy, we speak of ministry with one another, instead of ministry for others. This is our human relation.
This weekend, we remember the life, ministry and prophetic voice of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who wrote that we are “caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly(1) .” Every one of us is of sacred worth. We are all family. When we walk past our neighbor who is hiding in plain sight like Lazarus, we not only participate in sin, but we also limit the gifts and graces that our sisters and brothers in Christ bring to the table. We limit the experiences, the voices and the beloved community that take place through mutual sharing of gifts.
We do not notice our siblings in Christ. What are the horrors that have become so normalized in our own culture that they fail to elicit an appropriate amount of compassion and action for those who suffer? What injustice has become so normalized that it fails to evoke enough outrage to fix a broken system?
Sometimes, we may feel like Lazarus at the gate, lonely and hungry. More often, I think we are like the rich man, absorbed in our lives, our work, our family and our friends but unwilling to notice our neighbors in the margins.
I could highlight many brilliant teachings of Dr. King this morning; instead, I want to model sharing the space. Dr. King shared the stage with many others giving them visibility and voice, including Dorothy Height. Dr. Height, identified by her signature hats, was the only woman, aside from Mrs. King, to share the stage with Dr. King.
Born in 1912, Dorothy Height attended racially integrated schools in Rankin, Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh. She was accepted to Barnard College; however, she was informed just before the beginning of the first semester that the quota of two African American students had already been filled. Undeterred, she attended New York University, where she graduated with a bachelor’s and a masters degree in short order. Her social work education leapt into action with the Harlem YWCA, where she met both Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McBethune. With the Center for Racial Justice and the National Council of Negro Women, Dr. Height became one of the leading civil rights activists and leading figures in the struggle.
When Jesse Jackson was asked what Dorothy Height did for the civil rights movement, he replied simply, “ Dorothy be’s(ph).”(2) She was there to move everyone ahead. When the famous “I have a dream speech” was presented in Washington in 1963, many speakers spoke that day. Dorothy Height was ready to speak, but she was not called on. Her voice behind the scenes shaped the trajectory of civil rights. When we see all those around us, we see the fullness of God’s dream for humanity with dignity.
Today we have an opportunity to live into the potential of the rich man’s family through our Human Relations Day offering. With this offering, we join with United Methodists around the world, remembering that the size of the table of divine love is unlimited. Through our gifts, may we catch a glimpse of the spirit of the beloved community, lived out in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We renew our commitment to see all the people, to hear God’s dream for humanity that all people are of sacred worth, and that we are a part of living out God’s vision.
This is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, thanks be to God, Amen.
(1) King, Jr. Martin Luther. Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963.
(2) https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126136930
Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 40 (CEB)
I put all my hope in the Lord. He leaned down to me; he listened to my cry for help.
He lifted me out of the pit of death, out of the mud and filth, and set my feet on solid rock. He steadied my legs. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise for our God.
Many people will learn of this and be amazed; they will trust the Lord.
Those who put their trust in the Lord, who pay no attention to the proud
or to those who follow lies, are truly happy!
You, Lord my God! You’ve done so many things—
your wonderful deeds and your plans for us— no one can compare with you!
If I were to proclaim and talk about all of them, they would be too numerous to count!
You don’t relish sacrifices or offerings; you don’t require entirely burned offerings or compensation offerings—but you have given me ears!
So I said, “Here I come! I’m inscribed in the written scroll.
I want to do your will, my God. Your Instruction is deep within me.”
I’ve told the good news of your righteousness in the great assembly.
I didn’t hold anything back—as you well know, Lord!
I didn’t keep your righteousness only to myself.
I declared your faithfulness and your salvation.
I didn’t hide your loyal love and trustworthiness from the great assembly.
So now you, Lord—don’t hold back any of your compassion from me.
Let your loyal love and faithfulness always protect me, because countless evils surround me.
My wrongdoings have caught up with me—I can’t see a thing!
There’s more of them than hairs on my head—my courage leaves me.
Favor me, Lord, and deliver me! Lord, come quickly and help me!
Let those who seek my life, who want me dead, be disgraced and put to shame.
Let those who want to do me harm be thoroughly frustrated and humiliated.
Let those who say to me, “Yes! Oh, yes!” be destroyed by their shame.
But let all who seek you celebrate and rejoice in you.
Let those who love your salvation always say, “The Lord is great!”
But me? I’m weak and needy. Let my Lord think of me. You are my help and my rescuer. My God, don’t wait any longer!
Gospel Lesson: Luke 16:19-31 (NSRV)
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Meditations For Your Week
Sunday, January 19 ~ Saturday, January 25, 2020
Sunday: “I put all my hope in the LORD. God leaned down to me; God listened to my cry for help.” Psalm 40:1. Praise God who walks with you in the challenges of life. Our trust is in you, Great God of Heaven.
Monday: “God lifted me out of the pit of death, out of the mud and filth, and set my feet on solid rock. God steadied my legs.” Psalm 40:2. Pray for all those who suffer in body, mind, and spirit. May we heed their cry and share in steadfast mercy.
Tuesday: “God put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise for our God. Many people will learn of this and be amazed; they will trust the LORD.” Psalm 40:3. We pray for the mission of the church that we may proclaim the good news of Jesus for all people. Good news isn’t good news, unless it is good news for everyone.
Wednesday: “You, Lord my God! You’ve done so many things— your wonderful deeds and your plans for us— no one can compare with you! If I were to proclaim and talk about all of them, they would be too numerous to count!” Psalm 40: 5. Consider God’s goodness extends beyond your lifetime. The stories of generations of goodness glimpse God’s character. Praise God’s goodness as you seek to tell stories to the next generation.
Thursday: “I’ve told the good news of your righteousness in the great assembly. I didn’t hold anything back— as you well know, Lord!” Psalm 40: 9. Pray for opportunities to share of God’s righteousness in gatherings. May your eyes and heart be open to those who need to hear about God.
Friday: “I didn’t keep your righteousness only to myself. I declared your faithfulness and your salvation. I didn’t hide your loyal love and trustworthiness from the great assembly.” Psalm 40:10. With whom have you shared the stories of God’s faithfulness?
Saturday: “But let all who seek you celebrate and rejoice in you. Let those who love your salvation always say, “The Lord is great!” Psalm 40:16. Go forth in peace, for God has enriched you with steadfast love and mercy, letting the love of God surround you as you seek paths of justice and righteousness.