Today's Bible readings are Numbers 10.11-36 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Num.+10.11-36 ) and Luke 16.19-31 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Luke+16.19-31 ).
As we read the parable of Lazarus and the rich man we see two different attitudes which most of our culture holds.
What about Lazarus? He had a very hard life. He was a beggar, he had nothing, no friends, no family, turned to dogs for comfort, a perfectly wretched life on this earth. Whose sins made him so wretched? Whose choices? We really don't know. It seems from the reward he receives later that he had some sort of faith for everlasting life. Yet certainly he, like any of us, deserved every evil that happened during his lifetime. In fact, like the rest of us, he surely deserved more evil than he received in his earthly life. Maybe he just didn't have enough faith? Maybe that's why he wasn't prosperous and healthy? Hardly likely. In this very parable Jesus tells us about someone who was faithless but is prosperous and healthy. We simply need to leave Lazarus as we found him. Poverty-stricken, trouble in this life, and blessed in the next. This is the situation of countless people on this planet. We can and should give comfort and help as we are enabled, yet we will not solve poverty and suffering, nor should we consider it the top priority. The true life and eternal healing that Lazarus received is the priority.
How about the rich man? Likewise many in our society would like to see that the rich man had it all together, but he clearly didn't. We would like to say he was a total wretch, but Lazarus stayed around his household and managed to eke out a living from the rich man's leftovers, which is more than homeless people do around my household. How about the rich man's request that someone should return from the dead to call people to repentance? Won't that be convincing?
The fact is, someone has returned from the dead to call us to repentance, and he continues to call us to repentance through his spirit and everywhere that his word is read and proclaimed. Not only does Jesus call us to repentance, but he proclaims his forgiving love and the fact that he has through his own faithfulness overcome the world. Let us cast our cares on Jesus. Let us proclaim him boldly. And when his name is rejected, let us not take it personally. Even if someone rises from the dead people won't believe. Yet for all those who do, he has prepared peace, rest and blessing.
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