Thursday of the Second Week of Lent -- March 24, 2011
Luke 16:19 – 31
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Like many Jesus-stories, this one is multi-layered. All sorts of questions arise from within it. I will comment on one aspect of the story.
It seems important that the rich man lived within an enclosure. He was cut off from the outside world. We might imagine that the only break in the enclosure was a gate. When open, the gate would allow access, including both movements inward and outward. When closed, it not only kept those outside from getting in, but kept the rich man from going out.
Also, you can understand that the enclosure in which the rich man lived serves as a symbol for the self that lives isolated from the world. This self inside the gates is totally closed in on itself, concerned only for its own well-being and comfort, willing to deny the reality that waits just outside the door in order to keep up the illusion that what’s going on inside the enclosure is all that really matters.
Many folks miss the distinction between the inner reflection/introspection necessary to live life with wholeness and the narcissistic self-inflation that keeps the self at the center of its own false reality.
While we all live, at least to some extent, within the constricted grounds of our own self-centeredness, the presence of the gate in the story represents a real God-given grace, for it suggests the possibility of movement outward toward those in need who wait outside the gate. The grace of the gate also allows those who are outside – in the world – to enter the life-world of the one who in other ways is trapped inside herself or himself.
God doesn’t create barriers, doesn’t make life smaller, doesn’t close us in.
We are invited to acknowledge our limitations, to honestly confess the enclosures in which we live. And we are also invited out of the narrowness of our enclosures, out the gates, toward those who live outside our walls.
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Like many Jesus-stories, this one is multi-layered. All sorts of questions arise from within it. I will comment on one aspect of the story.
It seems important that the rich man lived within an enclosure. He was cut off from the outside world. We might imagine that the only break in the enclosure was a gate. When open, the gate would allow access, including both movements inward and outward. When closed, it not only kept those outside from getting in, but kept the rich man from going out.
Also, you can understand that the enclosure in which the rich man lived serves as a symbol for the self that lives isolated from the world. This self inside the gates is totally closed in on itself, concerned only for its own well-being and comfort, willing to deny the reality that waits just outside the door in order to keep up the illusion that what’s going on inside the enclosure is all that really matters.
Many folks miss the distinction between the inner reflection/introspection necessary to live life with wholeness and the narcissistic self-inflation that keeps the self at the center of its own false reality.
While we all live, at least to some extent, within the constricted grounds of our own self-centeredness, the presence of the gate in the story represents a real God-given grace, for it suggests the possibility of movement outward toward those in need who wait outside the gate. The grace of the gate also allows those who are outside – in the world – to enter the life-world of the one who in other ways is trapped inside herself or himself.
God doesn’t create barriers, doesn’t make life smaller, doesn’t close us in.
We are invited to acknowledge our limitations, to honestly confess the enclosures in which we live. And we are also invited out of the narrowness of our enclosures, out the gates, toward those who live outside our walls.
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