Glimpsing the Kingdom
September
29 / 2013 Luke16:19-31
When I was in high school there was a boy
named Brian whom I never got to know even though he and I shared many
of the same classes. He was a pretty
average looking boy – but very quiet, never answered any questions in class,
kept to himself, didn’t seem to have any friends. He always seemed to wear the same thing –
brown pants and a brown plaid shirt. I
do not know where he lived; I do not know whether he had any brothers and
sisters, I don’t know anything about his family – and I don’t think very many
people knew very much about him. He seemed
to be invisible – attending all classes, but a complete unknown to those around
him. When we were planning our Grade 13
reunion a few years ago – we could not find him –no one on the planning
committee had knew anything about where he went to after school, he was not connected
to any social media that I could figure out – even the high school did not have
a address for him that panned out. When
I inquired about him to my former class mates – few remembered him at all and
no one knew where he is today. I
sometimes wonder about Brian – what is was like to be a teenager and not be
connected to any of his peers - I wonder where he is – I wonder who he was –
and I also wonder how many other invisible people did I go to school with that
I missed? And I wonder if I too was an
invisible person to others.
Invisible people are the people that we see
and kind of look away or look through them or pass quickly so we don’t have to
interact with them –maybe they live on the street, often they are dressed
poorly – sometimes they smell – sometimes they mumble – but sometimes they look
just like you and me – sometimes they are you and me. In a culture that values youth and beauty and
thinness - the farther we are from the ideal the more invisible we become. I have been invisible at different times in
my life –it is the place where I have no power, where I am overlooked, where no
one hears my voice even if I am talking really loud. Every once in a while I am invisible – some
people however, are invisible most of the time – these people often are poor,
they live on the margins, they may have disabilities physical or mental, they
may have cultural disadvantages, they may have addictions, they may be
developmentally challenged, or they may just be weird – have strange behaviors
that are hard to understand. There are
many many invisible people in the world.
Jesus talks to and about invisible people
all the time –today’s story is about an invisible person – a person name
Lazarus –but before we hear the story it is helpful to know the context of the
parable.
We are continuing to listen to Jesus
speaking to crowds around him – remember where we have come from – This last
couple of chapters we read in the preceding couple of weeks saw Jesus in the
midst of speaking and teaching and sharing wisdom with those who are following
him –the crowd that is listening are his disciples, the general population and
some scribes and Pharisees – sometimes Jesus is addressing the whole assembled
crowd, other times he is addressing specific parts of the crowd – today’s
parable is part of the response Jesus gives to the scribes and Pharisees after
they ridicule him for his previous parable
about the dishonest Steward and the Prodigal Son and the lost sheep and lost
coin. Jesus tells them that God knows
their hearts – reinforces the law and then tells this parable about the rich
man and Lazarus.
Jesus says:
Once there was a rich man – who lived in a rich house and had rich
clothes and a rich life. On the steps of
his home was poor man, who had no house and poor clothes and a poor life – the
life of a beggar and the dogs would come to lick his sore – yeck! – you get the
picture – two very different men, living very different lives – and this is all
we know about how they lived on earth – and they died – and went to the
afterlife – where the poor man – Lazarus - who is named in this parable- was gathered into the arms of Abraham and was
comforted for the first time in a long time – now the rich man who does not
have a name in this parable goes to Hades where he is being tormented and in
agony amongst the flames – the rich man looks out over a wide chasm and sees
Lazarus being comforted by Abraham and the angels – he calls over – help me –
send Lazarus to bring me water to quench my thirst…I am in agony says the rich
man – Sorry says Abraham – you have had a life of many comforts – Lazarus had
none – now he is to be comforted you are not.
But wait says the rich man – let me warn my family so that they do not
suffer the same fate I am – please send them a sign. But Abraham says – sorry – they have had
Moses and the Prophets already and they do not listen to them – but wait says
the rich man – what if you sent someone who had died then for sure they would
listen to him – Alas says Abraham, if they did not listen to Moses or the
prophets why would they listen to someone who has come from death.
This is the parable that Jesus tells to the
scribes and the Pharisees. What do you
think it means? I am pretty sure that it is not about heaven and hell and the
afterlife – even though that is the
stage where it is set – and I am also pretty sure it is not about making judgments
on how rich people live compared to poor people – nor is it a story to assure
us the presence of angles and Father Abraham meeting us at the gate of heaven –
this is a parable – a story with a slant – a literary tool to open the ears of
the listeners so that some deep understanding comes in the midst of the telling
of the tale – and often because it is a parable and because Jesus is the one
who tells it this short story- it shakes up the listener to bring a new way of
looking at the world.
David Lose: First, a parable is a parable, ….. Parables
aren’t told to give you a complete theological system or to address ultimate
questions once and for all. They are meant to give us a glimpse -- often
surprising, even jarring glimpses -- into the kingdom of God. They present
various slivers of the “kingdom logic” of the God who regularly surprises us
with God’s compassion and concern. So maybe this parable isn’t interested in
explaining to us how people get to heaven but rather invites us to look at the
people around us -- right here, right now -- from the perspective of this
peculiar logic of God.”[1]
Kingdom logic – that place where for just a
moment we get to experience the world as God would have it – as God’s kingdom
come – the place when
·
Justice prevails
·
Peace occurs
·
Hope lives
·
Love is all around
·
And the invisible people
are visible
·
God gets in and grace is
exposed
People like Lazarus become visible and
And the kingdom comes and God will is done.
This parable is about seeing the invisible people
– making what is hidden revealed, and removing our glasses that blind us in our
world of seeing what we expect to putting on the glasses of God which help us to
see the world as God sees the world and to see each other as God sees us – as beloved
children, all of us as beloved children – not that she is poor and that he is mentally
ill and that they are unrespectable….even Lazarus – the man with weeping sores that
the dogs licked – every single one of us – with no exclusions – we all are God beloved
children and visible to each other and the kingdom comes.
Sometime it is hard to get glimpses of the
kingdom in the midst of the wars and turmoil that rage on around us. This world seems like a crazy place – there
is the civil war is Syria, just this morning a college dorm was attacked by
armed gunman in Nigeria and 50 people died, a ferry in Nigeria capsizes this
week killing dozens of others - Pakistan has been hit with a second earthquake
in a week – and the number of dead continue to rise – a building collapses in
Mumbai and more people die – the monarch butterfly population is declining
rapidly, and hundreds of Floridians accept an offer of a free shotgun offered
this week by ‘armed citizens project’ I wonder if by accepting a gun people
feel more visible- a girl with autism was asked not to return to a dentist
office in British Columbia, an invisible person being denied dental work. But even on a day like today when all that
news is so bleak and despairing – God can get in and the kingdom can come.
Sometimes it is what is going on in our own
little worlds that makes it hard for us to see the glimpses of the kingdom that
are all around us. We struggle to get
by, our finances are tight, our relationships are strained, our children are
defiant, our bodies are breaking down, we are mourning the loss of a beloved,
and our world seems scary and sad, fear and anxiety are a daily occurrence –
and the kingdom of God seems like it is far far away – yet - God gets in – and
the kingdom comes, even if it just for a moment –
·
And every time an
invisible person like Lazarus is seen and acknowledged and treated with
respect--God’s kingdom comes and God’s will is done.
·
And every time someone
takes a risk to follow God’s calling like Patricia did in Pike Bay this
morning as she covenanted with Presbytery and the congregation--God’s kingdom
comes and God’s will is done.
·
And every time patience is
used instead of anger and kindness is shown instead of meanness--God’s kingdom
comes and God’s will is done.
·
And every time someone
stops to think and then changes a direction because the former direction would
harm someone --God’s kingdom comes and God’s will is done.
·
And every time a person is
valued for who they are and their skin colour or gender or sexual preference or
culture is not an issue--God’s kingdom comes and God’s will is done.
·
And every time the voice
of the silent is heard and the invisible is seen -God’s kingdom comes and God’s
will is done.
God’s
kingdom comes and God’s will is done, in the world and all around us –shifts
By what we do, what we say, how we live, and
how we use our resources, the choices we make –God’s kingdom comes. When we care and share and connect and
participate –God gets in and the kingdom comes and God’s will is done. Thanks be to God. Amen
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