Trinity 1 – Sunday of Lazarus and the Rich Man June 3, 2018
Trinity 1
Luke 16:19-31
June 3, 2018
It’s good to be Lazarus.
It’s good to love Lazarus.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
God gives us some challenging words in the Epistle today from 1 John chapter 4:
“We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he’s a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen can’t love God whom he hasn’t seen.”
Those are challenging words. Even more than that, they’re condemning words. They condemn us. Every one of is a liar. Because we’ve all said, ‘I love God,’ and yet we’ve hated someone.
Think right now of someone that you’ve hated. A sibling of yours. A neighbor. Your rich neighbor. Your poor neighbor. Someone at work. A boss. A coworker. A Democrat or a Republican. A coach. The person you say is “full of himself”. When we hate someone, we show that we don’t really know God or love Him. Because God doesn’t hate anyone.
I’ll say that again for emphasis and because it’s important—God doesn’t hate anyone. He doesn’t hate Republicans or Democrats. He doesn’t hate rich people or poor people. He doesn’t hate people who are full of themselves and doesn’t hate people who hate themselves. God doesn’t hate anyone.
And the first reason that’s really important is because He doesn’t hate you. Or me. He should. That’s what I deserve. I deserve to be hated. The things I have done against God…they’re grievous and God would have every right to hate me. But instead, He showed His love, Jesus, there, to me on Calvary (LSB #542). He loves us sinners who deserve to be hated.
Now we have a hard time accepting this. We have a hard time admitting that we don’t deserve to be loved. And I’ll prove it to you. In the story of Lazarus and the rich man, there are two people for you to choose from. Two people where you can place yourself into the story. You can be the rich man who wears fine clothes and eats well. Or you can be Lazarus who is poor, disabled, covered in sores, and begs for food every day at the rich man’s gate. Which would you like to be?
Ah, a real conundrum here. We know we don’t want to be the rich man. After all, he goes to hell. To the anguishing heat and flames of hell. We don’t want that. Plus, none of us wants to be the rich jerk who doesn’t help other people. We don’t want to be the guy who’s spoiled rotten, who’s a big glutton, and who nobody else can stand because they’re all jealous of his money. So yeah, we know we don’t wanna be the rich man.
But what about Lazarus? Ugh. We don’t really want to be him either. We don’t wanna be the bum on the side of the road. Helpless. Disabled. Can’t even feed ourselves. Have to beg other people for money. Ugh. No way! I’m not a bum! And yet, Lazarus is the one who goes to heaven and rests in Abraham’s bosom. Well, that would kinda be nice at any rate, right? We all want to get to heaven, don’t we?
You see we’ve got ourselves a little conundrum here. We really don’t want to be the begging, bum Lazarus. It’s just like I said. We have a really hard time confessing that we don’t deserve to be loved. That we’re truly beggars before God.
Instead, here’s what we do. We like to pretend that there’s a third guy in Jesus’ story. Yeah, a third guy He didn’t tell about. That’s us. The guy in the middle. The guy who definitely isn’t a rich jerk. But certainly isn’t no poor bum either. The middle guy who everybody likes. The middle guy who can take care of himself but will also be sure to throw Lazarus some loose change every now and then too. That’s the guy we want to be. The middle guy. The good guy. The guy Jesus forgot to mention.
But there’s just one problem. Jesus didn’t mention him…because he doesn’t exist. Sorry, folks, but there’s no middle guy. We can stop pretending. It’s either rich man or bum. It’s either heaven or hell. No middle ground. There’s no middle place for middle people who are pretty good ol’ chaps. Nope. It’s either hell for people are full of themselves and don’t need Jesus. Or it’s heaven for people like Lazarus who are poor bums and live by the mercy of Jesus Christ their Savior.
So it may be hard to accept, but I’m a bum. And so are you. It may be hard to accept, but that poor, disabled, sickly, begging Lazarus on the side of the road is us. But that’s good. Because God so happens to love that poor, disabled, sickly bum on the side of the road. Because God doesn’t hate anyone. God loves bums. He loves sinners.
So there’s your first reason why it’s really important that God doesn’t hate anyone—he doesn’t hate you or me. Ever. “Oh, but other people don’t know what I’ve done.” That’s true. But God does. He knows how serious our sin is. That’s why he didn’t send in a middle guy to just tell us, “Hey, it’s gonna be alright. Cheer up and put on a happy face.” No, He sent His own Son. To go and pay for our sins on the cross. The richest in the world, the Son of God, became the poorest man in the world, our Savior Jesus Christ.
So don’t be afraid to say, “I’m a poor bum.” Jesus has lifted you up. He’s healed your sores with the water of Holy Baptism. Washed you clean. He’s fed you with the food of eternal life in the Lord’s Supper. Satisfied you to the full. He’s made you rich with the largest inheritance that the world will ever see—the kingdom of heaven. God doesn’t hate you. He loves you. And He wants you to repent of your sin, confess you’re a bum, and look to Him for mercy and grace. Which He will always give in Jesus.
So hopefully I’ve convinced you from God’s Word that He doesn’t hate bums like you or me. But now the second reason why it’s really important that God doesn’t hate anyone—is that we have no place to hate anyone either. When we hate our brother, then we show that we don’t really love God. Because God doesn’t hate anyone. He doesn’t hate you. He doesn’t hate anyone else. And we have no place to hate either.
There are bums all around us. There’s no doubt about it. Yes, you and I are bums. We’ve already covered that well. But there are lots of other bums in the world too. And sometimes those bums are very hard for us to love. And to be clear, when I say bums I’m not at all talking about people who are literally on the side of the road begging for money. Or those who are homeless. Yes, we love them too.
But I’m talking about all the bums in the world who rub us the wrong way. Who are arrogant jerks. Bums who steal. Bums who are greedy. Bums who don’t work and expect everyone to give them handouts. Bums who are racist. Bums who are rude and selfish. Bums who don’t take care of their children. Bums who mistreat their spouses. Bums who think Christians are ignorant. Bums who take guns to schools. Bums who aspire to be suicide bombers. Bums who love violence.
The rich man looked at Lazarus and saw a bum. Poor, disabled, sickly Lazarus lying there begging at His gate. What a bum! And the rich man thought, “I don’t like that guy. He’s a bum. He doesn’t deserve anything from me. In fact, I hate it that he sits there at my gate all the time. What a nuisance. Ugh.” He didn’t love Lazarus. Because he didn’t love God. He didn’t know that God loves everyone. That God sent His Son for everyone.
We know better. We know that we’re all bums. Not a one of us any better than another. We love God. Because He loves us. And because we love God—we love other bums like us as well. We love bums because He first loved us bums. We love sinners because He first loved us sinners.
Think back to that person or persons whom you’ve hated. Now are they a bum? A sinner? Yes, sure they are. But a worse one than you? Of course not. That person you and I have hated is Lazarus. Poor, disabled, sickly, hungry Lazarus. Who needs your love just as much as you need other people’s love. Not because they deserve it. And who knows, they might not even accept your love. It doesn’t matter. You love them because God first loves you.
And also, by the way, in that bum is Jesus Himself. Jesus said that when you and I do anything to the least of our brothers, we do it to Him. When we help poor Lazarus, bring him some food, give him a smile and good conversation, we do it to Jesus.
Now don’t misunderstand me, please. This story of Lazarus and the rich man isn’t just a story about helping people. It’s not just a story about works. But it certainly includes it. It’s a story about love. God’s love for bums like us. And our love for our fellow brother. In closing, I’ll give you these two things to remember. Number one, it’s really good to be Lazarus. It’s good to be a sinner loved by Jesus. But number two, it’s also really good to love Lazarus. To love other sinners as we have been loved.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.