Trinity 1 June 23, 2019 The Sunday of Lazarus and the Rich Man

Trinity 1
Luke 16:19-31 & 1 John 4:16-21
June 23, 2019

“We Owe Love”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

In Romans 13, Paul’s talking about paying people what you owe them. So pay the government the taxes you owe, he says. Pay money to whomever you owe money. Pay respect and honor to those whom it’s due. And then the next verse is one I wanted to start with today, Romans 13:8. It’s an odd way to talk about love. He says you owe love. He says you shouldn’t owe anyone anything except this one thing—love. You owe love to everyone. Like God sending you a bill. What do you owe God? Nothing. Jesus has paid your debt. Zero balance. But what do you owe everyone else? You owe them love.

So you guys owe me. You don’t have to agree with everything I do. You don’t have to be my best friend. You don’t owe me Christmas cards or even pastor appreciation month. But you do owe me love. You owe that to me. And I owe you. I owe love to you. Because of the love that God has for each one of us, we owe love to each other. Isn’t that a different way of talking about love? But it’s true. We owe love to our neighbor. Whoever that neighbor happens to be.

And if you don’t love your brother, then you don’t love God or know God. That’s St. John talking in the Epistle today, 1 John 4. He also, like Paul, says that you owe love to your brother. But then he says if you don’t love your brother, and hate him instead, then you don’t know God, because God is love.

Do you want to know what I’m talking about specifically? It’d be nice if we had an example of this, right? Well, Jesus tells us a specific story of this. There was a rich man who was dressed extravagantly and ate big feasts every single day. And there was a poor man who would sit at his door all the time. The rich man knew poor Lazarus. But he didn’t even give him the crumbs from his table. The rich man owed love to Lazarus. But he didn’t give it. Instead, he hated Lazarus. His absolute lack of love for Lazarus showed that He didn’t love God either. He loved his money and feasts and fancy clothes more than he loved God. And he couldn’t even spare the smallest portion of it to help poor, hungry Lazarus—not even the crumbs.

So the rich man died and went to hell. That’s what happens when you don’t believe in God, love God, and know God. The rich man didn’t. And so he didn’t love his brother Lazarus either. And he ends up in the torment of hell.

Now the rich man looks up from hell and sees poor man Lazarus sitting in heaven with Abraham. And he’s so overcome with grief and sadness that he begs Abraham to send Lazarus to his five brothers who are still living on earth. He wants Lazarus to warn them so that they don’t end up in hell also.

Now I have a little thought experiment for you. Let’s say that Lazarus does go back from the dead and he visits those five brothers. Let’s say Abraham agrees to the whole thing and Lazarus is going to warn them so that they don’t end up in hell also. If that happened, what would Lazarus say to the five brothers? What will he say to them to keep them from going to hell?

Would he say, “O five brothers who are greedy, selfish, unloving just like the rich man, don’t worry about it because God is love and God loves you. Just believe in God and everything will be okay”? Do you think that’ll solve the problem? Just tell them God is love and they’ll end up in heaven?

Of course not. Lazarus would never say that. He would say, “O five brothers who are greedy, selfish, and unloving just like your brother the rich man, you’re all going to hell because you are jerks. You hate your fellow man. You don’t love anyone but yourselves and you can’t even spare crumbs from your tables to feed the hungry poor. You owe love to your neighbor. And if you don’t do something about it, you’re going to hell.” That’s what Lazarus would say. He would truly warn them. And tell them to repent.

Because if you don’t love your brother, something is terribly wrong. And you better see to it. What’s terribly wrong is that you don’t love God. You only love yourself.

That’s why Jesus is telling this story. Because the Pharisees were there. And they were lovers of money it says right before Jesus tells this story. He is warning them. Just like Lazarus would’ve done if he actually went back from the dead. And just like all of us are being warned right here and now. You are being warned. That if you can’t spare crumbs for your brother, that if you hate your brother, then you need to repent. It’s not okay. If we are hating our neighbor, then we must run to the forgiveness of Christ and seek His love to help us to love.

Love is the life of a Christian. Love is your life. Jesus loves you and welcomes you. The rich man, Jesus, who is dressed in heavenly splendor and prepares feasts of rich food and well-aged wine (Isaiah 25) welcomes you and me—poor, dirty, hungry, sinners like Lazarus—to His table. Even more than that, Jesus the rich man actually left His heavenly clothes and food behind and came to live in our place outside the gate. He became a poor, hungry sinner in our place and died for us on the cross.

Now He sits at God’s right hand in heaven, with Abraham, and invites you to come and eat at His table. He welcomes all. Even the worst of us who have loved ourselves more than anything else. Even the worst of us who have hated our brother. Even the worst of us who have been so selfish and greedy that we couldn’t spare the smallest of our money or food to help someone in need. Yes, Jesus welcomes us. He warns us to repent. And then He tells us to kneel at this altar and receive His body and blood for our forgiveness and peace.

And that’s the life of us Christians. Just as Jesus welcomes us and loves us, so we welcome and love our neighbor. Of course, some will reject your love just like many reject Jesus’ love. But it doesn’t matter. You still love them. We owe it. It’s our life. The life of Jesus.

It’s not a coincidence that it’s Abraham who receives the poor man Lazarus in heaven. Abraham, of course, is the great example of faith. He believed God’s promise. And all who believe in Christ are children of Abraham. But he also is a great example of love. Because he loved God, he also loved others. We have many examples of it.

But the most pointed is when Abraham is sitting outside his tent in the heat of the day waiting for visitors coming by that would need his assistance. This was Abraham’s love. He would capture any travelers that came his way and would feed them and care for them. And on that day three visitors came who happened to be angels from God. Abraham didn’t know it at first. But He made them bread and killed a tender calf for them and served them a fine meal. That’s the love of Abraham.

Hebrews 13:1-2 says, “Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

You are I are children of Abraham. As he believed God’s promises, so we believe God’s promises. As he was justified by faith, so we are justified by faith. And hence—as he loved, so we love. As he welcomed those in need, so we welcome those in need. Love is the way of the Christian. It’s our way.

Let me close today with what this doesn’t mean. This doesn’t mean that you have to be best friends with everybody. This doesn’t mean you have to make your family go hungry while you give all your food away. This doesn’t mean you have to give ‘x” amount of money to the food pantry or else you’re going to hell. This doesn’t mean that you can’t buy anything nice for yourself. It doesn’t mean any of that.

But it certainly does mean that you owe love to everyone. It certainly does mean that if we hate our brother then we don’t know the love of God. And it certainly does mean that you and I should repent any time that we let our own greed or pride or envy get in the way of loving our neighbor.

Are you worried about how you will pay all this love that you owe? Don’t worry about that. When it comes to love, you’re the richest man or woman on earth. Jesus has bequeathed his fortune to you. And there’s no better riches than love.

All money will pass away. All stuff will pass away. But the true riches, the true money, the true wealth is love. The love of Jesus Christ, the rich man, who gave His life for us poor Lazaruses. God is love. And we love because He first loved us.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.