Who is at our gate? (and what will we do?)
Last week, we talked a bit about how this particular section
of Luke’s gospel is focused on our relationship to our wealth, our privilege,
our stuff. And this focus flows naturally from Jesus’ sermon on the plain
which lays out God’s preferential treatment for the poor. Beginning in Luke 6,
Jesus’ teaching for the remainder of Luke’s gospel is framed this way:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the
kingdom of God.
“Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be
filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will
laugh.
“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude
you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that
day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is
what their ancestors did to the prophets.
“But woe to you who are rich,
for you have
received your consolation.
“Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be
hungry.
“Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn
and weep.
“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what
their ancestors did to the false prophets.
“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to
those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If
anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who
takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs
from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to
others as you would have them do to you.”
And this story heard today about a Rich Man (who is never
given a proper name – the sum total of his identity is A RICH MAN) and Lazarus
– a name which means “God is my help”, focuses our attention on how our possessions,
or our station in life, might keep us from relationship…might keep us from
joining in God’s preferential treatment for the poor.
We said last week that as a church, part of work is to
wrestle in community with scripture to seek understanding. This is work best
done together. To be able to take this ancient story and find how it is
speaking to us – individually and as a community - today.
In this story, the Rich Man lands in Hades after his death –
at that time the Jewish understanding of the underworld – while the sick,
sore-covered beggar named Lazarus who had laid outside the Rich Man’s gate is
carried away by the angels to feast with Abraham, the great father of Israel at
his death.
There seems to be good divine reception between Hades and
where Father Abraham lives with the beggar Lazarus, because when the Rich Man
calls out, asking for Abraham to send Lazarus to SERVE the Rich Man in Hades,
Abraham reminds him that he had his comfort and his goodness and his abundance
on earth.
There are things left unsaid in this story. It is pretty clear that while Lazarus suffered
right outside the Rich Man’s gate, the Rich Man did not reach out to him. He certainly never invited him inside. He likely never went out to sit on the ground
beside him and ask him about his life, his suffering, his sores, what he might
need.
I am left with the impression that the Rich Man didn’t care about Lazarus. Perhaps he had never seen Lazarus at his gate. And the formula Abraham provides in response to the Rich Man is stark – you’ve had yours. You had your turn. You didn’t do anything to help someone who didn’t have the same privilege. Now you have a different reality. And so now, it is Lazarus’ turn to enjoy the good life.
So the Rich Man begs Abraham to send Lazarus to warn the
Rich Man’s brothers…. Because you know, maybe they will pay attention to the
things that the Rich Man has not.
And Abraham basically says, you know, there have been and
are abundant messengers, leaders and teachers.
There is a history of turning away and turning back to God – wilderness,
murmuring, repentance. There is a story and a tradition and there have been
prophets yelling this in the streets. If your brothers haven’t paid attention
yet (just like you, Rich Man), what makes you think that Lazarus can enter into
their lives and change them?
Funny that the Rich Man wants Lazarus to change life for his
brothers but the Rich Man was unwilling to change Lazarus’ life at any point.
Most of us don’t live in gated homes with high fences that
keep out the urban hustle and bustle. At
least not quite so obviously. Here as a
church, we don’t have you scan a membership card to set foot on the
property. But I think this story raises
ALL kinds of questions for us today.
Who waits outside your door?
Who waits outside OUR door?
What is it that they need?
How do we know?
It simply would not have been enough for the Rich Man to
open his gate and wave Lazarus in. You
see, in doing so, Lazarus might have been fed, he might have become clean. But the circumstances that surrounded him as
a poor man living on the street would not have been altered. The economic systems or the health care
crises or pipelines to debt and imprisonment that were part of his lived
reality would not have been changed. And
surely if there was one man laying moaning in the gutter in need of love and
human relationship, there were others.
And the Rich Man would still be the Rich Man…he also would not be
changed so much by the experience, sitting in his gated property, surrounded by
comfort.
No…I think that just as it would not work for Lazarus to
show up to the Rich Man’s family in their home and warn them of the wrath to
come, I think it would not be enough for the Rich Man to open the gate.
I think the Rich Man needed to step out of his own comfort
to be next to Lazarus. To see from
Lazarus’ perspective, sitting there on the ground amid the filth and grime and
traffic, the Rich Man would have to sit in the dirt, understand Lazarus’ hunger
and ailments. The Rich Man would have to be with someone he understood as
“other.”
I think it is true that as humans, many of us are super
uncomfortable risking our own security and comfort for another. That is real and normal and
understandable. It is part of our
survival instinct. We rather like to
surround ourselves with comfort and safety.
Maybe we don’t technically have walls and gates, but we still have ways
we guard ourselves, our hearts, our time, our possessions, our attitudes and
opinions.
I spent much of this past week in Kansas City at a gathering
of United Methodists at Church of the Resurrection. This is the 22,000 member congregation led by
Rev. Adam Hamilton, author of many, many, many, many books and studies. Normally church leaders gather once a year
for the purpose of learning the very best of how to nurture vital
congregations.
But this year, we gathered to have a different
conversation. A conversation about hope
for rebuilding a denomination that, while historically powerful and fruitful,
is currently wracked by disagreement about how we treat specific groups of
people. Right now, that group of people identify as LGBTQ.
This isn’t the first time we’ve wrestled with disagreements about who belongs and who doesn’t. John Wesley’s last letter before his death is believed to be written to William Wilberforce, a British man who actively fought the institution of slavery, in which Wesley urges Wilberforce to “Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it.”
In spite of John Wesley’s rejection of slavery, the church
that was birthed by his vision in the US spun off several exclusively black
churches because segregation was so entrenched, and the Methodist Episcopal
Church split in 1845, in part because of a Bishop who would not free his slaves.
It is not until 1939 that these two churches, along with a third branch – the
Methodist Protestant Church merge, but only by creating a “compromise,” a
central conference that segregates black churches into their own governance
structure…so while you could be black and Methodist, you still belonged to a
“lesser” part of the church.
It turns out that wasn’t resolved until 1968 when we became
The United Methodist Church and the central conference of black churches in the
US was dissolved by action of the General Conference. Local annual conferences,
including our own, had led the way since the mid-50s, actively working beyond
the rules of the wider church at that time (perhaps you could say in a protest
movement) to integrate locally.
So…during a meeting this week that included somewhere around
2000 folks in Kansas City, it was notable that there were no Black Bishops
present. The number of persons of color in attendance was really, really low.
Often times, panels included no African American representation. Some people asked where our African American
brothers and sisters were in this current conversation. At some point, leaders
answered that the African American leaders, particularly bishops, had been
invited, but had not been able/chosen to attend.
Ah…you know I sit with these texts and see the world through
that lens all week long as I prepare to be with you in worship.
When that answer came from the stage, this text slammed into
my heart.
When colleagues were asking, “where are the Black leaders,”
and the answer was we invited them and we didn’t come, I was deep in this
story. This story of the Rich Man and of
Lazarus.
It isn’t enough to invite folks into our banquet. It isn’t enough to say “the door was
open…” It isn’t enough to say “our table
has always been open…if they show up, of course we will dine with them.”
It just isn’t enough.
That is really clear in Luke’s gospel.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude
you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that
day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is
what their ancestors did to the prophets.
AND
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Here’s the thing.
It’s not enough to say our door is open. It’s not enough to say our
table is wide. We are CALLED to go out
and walk with anyone we consider “Other.”
We have to walk out the door.
We have to leave our table and sit next to the person that
waits outside the gate. Our gate. My
gate. Your gate.
We have to bring the conversation to them. Actually, we need
to invite them to suggest the real conversation to be had.
Because only then can we know how to use our gifts along
with them to build the Kingdom of God.
In leaving the comfort of our house, we actually enter into
the work God is already doing with the poor and the oppressed, the underserved,
the marginalized.
What if the Rich Man had left his house to get to know the
ailing, hungry Lazarus who was right outside his gate?
Maybe the Lazarus who was gay.
Or maybe the Lazarus who spoke a foreign language, who was a
stranger in the land.
Or maybe the Lazarus who didn’t read and receive scripture
in the same way that the Rich Man did.
Or maybe the Lazarus who calls God by another name, like
“Allah.”
Or maybe the Lazarus whose political views were wildly
different.
It’s time we all go to the gate.
And leave our comfort zone.
And hear what God is doing in the world.
And how we are called to join in.
I close with a refrain from the Psalmist, heard earlier:
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope
is in the LORD their God,
who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free;
the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The LORD will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD!
who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free;
the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The LORD will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD!
It’s time to be the hands and feet, the face of God in the
world.
May it be so.
Amen.
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