HCA Staff Writer
The story that Jesus tells in the Gospel According to St. Luke, Chapter 16 (or XVI as I prefer…) is a tough one for Americans in the 21st century. But we must HEAR it, or suffer the fate of the rich man.
Jesus says that this rich man was dressed in purple and linen. These were expensive items in Israel at that time and they were similar to the sacred clothing worn by the high priest. This is in contrast to Lazarus’ sores that covered his entire body. The rich man ate splendidly, not once a week or whenever something special was happening, but every day.
Lazarus (“God is my help,” his name translates) lays at the rich man’s gate and longs to eat the scraps that fall from the rich man’s table. During the time period under consideration here, people didn’t use knives, forks, and spoons to eat with—they ate with their hands. Then, when they were finished, they cleaned their hands with leftover hunks of bread. These hunks were then either thrown away or fed to the dogs.
So when it says that Lazarus longed to eat the scraps, essentially it is saying that he longed to eat dog food. In fact, the dogs even used him when they came and licked his sores. So far, this is not a pretty story—but it gets worse.
The Jewish listeners of this period and story would have expected the rich man to be the first to enter heaven after his death. To them, riches were a sign that they had God’s favor—that He was blessing them. So, for Jesus to say that Lazarus was comforted at the bosom of Abraham and the rich man was languishing in fire would have been fighting words to the Jews of his time.
Besides, what was the sin of the rich man? He didn’t kick Lazarus on the way into or out of his house. As Jesus puts it here, the sin of the rich man was that he refused to notice Lazarus lying in shame, hunger, and ill health at the entrance gate of his estate. And he did this day after day. He refused to notice those around him who were in need of help.
Jesus is saying that the rich man went to hell for this. Why was Jesus so concerned about the poor? Why does the Old Testament tell us that God expects us to take care of our poor and marginalized? Because when God created us, Genesis tells us that He created us in His own image. Every human being that has breath, that is alive, was created in the image and likeness of God.
And Jesus says: whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me. God says it is our sacred duty and responsibility to notice those who need help and, furthermore, to share what we have to make sure that this happens.
What Can We Do?
We can notice those around us who need help. There is stuff we need to figure out in society to help some situations. Did you ever wonder where street people come from?
A friend of mine had a brother that lived on the streets from time to time because of his mental illness. He was schizophrenic. That made him unable to function very well in society. He also had to use huge amounts of alcohol and drugs to “quiet the voices in his head.” So much of his adult life, especially toward the end, was spent on the street.
In former times, this man would have been institutionalized in a state facility of some sort where they would try to treat him. Then came the sixties, where activists protested for the release of such people because they claimed that these patients were treated cruelly. And in some places, they were. So, they were let out on their own.
Many of our street people have a serious mental illness or they are terribly addicted to drugs or alcohol. So, what do we do about that? You know, if we really want to tackle homelessness, we had better be thinking about how to treat mental illness and addiction more effectively.
At one point my friend’s family tried to get the man committed to some sort of facility, and the system does not allow this to happen. This needs to be examined.
How Can We Help Without Creating Dependence?
How can we fashion a system that helps people when they really do need help, but does not produce people who become dependent upon such help? That is a major criticism leveled at our current efforts to deal with the poor in our nation.
Another one is how we deal with children born out of wedlock. In 2023, 40 percent of all American births were to unmarried women, compared to less than half of that in 1980. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that children born to a single-parent family are much more likely to be poor—but also, to be angry due to a lack of direction that a father provides.
When gangs recruit new members, they often target single-parent homes. Young men hunger for a father figure who will help them feel included and teach them how to be a man. Gangs step into that void. If these issues aren’t dealt with, we are really not helping anyone with our current system. It needs to be fixed.
The Final Lesson
At the end of the story, the rich man tries to get Abraham to warn his brothers about their fate if they ignore those in need. He asks Abraham to send Lazarus to get some water to give some relief to the rich man in his torment.
Here the rich man had ignored Lazarus for so long, and now he wants Lazarus to help him, which shows the depth of the self-absorption of the rich man. He even goes so far as to request that someone be raised from the dead to warn his brothers.
Abraham says, they have Moses and the prophets. Even if one should rise from the dead, it wouldn’t change their mind. Well, we have Moses and the prophets—they still speak to us today. And we have one who has risen from the dead who is warning us about seeing the plight of those around us.
The question is: will we hear Him? Will the Jesus that comes to us from this altar find us recognizing and responding to the poor later today or this week?
I wanted to do a deep dive here, as no matter where we are as Oblates, we can always be of service—and not receive the rich man’s fate.
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