19th Sunday after Pentecost (Thanksgiving)
October 10, 2004
Luke 16:19-31

^16:19"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²²"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' ²⁵"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.' ²⁷"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, ²⁸for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' ²⁹"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' ³⁰"'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' ³¹"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'" (NIV).

Thanking God.

  "In his book Folk Psalms of Faith, Ray Stedman tells of an experience H. A. Ironside had in a crowded restaurant. Just as Ironside was about to begin his meal, a man approached and asked if he could join him. Ironside invited him to have a seat. Then, as was his custom, Ironside bowed his head in prayer. When he opened his eyes, the other man asked, 'Do you have a headache?' Ironside replied, 'No, I don't.' The other man asked, 'Well, is there something wrong with your food?' Ironside replied, 'No, I was simply thanking God as I always do before I eat.' The man said, 'Oh, you're one of those, are you? Well, I want you to know I never give thanks. I earn my money by the sweat of my brow and I don't have to give thanks to anybody when I eat. I just start right in!' Ironside said, 'Yes, you're just like my dog. That's what he does too!'" (Sermon Illustrations.com).

  Sadly, there are many people who don't want to thank God. Tomorrow many people, like this man, will just dig right in to some special meal without thanking God. They too will think only of the fact that they earned it by the sweat of their brow. We, I trust, will thank God by saying a prayer of thanksgiving before we eat. But will that prayer alone satisfy our need to thank God for the bounty we have? Is there another way we show our gratitude to God for our salvation and the provisions of this life?

  While not traditional Thanksgiving texts, all three of today's lessons--and especially our Gospel lesson--speak of one of the most important ways to live grateful lives of faith, by using our wealthy to help those in need. This is especially appropriate at Thanksgiving. Beyond just a special prayer, we can thank God by trusting him enough to help the poor.

  Jesus tells the parable of the rich man and Lazarus because of some Pharisees. He has just spoken the parable about the dishonest manager and said that we must be good managers of our wealth because it is God's property. We cannot serve both God and Money. Luke says that, The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. (Luke 16:14). They understood Jesus and that was making them very uneasy because they loved money! In fact, they saw wealth as a sign of God's approval. He blesses those who keep his law. So they reckoned themselves righteous, acceptable to God, and ridiculed Jesus' implication that they were not. They naturally assumed they would be among the greatest in the Kingdom of God. Thus the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, a good dose of reality for the money lover in us all!

  In the parable, there is a rich man. He is complacent and squanders his wealth in luxurious living. For here is this poor beggar named Lazarus whom he easily could have helped. He could have used his wealth to make a friend of Lazarus as Jesus mentioned in the previous parable. But instead, he murdered him, for fully able to help Lazarus, the rich man simply sat back and watched him die.

  The rich man also died but did not enter the kingdom of God as he expected. Instead he found himself in hell. Lazarus, on the other hand, was in heaven with Abraham, comforted and enjoying the great reward that Jesus has prepared for his people. Here is the great reversal of which Jesus spoke in the Beatitudes. Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. . . . But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. (Luke 6:20-25).

  The rich man's great wealth was not a sign of God's approval. Rather God had entrusted that wealth to him for purposes like taking care of this poor beggar Lazarus. Instead the rich man made his money and luxurious life his idol and was condemned to hell. He was not a son of Abraham after all and so had no place in the kingdom. In contrast, the rich tax-collector Zacchaeus will repent when he meets Jesus, will give half his wealth to the poor and will become a true son of Abraham.

  Next, the rich man makes the remarkable request that Abraham send Lazarus back from the dead to warn his brothers. We must assume that they too were complacent money lovers and would come to the same wretched end as he. Since God wants all people to know the truth, to repent and trust in Jesus, you might think that this was not such a bad request. But Abraham--speaking for Jesus--refuses! The rich man's brothers already know and have rejected the truth. They have Moses and the Prophets which tells them all about faith in God and the resulting purpose and use of money. A resurrected Lazarus might amuse or scare them, but he could not teach them a new truth! If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.

  The apostle John wrote, This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. . .This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:11, 16-18). From Genesis to Revelation, God speaks to us. He speaks to us about faith in Christ; he speaks to us about how he provides all our needs; and he speaks to us about meeting each others needs.

  When the rich man ignored Lazarus, he did not just misuse his money; he did not just fail to help a fellow Jew in need. He denied the faith. By hording his wealth, he failed to acknowledge and thank God for the abundance he had. He had no faith, no trust in God; rather he rejected and opposed God. He didn't want God to teach him the proper use of wealth. He knew the Scriptures but used them only to back up his own evil actions. He knew the advantage of calling Abraham "Father," but he cared not a whit for the faith of Abraham. By faith Abraham left his country to follow God. By faith Abraham gave his nephew Lot the choice of the land and then rescued him when he was taken captive. By faith Abraham trusted God enough even to sacrifice his son Isaac in a test from God. The rich man, however, couldn't be bothered with even one poor beggar. It wasn't a question of money, but of faith in God!

  God loves people! He didn't have to keep going with Adam and Eve. He could have annihilated them and made a new couple. Instead, he chose to one day become a man himself so he could die in their place and make them new, so he could redeem them. God didn't raise Lazarus from the dead to warn the rich man's brothers. Instead he raised Jesus from the dead so that we, Adam's offspring, could be forgiven and renewed.

  We quickly grasp the idea of forgiveness. It's not unlike the rich man calling Abraham "Father." We want God to forgive us. It's good that Jesus' death paid the penalty for our sin and earned us forgiveness. But what we perhaps don't grasp so well is renewal, being transformed by the Holy Spirit so that we really trust God, depend on him and follow him, as did Abraham, the prophets, the apostles and all the heroes of faith. Through faith in Christ, we really are God's children! We do have the promise of God's blessing and protection. Assured of eternal life and of God's presence among us, life takes on a new perspective according to Jesus' word: So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:31-33).

  The peace and joy of renewal causes us to want to thank God. So again, how can we do that? One of the things that really pleases God is for us to help the poor. God himself needs nothing, but he really wants us to care for those in need, people like Lazarus.

  You can easily see God's concern for the poor in the Old Testament. He was so concerned for the needy among his people that he established special laws to help them. For example, Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:10). When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 23:22). If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold. If, however, a man has no one to redeem it for him . . . what he sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and he can then go back to his property. (Leviticus 25:25-28).

  This mattered so much to God that when his people didn't care for the poor, God spoke words of judgment through the Prophets as in our lesson from Amos. Woe to you who are complacent in Zion. . . . You lie on beds of inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph. No wonder the rich man went to hell!

  God does not require the Church in Canada to adopt laws about leaving some of the harvest for the poor nor to implement the year of jubilee when all debts were cancelled and property was returned to the original family. Those might actually be excellent laws for us, but God doesn't establish them for us as he did Israel. However, his concern for the poor has not changed as today's parable indicates. Immediately after the Epistle lesson we read, Paul says, Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. (1 Timothy 6:17-19). So then, if we want to truly thank God for his gifts of salvation and our daily provision, we could help the poor, especially poor believers. That pleases God!

  Obviously we can't help every person in need, but we can help some. What then might we do? Let me suggest two things. First, evaluate your personal family budget and set aside money for offerings and social relief. Again, the Old Testament model is helpful. For Israel, God established an offering of 10% of one's income called the tithe. Those offerings supported not only the temple, priests and Levites, but also the poor, orphans and widows. Even when Israel was taxed by Persians, Greeks or Romans, they still gave their tithe. Can not we, who have been baptized into Christ, do as well? Don't give what's left over at the end of the month or year to God. Give to him first. That shows real love and thanks!

  Second, participate in some relief ministry such as Canadian Lutheran World Relief. Through that ministry, for example, we can come to the aid of Haitians Christians devastated by hurricane Jeanne or help fight the war on hunger and AIDS in many other places. Of course we don't need to go half way around the globe to find people who need our help. There are plenty right here. If God has given you a concern for the poor, why not volunteer some time to a social ministry in our congregation?

  Let me close with the words of Isaiah about fasting that pleases the Lord. Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. (Isaiah 58:6-9).