Justice, both socially and spiritually, is at the heart of today’s readings.
Social Justice is about seeing the “unseen”… remembering the “forgotten” in our society. It’s about the men, women and children who only want a better life in a world that God has given to all of us, just not a select few.
In our first reading from the Hebrew Scriptures, we hear from Amos, the prophet of social justice. God called him to speak to the rich of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. The country was about to be destroyed by the Assyrians while the wealthy “lie on beds of ivory” and “drink wine from bowls,” confident that “the ruin of Joseph” will never touch them. Their complacency blinds them to the suffering of their neighbors and prepares the way for exile.
In our second reading, St. Paul exhorts Timothy—and us—to “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness” … Because True righteousness is not a private virtue, but is a calling that leads us to care for those in need … and reading just a few verses more, we also see that Timothy is directed to instruct the rich to make good use of their wealth by aiding the poor … starting with verse 17 …
Exhortations to Timothy. Right Use of Wealth:
- Tell the rich in the present age not to be proud and not to rely on so uncertain a thing as wealth but rather on God, who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment.
- Tell them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, ready to share,
- thus accumulating as treasure a good foundation for the future, so as to win the life that is true life.
Finally,
in our Gospel reading, Jesus tells us the parable of the rich man, clothed in purple and fine linen, who feasts while Lazarus lies at his gate, hungry and “covered with sores”. Then after death, the rich man suffers in Hades, while Lazarus is comforted beside Abraham.
The rich man in this parable would be seen as a
complete success in the
world's eyes.
Jesus says he dressed in
purple.
- In the ancient world, purple was the symbolic color of wealth, privilege and power,
- because the dyes that were used to make cloth purple were extremely expensive.
Jesus also says that he wore
fine linen.
- Linen came from Egypt.
- You couldn't make it in Palestine. You had to import it. And that too was extremely expensive.
Lazarus, on the other hand, would have been a complete
failure in the world's eyes.
- He was utterly helpless,
- crushed by poverty,
- incapacitated by sickness and disease.
- What's more, in ancient times, those characteristics were interpreted as a punishment for moral depravity.
- So in the eyes of the world, Lazarus was not just an economic failure, but a moral and spiritual failure too.
Why had the rich man been so successful? We don't know.
- Maybe he inherited his money.
- Maybe he had worked hard and used his extraordinary intelligence to build up a thriving business.
Why had Lazarus been such a failure? We don't know that either.
- Maybe he was a crippled orphan. Maybe he had been a slave.
- Maybe he was just a lazy drunk.
We are not told the Why … because the Why … is not important to the lesson.
The parable implies that the Rich Man’s
principle sin was his utter disregard for the welfare of Lazarus, who begged at the door of his house in utter squalor, lacking even basic necessities. In this attitude, he parallels the wealthy elite of Jerusalem from the First Reading, who were not in the least distressed by the decimation of their cousins to the north. Here Jesus is condemning the callousness of those who live lives of self-indulgence while ignoring the needs of the poor, especially the poor of their own community or their own community of faith.
The rich man never entered the world of poor Lazarus. He never accepted Lazarus as a brother who shared a common humanity. The rich man was indifferent and isolated from the cares of the poor because Riches can make a person self-occupied and blinded to the needs of others.
We often hear people say that they will get to heaven because they haven't
committed any really,
really heinous crimes.
As Jesus teaches us in this story of Lazarus and the rich man, salvation and eternal life are
not just about
avoiding so-called "
big" sins. That's a
negative,
passive approach to life.
But Christ is not passive. Christ is active.
- He came to earth to save us.
- He took the initiative.
- He came to seek out the lost sheep.
- He came to light the fire of faith in a dark world.
Being a Christian means following in
those footsteps.
- It means much more than simply avoiding gruesome crimes.
- Being a Christian means living like Christ, living for his Kingdom, living for others.
Isn't it interesting that when Jesus was asked which were the
most important commandments, he didn't choose the
negative ones, the "thou shalt not" ones.
Instead he listed two
active,
positive, creative commandments:
love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. We are Commanded to Do something that often we simply fail to do!
We confess to Almighty God and to each other that we have sinned “in my thoughts, in my words, in what I have done” and “what I have failed to do.” But so often we examine ourselves on our thoughts, words and deeds, but not on our omissions. We omit the omissions.
Even worse … sometimes we justify the omissions.
Today we live in a society, which often says that people deserve everything they are able to work for and acquire. The materially successful are sometimes heard to say that, if anyone else just did what they did, they could be rich too … and just like some of the Pharisees in Jesus’ time, there are some who incorrectly see great wealth as a sign of God’s blessing … and being poor as a sign of God’s disfavor. In other words … the beggar we encounter on the street somehow deserves his or her poverty … more over, any help I may provide is limited and only temporary until the hit rock bottom and start to make better decisions on their own.
We live in a world where millions of people sit like Lazarus outside our door. We seem to have grown used to seeing the poor. And some of us have adopted the popular saying, “we cannot help everybody”, or “we cannot solve all the problems” as our motto. If we are not careful, this mentality can lead to ignoring the needs of others, even when it is critical. You know what I am talking about here right? There is no way the rich didn’t know about the the plight of Lazarus … who was just outside his front door. It is like when you stop at an intersection … and a man with a sign asking for help starts walking your way … so you stare straight ahead trying to avoid making eye contact … because once you do … once you see him, it becomes personal … and you have a decision to make because simply ignoring them is no longer an option.
Perhaps … we would be better served … if, whenever we encounter the poor, or someone else in need … we were to ask ourselves … What did God put that particular person in my path
today?
St Catherine of Siena observed that God
could have made all of us self-sufficient. But He deliberately made us all
deficient in one way or another, so we that we would need each other. Setting up great gulfs between us and others doesn’t just neglect them: it also neglects an important part of ourselves.
And we have the science to prove it … there is a significant body of research proving that “generous behavior is known to increase happiness.”
As children of God we are given gifts that we do not earn or deserve. We are given life and the offer of salvation. We are entrusted with gifts that are not ours to horde but to use in service of others. We are not made for ourselves. We are not enriched by gifts for ourselves. We are called together as a community, the Church, the family of God. We are our brother’s keeper.
Exhortation So Let us remember that every act of love toward the poor, and all those in need, is an encounter with Christ. The rich man’s torment teaches us that neglecting the needy leads to spiritual death, while generosity opens us to the “eternal life” promised by St. Paul.
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