Where are we?

"Jesus said to the Pharisees, 'There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day...'"
Luke 16:19

I should have checked the Sunday Gospel before going to the mall Saturday and dropping a wad on purple garments and fine linen. I could have avoided a wee bit of guilt! The story of the rich man, who doesn't even have a name, is always a bit cringe-worthy. The poor man at his doorstep DOES have a name, Lazarus, so we know he's already the hero of the story. Was the rich man's sin that he was rich? We learned in our sermon that Abraham, on whose breast Lazarus rested in glory, was pretty well-off by biblical standards, so the real sin wasn't just wealth. Or was his sin his indifference to the suffering just outside his door? Did he ever notice Lazarus there? Do we notice the suffering around us? At our doorsteps? On our border? In our prisons? Jesus makes it so clear to us how to do it right: loving each other, feeding the poor, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, visiting the imprisoned. Abraham tells the now-suffering-in-torment rich man that he should have known better in life. Moses and the prophets had told him how to live and he missed the message. Jesus has told us how to live, too. Clearly. Are we missing the message? And what if our values are so different from the larger collective in which we live? What can we do then? The sins of the society become our sins, too, don't they? Let's remember this: Lazarus, the poor man in the story, has a name. The rich man and the Pharisees are not named at all--a reflection of their real importance in God's story. Those who think they have the wealth and power actually are the powerless in God's upside down system. Where do we fit in the story? Questions to ponder on a brisk autumn day! Love, heidi