5th Sunday of Luke 2013
Lazarus and the Rich man a sermon by Fr Ted Toppses
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit…
Let us review today’s Gospel reading from
St. Luke 16:19-31
The Gospel Begins…
The Lord
said, "There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and
who feasted sumptuously every day.
Fr George Calciu of blessed memory wrote in his sermon on
this Gospel “The wealth will not condemn you to hell, neither that poverty will
take you to heaven but how you managed them, how you put them in relation to
God and your fellow men.” – from Fr George Calciu Interviews Homilies and Talks
copywright 2010 St Herman of Alaska Brotherhood Press
The Gospel continues…
And at his
gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores, who desired to be fed with
what fell from the rich man's table; moreover the dogs came and licked his
sores.
What excuses do we have not to help someone in need? Do we give them even our crumbs? When giving to God do we give only what is
left over? Giving to God through His
church and the poor is commanded by God to come from the first fruits that we
are blessed with, not the last.
The Gospel continues…
The poor
man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also
died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and
saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom.
The fathers speak about the poor man patiently awaiting some
kind of help. God has compassion on this
poor man and when he dies he goes to heaven.
The rich man dies without having offered from the bounty that God
blessed him with and is in reality rejecting God.
The Gospel continues…
And he
called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazaros to dip the
end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this
flame.' But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that you in your lifetime received
your good things, and Lazaros in like manner evil things; but now he is
comforted here, and you are in anguish.
The lack of giving and the rejection of helping those in need
is in fact a great sin and rejection of God who is Christ laying at our
gates. We need to become aware of what
our faith requires ,and become good managers of what God has entrusted to us. Our faith insists for us to use these gifts
for Godly things and helping especially the least fortunate of God’s children.
Where you put your treasure your heart is there also.
The Gospel concludes…
And besides
all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those
who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there
to us.' And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house,
for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into
this place of torment.' But Abraham said, 'They have Moses, and the prophets;
let them hear them.' And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to
them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to them, 'If they do not hear
Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise
from the dead.'"
We do not want judgment and we understand God to be a loving
and kind God yet unknowingly at times we reject Christ who is at our gate. Riches are not evil but the mismanagement of
them by ignoring the commandment of giving back is. Offering to God the first
fruits of what we have is a critical part of our faith.
If we want mercy from God we must give mercy to God’s
Children.
If we want blessing from God we must give blessings to God
and His children.
If we want compassion from God we must be compassionate.
God needs
to be the highest priority in our life because there is no eternal life outside
our Lord and God.
God is good and loving but those who reject Him and His
commandments separate themselves from our Lord in this life and the next just
like the stingy rich man separated Himself from God by ignoring the need of
Lazarus.
May God inspire us to have our Lord always in our hearts and
on our minds, and have God truly first in our life above all things. We will then be blessed to be with our Lord
in life after death, for we have put our hearts and lives with Christ now. We must truly live our Christianity, which is
demonstrated by our faith in Christ and generosity, by abundantly giving back to
God from them blessings the Lord has provided to us.
Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment