“And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table.”
Lazarus was hungry and sick and homeless. He represents all who suffer in the world. The rich man had been given great wealth and position, hence the purple robes. The highest and most costly colors.
Jesus uses extreme contrasts because society then and now puts high regard and honor for those who use wealth. Then and now. Not much has changed.
And as Jesus knew we put those with wealth and means on a higher pedestal than the poor and sick and homeless. He used the image of the wealthiest of people to show us that not only will their wealth and position not save them, but it usually will also be a hindrance to caring for others put in their path.
We can see it today.
The expensive car pulls up and speeds through gates to protect the wealthy. The poor are out of sight and would not even be allowed to sit by the house of the wealthy or affluent neighborhoods, especially in Austin, Texas. We would immediately have them removed.
And Jesus tells them and us, our wealth and position will not save us. The more we have, the further we are from the poor and hungry. It will be easy to forget them altogether.
Wealth is not in itself a bad thing. Unfortunately, the usual effect it has is to separate and demand the rich remove themselves from the poverty in the world. That separation in this life will continue in the next and there will be a wide chasm between the two.
The poor you see don’t need us as much as we need them in our life.
Most of us here are considered wealthy if we compare ourselves to the masses of the world. We are the rich enjoying good food, nice clothes. We don’t experience untreated sickness and disease or go days without food.
We have been given what we need by God. And we have been given enough to share. We as children of God should have the flame in our heart beckoning us to love all people and to share and spend time with them as friends and brothers.
The good news today is that we have a great many people who are hungry and sick on our streets. We probably passed by them today as we came to Mass.
The bad news is we will be exactly as close to the poor in eternal life as we are today in Austin, Texas.
And while all the poor are not saints, they may make up the majority in Heaven.
Think about that. How close am I today to the poor?
As Christians we know Jesus rose from the dead so we would have a way home. We know what we should do so we are with our Father Heaven. Let us take this opportunity to wake up and see the poor who Jesus has sent to us to help us reach beyond our air conditioned cars and beyond our safe and comfortable homes.
The poor are our brothers and sisters and were sent to us so we can learn to share and change hard hearts into open hearts of love. To be Christ for others as they are Christ for us.
Together all of will get to Heaven. Apart from the poor, only some of us will see eternal life with the Father. †
Deacon Tony Pynes 
Leave a comment