Trinity 1, 2024
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
St. Luke 16:19-31
Trinity 1
June 2, 2024
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Even though no one wants, or at least, no one should want to be unloving or unloved, in this life, it is worse to be unloving than to be unloved. The rich man in the parable, in his earthly life, was surrounded by every luxury of dress and clothing and ate sumptuously every day. He lived like a self-absorbed, selfish king. He lived life wholly concentrated on himself. He was unloving. He cared not for the beggar Lazarus who lied at his gate. Lazarus was full of sores. He desired to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, the dogs—his only friends—came and licked his sores.
In this sense, those who are unloving—the rich man—are far poorer, even than the unloved—Lazarus. Even though the rich man was rich in material goods, leisure, and comfort in this life, he was poor. He did not have love for God and therefore, he did not have love for his neighbor. He did not have faith, from which, love flows.
Lazarus, even though it may not seem like it, was the richer of the two. His name means, “God is my helper.” Even though he remained unloved in his earthly life, God is his helper. And so at the hour of his death, God sent the angels to bear him home—to bring him home to heaven, there to rest in Abraham’s bosom, given a seat at the heavenly banquet in paradise, which has no end. Now he enjoys true rest, true comfort, companionship, and affection, things he lacked on earth. The opposite is true for the rich man. He did not have love because he did not have faith. So he finds himself unloved in hades, in torment, in hell.
There, being in anguish, he sees Lazarus far off being comforted in heaven. The rich man acts as though he is still more important in his eyes than Lazarus. He begs Abraham to send Lazarus to him, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”
In this respect, I want to touch on two points that the parable teaches us. The first is that once we die, we cannot change or alter the place where we end up for eternity. The second is that all that we need to know about where we’ll end up in the life to come is found in Holy Scripture.
Love for God and neighbor both flow from faith. We love because God first loved us by sending His own only-begotten Son to take our place in death, so that we might join Him in eternal life. The rich man did not love. He did not care for others as he should have done. He should have seen Lazarus and cared for him, just as the Good Samaritan loved and cared for the beaten, half-dead man on the side of the road. In his lifetime he received his good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now Lazarus is comforted and the rich man is in torment. The parable stresses what the life of the Christian should look like, as it juxtaposes—as it compares against—the uncaring, unloving life of the rich man. In this regard, good works are necessary. Love for our neighbors is necessary. If you hate your neighbor, if you do not love your neighbor, if you do not forgive your neighbor as God has forgiven you, then you will not be forgiven. Love and good works are not necessary for salvation. Only faith in God, Who is our Helper, gives us the inheritance of heaven. The love that we have for God and neighbor flows from faith and love is the fulfillment of the Law. So when we see our neighbor in need, the faith that we have in God naturally moves us to care for our neighbor in whatever he needs, just as the hymn stanza sings, “Good works [or love] serves our neighbor and supplies the proof that faith is living.”
If we have a living and lively faith, then when we die, we too, will be carried by the angels to heaven and will be seated next to all the great saints of old and will eternally enjoy true rest, true comfort, heavenly companionship and affection. This will never end. This is what Father Abraham tells the rich man in hell. He says, after hearing the rich man’s request to send Lazarus to be his servant, “Between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.” This means that it is impossible to change your eternal state after you die.
First and foremost, this is a warning. Believe in Jesus and be saved. That’s all that’s required for salvation. Believe that He died and rose again and that He died and rose again for you. He was crucified for your sins and was raised for your justification. He did this all so that He could have you. You who are broken in this life and beaten, sores of sin covering you, He took your place in death and Hades so that you would sit beside Abraham. And no one can pluck you from His hand.
This is a warning also, because there are no fence-sitters in Christianity. There is no intermediate state. Either you will end up like the rich man in eternal torment or you will end up like Lazarus being comforted forever in paradise. There is no middle ground. There are no fence-sitters. No one exists in that great chasm, that great gulf of which Abraham speaks. You will either be saved or condemned. Where do you stand?
At the same time, of course, the parable provides comfort. Jesus says that He gives to all who have faith in Him eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of his hand. His Father, who has given us to Him, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch you out of the Father’s hand. We, like Lazarus, because of our faith, might be despised by the world, having hardly any Christian brethren and likeminded individuals that surround us. But all Christians are Lazaruses. We call upon God’s name and He is eager to be our helper.
The reason we know this and can confess that God is our Helper is because we have learned this truth from Holy Scripture. God has revealed truths about Himself through His Word. Again, this is what Abraham tells the rich man. The rich man, while in hell, all of a sudden becomes a caring person. He who had now care for others in his earthly life, now begs Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to his brothers, in order that they wouldn’t come to that place. And Abraham says “no.” He says “no,” for good reason! Abraham responds and says, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.” What this means is, “They have Holy Scripture. Everything that is necessary for their salvation, they already have.” And notice how Abraham says, “Let them hear them,” that is, “Let them hear preaching. Sound preaching. Doctrinal preaching. Not preaching that makes them feel good about themselves, but preaching that is in accordance with the Word of God; the Law and the Gospel.”
In fact, if you remember from John’s Gospel, Jesus actually raises Lazarus of Bethany from the dead. He had been dead for four days and yet Jesus called Him out of the grave. Did this cause every hardhearted sinner to turn and believe in Jesus such as the Chief Priest and the Pharisees? No. Quite the opposite. Because they had seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, they figured they’d better kill both Jesus and Lazarus. Someone being raised from the dead will not bring the sinful world to faith. Only the Word of God does that. The Word of God is living and powerful.
We see how this is when the Word of God is combined with water in Holy Baptism, which is a washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom God poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Baptism is not a work that we do to show off our piety or to show everyone around us how much of a faithful Christian we are. Rather, Baptism is a gift. We are the recipients; we are completely passive in it. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. Baptism works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.
We don’t forgive ourselves. We don’t rescue ourselves from death and the devil. We don’t give ourselves eternal salvation by our own works. So it is, that Baptism is the Word of God working in us, where God claims and adopts us as His own beloved child. Baptism is not our work, but God’s.
We have all that we need in this life. We have Moses and the Prophets. We have Holy Scripture, in which we hear that God is our helper and that we are loved and so we can truly love one another.
In Jesus’ name.
