Sore
Luke 16:19-3

September 30, 2007


Words are the most human thing about us human beings, for no other creature speaks a word. The Word of God, the Bible, assaults us with individual words, and while the Gospels were written in a specific form of 1st century Greek, it is astonishing to see how our own English language gets caught up in the game and web of words. English may not be the perfect universal language for religious conversation, but it does play puns on us.

Here is this simple English word “sore.” Those of you reared on the King James Version remember the shepherds watching their flock by night on Christmas Eve when suddenly the glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid.

That can be frightening, that you are so afraid it hurts! The Revised Standard Version renders the shepherds being “filled with fear.” Sore in Elizabethan/Shakespearian English is an adjective implying “a great deal”, very, very afraid, “grievously afraid” is the tone carrying the extremity of the word.

North American English finds itself saying that a person is sore and upset, that is she is angry, irritated or vexed. Does that hurt too? Our mind and emotions certainly hurt when we are sore about the way we have been treated or ignored. Oh, and there is a sore point, a sore loser and a sorehead, and then a sore throat.

Lazarus lay at the gate of the rich man, probably crippled, sorely poor, unable to scrounge for table scraps and if he were sore and angry about his fate, it had been beaten out of him. But he was covered with sores, festering and ugly, a physical eyesore that the stray scavenger dogs could not pass by without licking. These kinds of sores are not subtle word plays, but a painful outrage to the body.

The beginning of this infamous parable is not the sores of Lazarus, though their obscenity does stop us dead, but in Luke’s characterization of all these intellectual Pharisees who were deeply critical of Jesus’ teaching. They were the elders of the big downtown church of the wealthy and powerful. They were “lovers of money.” Is there anyone here who hates money?

We can accomplish marvelous things with money, feed the starving, build housing for the homeless, establish schools and educational systems that do away with ignorance and prejudice and thereby build harmony among different people and nations. With money we can end war, dissolve terrorism and generally just save the whole world. Or we can simply enjoy being rich like that rich guy who dressed lavishly in purple - pretty ostentatious, probably new money - and feasted every day. Then it all changed.

This parable is a stunningly vivid tale of a complete reversal of fortunes in the afterlife. It is not, however, a blueprint of what heaven and hell are exactly like. Many are now convinced that Jesus picked up on this folk tale and gave it his own twists and purposes. As was mentioned last week regarding the parable of the dishonest manager, Jesus’ parables are intentionally unfinished so that we don’t get distracted by the winners and losers. It is what we overhear along the road to which we should pay attention.

One thing to get out of the way right off is that God likes and probably prefers poor people, especially in Luke’s Gospel where “blessed are the poor,” not just “blessed are the poor in spirit.” Spiritual poverty has its definite place, but in Luke God requires nothing of Lazarus except his poverty. Rich people always have to prove that their wealth has not corrupted their souls and that’s darn near impossible with all those camels through the eye of a needle. Now that the Canadian dollar is worth more than the US dollar, is your soul going to burst with too much pride and buying power? It is not enough to be poor, but in God’s eyes the poor have a head start.

In Jesus’ version of this tale, a head start is a name. Jesus gives only one name to a character in all his parables and it is Lazarus. Poor men who lie beside the gate, lame with festering sores, do not have names. Poor people lie at the gates of famous rich men like Rockefeller and Rhodes and Carnegie and Trump. No name here, because in the kingdom a rich person is a nobody. Lots of readers couldn’t get that idea into their heads. Rich people are the most important people because they give us jobs and keep our economy alive. Medieval Latin Christians seemed compelled to give this opulent fellow the name “Dives” - the Latin word for “rich person.” It wasn’t a real name and they did not get what Jesus meant.

They both died, perhaps in short sequence. Lazarus probably due to malnutrition and the infections running through his system; the rich man, well, could it be too much good food clogging his arteries and poisoning his system from the other direction? Lazarus was swooped up by angels; the rich guy dragged down by his demons. Things change.

Actually, not always. They can see each other now with this great fixed immovable and uncrossable chasm between them. Sort of like on the prairie watching your dog run away for three days and despite his desperate thirst the rich man still has excellent eyesight. Do not try this at home. This is not the way it’s supposed to be, but it makes for a good story and confrontation.

The rich man’s benefits have changed, but not his mind and attitude. Talk about names - he remembers, he knows Lazarus’ name. You probably thought he was too busy being rich to pay attention or even notice the beggar, but this is more personal and goes beyond the mere sin of being rich. He knows Lazarus as a person whom he judges not worth anything except to serve his needs. He never talks to Lazarus, for a rich man only speaks to the important powerful people and Abraham now qualifies. He is sore and orders Abraham to send Lazarus down to cool him off, but Abraham simply says that is not the way it really works.

The rich guy - funny we keep calling him rich guy, but that’s history, so he really has no name and is nobody - he gets the point finally that his case is lost. But he still wants to give orders and use Lazarus for his purpose. Send him to my five brothers and when they see a dead man walking, they’ll get religion fast. Come on, do you really think any of those other five knew Lazarus’ name and would recognize him? Besides they already have the Bible with all the prophets and their denunciations of social injustice and the mistreatment of the poor.

Abraham nixes the plan, but you know it doesn’t sound that bad. A bunch of resurrected ex-dead people would make us stop in our tracks and listen. Remember though, Jesus is the one giving the punch line here, and he declares through Abraham’s words that if the Bible doesn’t get through to you, then someone resurrected from the dead won’t do it either. Let’s face it, people have always not wanted to believe Jesus’ resurrection, and few buy it today.

The question always seems to arise: which one of the characters in this parable am I? Some of you may be Lazarus, some of you may be the rich man, but not really that many. Barbara Brown Taylor figures that you and I are probably those five brothers. Still mucking around on earth with plenty of loonies in our pockets with no concern for those who are not us, who believe the Bible is, well, just the Bible. A silly book not worth reading.

At the age of 29, Albert had it all - fame and fortune and a fantastic career as a concert organist and interpreter of Bach. He was well respected. He was happy - that is - until he heard this parable about Lazarus.

This parable gnawed and nagged at him. He couldn’t get this story out of his heart and out of his mind. It wouldn’t let him go until he gave in - and gave it up. And so he did. Albert gave up his brilliant musical career up to enter medical school.

Now most of his friends thought he was crazy to give up his musical career, to train as a physician. But Albert knew that God was calling him and that he had to answer God's call to be a missionary doctor and to go Africa.

So Albert Schweitzer, one of the great humanitarians of the last century, established a missionary hospital in Africa and ministered to the physical and spiritual needs of thousands of people whose names we have never heard. This story changed Albert’s life and thousands of Lazarus’ kin. Was Albert one of your five brothers?

Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan