26th Sunday of Ordinary Time
James Bernauer
Our readings today ((Luke 16:19-31) free us in two different ways.
FIRST, they remind us that whenever we embrace a Christian perspective on life, we
always see the poor, in our minds and in our hearts. Quite apart from economic need, a
searing sorrow for the poor is the knowledge that they do not need to be taken into
account by others, that they are invisible to the wider society.
BUT this is not true for us as Christians. Our faith frees us from that blindness.
For us the poor are always visible and our very own salvation depends on what we do for
them. Recall the Gospel of Matthew: “Come you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit
the kingdom prepared for you. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty
and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill
and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.” I believe that in the months and
years ahead, Pope Francis will continue to liberate us by sharpening our vision of the
poor.
OUR GOSPEL points to a second, more encompassing and rarer form of Christian
freedom, the conviction that extraordinary transformation of our lives is possible. When
Abraham is asked to have Lazarus come from the dead and go to the rich man’s family,
he says that they will not be persuaded by someone coming back from the dead. But isn’t
that false? I found myself wondering about that a great deal this week, as I reflected on
the scripture. And I had to admit to myself: on some level, I don’t want people rising
from the dead. That is the stuff of horror films (and I don’t like horror films).
RECALL the scene in the Gospel of John when Jesus raised his friend, the other
Lazarus, from the dead. He went to the tomb and he was told that Lazarus was already
dead for 4 days; and so, if Jesus raised him, he would stink. There is a beautiful painting
by Rembrandt which captures that scene and some in the picture are holding their noses
to protect themselves from he stench. And did that raising from the dead accomplish
anything? Despite it Jesus went on to be executed. And did Lazarus even want to be
raised from the dead? There is a film which captures a reluctance in Lazarus to come
back to life. It shows Jesus reaching into the tomb and he is having difficulty in getting
Lazarus to leave. Let’s face it: there is something comforting in keeping these two
domains separate: DEATH IS DEATH, LIFE IS LIFE. Let’s keep it an unbridgeable
chasm.
BUT CHRISTIAN FAITH DOES NOT PROVIDE THAT COMFORT!! We are
called upon to believe in total reversals and transformations, such as that of today’s story
of Lazarus and the rich man. But that means—and this is the rub for us—that means we
must be aware that there are tombs in which our lives may be buried, perhaps even are
buried:
--perhaps the tomb of not seeing the poor;
--the grave of an addiction;
--the tomb of a broken and unhealed relationship;
--and isn’t love itself the easiest thing to bury?
PERHAPS this is what Jesus is getting at in today’s parable. Is it that we will be touched
by someone coming back from the dead ONLY if we ourselves have experienced being
raised from our own tombs and restored to full life. Only then is it believable.Being
raised from tombs is in fact the very mark of God’s presence in our lives: REMEMBER
the promise of God in “Ezekiel”: I WILL OPEN YOUR GRAVES AND HAVE YOU
RISE FROM THEM.” ‘I WILL GIVE YOU A NEW HEART AND PLACE A NEW
SPIRIT WITHIN YOU, TAKING FROM YOUR BODIES YOUR STONY HEARTS
AND GIVING YOU NATURAL HEARTS.”
It is a great promise but we need to allow Jesus to do that in our lives: to reach into
our tombs and free us!! To give us who are poor and in need, new hearts, new spirits.