Luke 16: 19-31 

Bertha Jones was a middle-aged woman who had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. While on the operating table she had a near death experience. During that experience she saw God and asked if this was the end of the road for her. God said no and explained she had another thirty years to live. Upon recovery she figured if she had thirty to forty more years, she might as well stay in the hospital and have a face lift, liposuction, tummy tuck, hair transplant and a nose job. After her hospital stay, she walked out the front door and was killed by a delivery truck. When she arrived in front of God, she asked, “I thought you said I had another thirty years left?” God replied, “Sorry, Bertha, I didn’t recognize you.” And the preacher told an inactive member of the church he should be thinking about the Hereafter. The man told the preacher, “I do, all the time. No matter where I am – in the garage, upstairs, in the kitchen, or in the basement. I’m always asking myself, ‘Now, what am I here after?'” 

Death, the one thing the characters in our parable have in common, equalizes everything. The wealthy man who dresses and eats well died and was buried and lands in Hades. The poor man, Lazarus, dies and is not buried, and ends up in the company of Abraham. Prior to our lesson this morning, a few verses before, Luke editorializes, and Jesus brings conviction. Luke 16: 14-15 go like this:  “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this (the parable of the dishonest manager), and they ridiculed him. So, he said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God.” It’s best not to love money so much. Even better, it’s best not to trust money so much. Will Rogers said a long time ago, “Don’t gamble. Take all your savings and buy some good stock and hold it until it goes up, then sell it. If it don’t go up, don’t buy it.”  

The logic and theology of Jesus’ day was that the rich were blessed, and the poor and suffering were cursed. The wealthy were a manifestation of God’s justice, and the poor were also such a manifestation. Proof of this?  “Jesus looked at him and said, ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!  Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ Those who heard this asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus replied, ‘What is impossible with man/humans is possible with God.’ (Luke 18: 24-27)” It was believed those who prospered were the righteous. They were wealthy in this life because they or their descendants acted righteously, and God blessed them. Jesus flips that paradigm, that way of thinking, that way of understanding God on its head.  In the Magnificat, Mary’s song of praise, after she visited her cousin Elizabeth, Mary declared what the Lord was known for and for what her son, Jesus, was to be known for, as well: “He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1: 51-53)” To reiterate this in Jesus’ own words, he spoke in the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6, “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets. (Luke 6: 20-26)” These scriptures from Luke give us a good understanding of what our parable this morning was conveying to Jesus’ disciples and to the Pharisees who ridiculed him verses before. It was the rich man, wealthy and satisfied in his life, who ended up in Hades after his death, and it was Lazarus, poor and sick in his life, who ended up beside Abraham after he died.   

For us as a church not full of rich people and not inundated with the poor, there’s a repeated image in this parable I want us to consider. THERE WAS A DISTANCE between Lazarus sitting at the rich man’s gate and the rich man sitting at his table. BUT THERE WAS A GREAT CHASM that was fixed between Hades where the rich man suffered in eternity and Abraham where Lazarus found comfort and peace.   

The rich man DIDN’T HAVE TO GO FAR during his life to use his wealth to bring health and blessing to someone suffering, but he was not interested, moved, inspired, nor compassionate. His wealth and station is what kept his attention and interest and passion. This the Pharisees could understand. Why? Because they loved money. The rich man DIDN’T HAVE TO GO FAR to help Lazarus. Lazarus was right there! If the rich man was moved to fulfill the Old Testament insistence to bring blessing to those who suffered, the opportunity was outrageously close.  Deuteronomy 15: 7-8 reads, “If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be.” HE DIDN’T HAVE TO GO FAR. 

When death came to both of these characters there was a great chasm between their two destinations. The rich man was in agony and Lazarus was at peace. Lazarus was too far away and incapable to bring the rich man even drops of water to put on his tongue to bring him some relief. Abraham told him, “Those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us. (Luke 16: 26b)” The distance was so great. They were much closer when they were both alive. Again, HE DIDN’T HAVE TO GO FAR. 

Maybe we’re talking about stewardship. Maybe we can consider what we have and what we offer or donate or share to that one, that family, that child, that sick neighbor or that ministry that does a lot of good. Maybe in considering such and contributing faithfully we can bridge the gap between those in need and soberly realize WE DIDN’T HAVE TO GO FAR AFTER ALL. The One who knows us and loves us isn’t far from us either. He’s in that one who sits at our gates. When we bless that one who sits at our gates, we bless that One who loves us all. WE DON’T HAVE TO GO FAR. 

(Preached at St Mark United Methodist Church in Anniston, AL, 9-28-25)