A sermon given by the Revd Tessa Stephens
"Shortsightedness!"
When I was a student I started to suffer from awful headaches after working on the computer. It turned out that the problem was with my eyes. One of them was much more short sighted than the other and so when I was switching my gaze from my papers to the screen the constant effort to focus and refocus was giving me eyestrain. A visit to the optician, a generous donation from my mum and some glasses soon sorted out my problem. Lots of us would be very stuck when it comes to driving, reading signs or watching TV if we didn’t have help from glasses or contact lenses. But that problem is a physical one. What if there is also a spiritual form of short sightedness?
I wonder if that’s what’s going on in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus which we’ve just heard. Jesus is adapting a story which originally came from Egypt and which was well known amongst other Jewish Rabbis at the time. So his hearers would probably have been familiar with the story. The story makes its point through a dramatic reversal of fortunes. Lazarus who was despised on earth, is now “in the bosom of Abraham” – seated in a place of honour next to the founding father of the Jewish faith. The rich man who had previously swept past Lazarus without even noticing him is now in hell and longing for a drink. He is also worried about his brothers in case they suffer the same fate and wants Abraham to send Lazarus back to them.
This is where Jesus changes the usual pattern of the story. In the original version the request of the rich man to send a messenger to his family on earth would have been accepted. Here the request is denied. Abraham points out that the family have Moses and the Prophets – the Jewish Bible and that if they have ignored those they will not suddenly respond to an apparition.
So why was Jesus telling this story? It falls in the middle of a section of teaching that is full of stories about money and relationships – the lost coin, the lost son, and the dishonest manager. For the Pharisees to whom Jesus was speaking, the sacred and the secular – God’s business and the world’s business were firmly separated into different compartments. So from that perspective it wasn’t difficult to ignore the poor. Jesus continually subverted their ideas about how a rabbi should behave by consciously inviting the poor, the despised and the outcasts join him and eat with him.
Because the rich man’s mind was closed to the revelation of God his heart was closed to compassion. This was his spiritual short-sightedness. Because he didn’t want to be bothered with Lazarus he literally didn’t see him as he swept past the gate perhaps on horseback or in a chariot. It’s not that the rich man was evil – we don’t hear that he did any harm. It’s his preoccupation with himself which prevents him from looking out for others in the same way that he safeguards his own interests.
But this isn’t primarily a story about money – it’s about the way we use the gifts that God has given us and how we allow those gifts to shape us. This story is about a rich man, but it could just as well be about a politician who misuses his power or a teacher who uses her intellect to put others down. It’s not about what gifts we have – it’s about how we use those gifts in the service of those around us and how the exercise of our gifts shapes us into a person who is becoming more like Christ.
So how do we need to respond? Do we need to put on spiritual glasses? Or is it more that we need to ask God to wipe the dust from our eyes and hearts in order to help us to see others with the same love and care that he himself has demonstrated for us?
Of course we have to accept that in this life we will never be able to see as God sees. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part: then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” In the rough and tumble of family or work life it’s easy to forget that the person we might be finding difficult or irritating is a deeply loved child of God. The way of life involves living according to the values of attention to others which Jesus taught in the parable of the Good Samaritan.
The reading that we’ve heard from the letter to Timothy also gives us an idea of where we might start: “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” The letter to Timothy also gives us a helpful approach to handling money – or any other resource that we have. He doesn’t suggest that having money is in itself something that will lead to punishment but says that it is important above all to be rich in good deeds, generous and happy to share. This is a way of laying up treasure in heaven and remembering that we are created not only for this world but to be with Christ in the context of eternity. Amen