Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost 2010

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
9/26/10
Luke 16:19-31
Bror Erickson

[19] "There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. [20] And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, [21] who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. [22] The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, [23] and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and l saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. [24] And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.' [25] But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. [26] And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' [27] And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— [28] for I have five brothers —so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' [29] But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' [30] And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' [31] He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.' " Luke 16:19-31 (ESV)


“If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”

“If a single man had written a book foretelling the time and manner of Jesus’s coming and Jesus had come in conformity with these prophecies, this would carry infinite weight.
But there is much more here. There is a succession of men, over a period of 4,000 years, coming consistently and invariably one after the other, to foretell the same coming; there is an entire people proclaiming it, existing for 4,000 years to testify in a body to the certainty they feel about it, from which they cannot be deflected by whatever threats and persecutions they may suffer. This is of quite a different order of importance.’ Blaise Pascall, Pensees pg. 101. Pensee 332

Blaise Pascal was a mathematical genius, credited with the concept of the computer, he was born in 1623, a Frenchman, who became part of the Jansenist movement in the Roman Catholic church condemned as heretical because it held to protestant beliefs. As a young man He made a living counting cards for rich gamblers. Interesting man to say the least, but he spent a lot of time as an apologist defending the Christian faith. He was an intellectual.

In any case, reading this I thought of some of his arguments for the validity of the Christian faith. He spends a lot of time showing how the predictions of the Old Testament come true in Christ, and how this makes the rejection of Christianity quite irrational.
Of course the ultimate fulfillment is the resurrection, which carries infinite weight even without the 4,000 years of God speaking through the Prophets of old in many and various ways.

If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.

Incredible clarity, Jesus of course is relating a truth about his own resurrection in the parable. People today would like us to think that we believe despite the facts. The truth is they refuse to believe despite the facts, despite the evidence. And they believe quite preposterous things as a defense mechanism against facts. It is a bizarre twisted world we live in. Most refuse to even acknowledge evidence for Christianity. They try to deny there even could be evidence, and therefore it is not worthy of a search for evidence.
In any case Jesus is right, of course. For existential reasons beyond the pale of logic, some will refuse to believe. There is of course enough evidence already in Moses and the Prophets. There is enough reason to hear these men out. To listen to them. And those who would not, the Pharisees they would not be convinced by the resurrection either.
The Pharisees, perhaps it is a stretch to say they would not hear Moses and the Prophets? It seems like one, anyway. But these are the ones Jesus is attacking, the ones He is talking about. The self righteous hypocrites who have all the money in the world, but abuse their neighbors. That is in fact, they refused to hear Moses, they refused to listen to the prophets. On the outside they were religious zealots. Yet to God, they were indistinguishable from pagans.
They would praise Moses and the Prophets and then move on. Like the reformed do with Luther, the praise being a mechanism to ignore. Perhaps like American Evangelicals and the Bible. They praise it as inerrant, and inspired, and listen to nary a word it says. They accuse Lutherans of being unbiblical and then contradict Christ saying that infants can’t believe, and make up doctrines with no scriptural support whatsoever like the age of accountability, or will say that the Lord’s Supper is just crackers and grape juice even though Jesus says it is his Body and Blood and you should be using wine. Blaise Pascal rightly questions, how one can believe the Gospel to be true and not the Eucharist. “If the gospel is true, if Jesus is God then what is the problem?” I love his wit.
And that was the problem. People don’t have so much a problem with the law. People tend to believe the law, and find that fairly easy to deal with in the Bible, even when it condemns them which it always, always does. And that is what they mean when they say they believe the Bible. It is what the Pharisees believed. But legalists are legalists, and their legalism leads them to treat others as the rich man treated Lazarus. And that stings. I wonder myself how many Lazaruses I have walked by and not helped. They deserve it you think. Rich? We live in a fairly rich society folks. We don’t think of ourselves as rich. I’m sure the rich man didn’t either. But rich we are, and not always that prudent with our money. I begin to think about that, and get frustrated with myself. Not that giving money to every panhandler in the street is wise either. But reading this parable I see myself in the rich man more than I do Lazarus.
And that is the effect of legalism more often than not. It does not lead to loving your neighbor, but hating him. Hating him because he lays at your doorway, an eyesore for you to deal with. You know he needs your help. But you would rather spend your money elsewhere. And why should he have it? “It’s my money.” And at first you walk by. And then you despise him, because you despise yourself for not helping him, and the snowball rolls. Next thing you know you are wearing an $80 dollar pair of jeans and laughing at the poor guy, blaming him for his troubles because he can’t get a job. And perhaps some of that is warranted. I know a few homeless people that don’t even want a job, and it is hard to help someone like that with a clear conscience. He who doesn’t work doesn’t eat. But that is legalism, and this is the way we are tempted to read, what are we supposed to do. It is unbelief. It is lack of faith, playing religious.
Because in the end the Bible isn’t about do’s and don’ts it is about Christ, and His death and resurrection. Even Moses and the Prophets is about Christ, and His death and resurrection. And those who would not listen to Moses and the Prophets concerning this coming Messiah, would not listen to the Messiah either even if he did come back from the dead.
Yet, He did come back from the dead, and this ought to be reason enough to listen to Him, and hear what He really has to say, because it is in what He really has to say, not in what we think he has to say, that finally our legalism is squashed, our self love extinguished, and our attempts at self-righteousness rendered futile. Finally in the end He says “Your sins are forgiven.” And there is power in those words, power the law could only long for. The law says love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul and mind. We really wish we could, but we only wish to do so in an attempt to justify ourselves. The law says love your neighbor as yourself. And we find ourselves trying to define neighbor to wiggle out of the command, redefine love to suit our needs. But Jesus says, I love you, and gives us love. He says I forgive you, and frees us from guilt. He says I give you eternal life, and gives us reason to love, and peace for our consciences.
Now the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord Amen.