Homily for 26th Sunday of Ordinary, Year C ~
St. Francis Xavier, Mt. Washington KY &
All Saints, Taylorsville KY
September 28 and 29, 2013
September 28 and 29, 2013
There
he was: sitting all alone in his miserly cold, dimly lit room. There he was spending
time with the one thing that he loved most in the world, the thing that made
him feel safe; the thing that separated him from everyone else. There he was
counting his money. He had a handy response for anyone who tried to pull him
out of this lonely existence. Bah humbug he would say. Bah humbug! I am of
course speaking of Scrooge from A
Christmas Carol, and while I realize that the Christmas season is still
months away, even if the stores will soon be putting out their Christmas
displays, Scrooge is too good an image to pass up for today’s Gospel
reading.
Scrooge
of course is an image for the otherwise nameless Rich Man in today’s Gospel. The
thing that I find most striking about our Gospel reading is that the Rich Man
knows the name of Lazarus. We know this because he calls out to Abraham saying send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in
water and cool my tongue. The Rich Man does not say “Abraham send that dead
beggar over here!” No! He knew Lazarus’ name, and in connection with that Lazarus
had for sometime sat at the door of the Rich Man, a Rich Man with wealth and
brothers, for the Gospel tells us he had five, he therefore had the power to
remove Lazarus from his doorstep. Based on this I find it justified to imagine
that this Rich Man thought he was doing Lazarus a favor. He allowed Lazarus to
be near enough to the house that perhaps from time to time he got a scrap to
eat or a little alms money; all the while the Rich Man would tell himself, his
brothers, and his guests that he was so very charitable on the occasion of one
of his many daily sumptuous feasts. Lazarus, however, was never really treated charitably,
for he never had the chance to do what he would have gladly done, that is to eat the scarps that fell from the rich man’s
table. Lazarus was always kept separate, on the other side of the door; and
yet isn't it curious that the Rich Man knew the name of Lazarus.
Like
the Rich Man, Scrooge too knew the name of the lowliest person in his life.
Scrooge knew the name of Tiny Tim. He may not have known that Tiny Tim was sick;
in fact Scrooge would not have bothered to know that much detail, but it is
safe to say that Scrooge would have at least known the names of Cratchit’s
children. He may have been surprised by the illness when the Ghost of Christmas
Present showed him the scene, but he was not so surprised that he had to ask “who
is that?” when Tiny Tim appears. It is one thing to be complacent when there is
someone in the world who is suffering and you do not even know that person’s
name. Complacency in that all too common instance, while not ok, is
understandable when there are so many things going on in our lives right in
front of us. Complacency in the face of suffering in the life of someone whom
we know the name of, however, that degree of complacency is much harder to
excuse.
When Luke sat
down and wrote his Gospel he did not name the Rich Man; either Luke or Christ could
have easily given the Rich Man a name – they gave Lazarus a name, why not the
Rich Man? As in every other occasion of an unnamed character in Scripture Luke
is basically leaving a blank underlined by a ‘your name here’ label. We are
therefore invited to place ourselves in the story alongside the Rich Man and
ask ourselves who we most resemble. It is a product of our fallen existence that
we often seek comfort at the cost of complacency. Comfortable complacency is a
way of life for many. Those people out there, these people right here, this
person standing right here; we all have a tendency to lean towards comfortable
complacency even when there is someone in our lives, someone whom we can easily
name, someone at arms reach who is suffering. Ask yourselves right now who in
your life do you know who needs a kind word and a little help? What is that
person’s name? If this is a difficult exercise then I imagine that the lure of
comfortable complacency has pulled you in. Surely there is a person at work, a
neighbor down the street, another kid in your class, a friend who is too proud
to bring up their own pain, a teammate, a sister, a brother, an acquaintance.
Or maybe, just maybe, it’s a person whom you run into regularly that you avoid even
knowing their name, maybe the checkout girl at the grocery store, the guy
behind the counter at the gas station, that person on your street that you’ve consciously
kept a distance from for fear of getting entangled in their life, that other
mother in the pickup line, or that guy that often comes to your favorite
hangout spot and sits alone. I dare say that the sin of the Rich Man was not that
he had all kinds of stuff and Lazarus didn’t, that surely had a role to play;
rather the sin of the Rich Man was keeping Lazarus on the other side so that he
wouldn’t feel compelled to share his things. Scrooge too built a wall, a wall
made out of gold coins, a wall that insulated him from the world just as
effectively as any wall made of brick and mortar could ever have.
Sisters and
brother comfortable complacency separates us from those around us; comfortable
complacency is a wall, a great chasm, between us and those we could empathize
with but choose not to. Fear leads to loneliness. It is easy to see Scrooge as
being lonely, but what about the Rich Man? Was he lonely? I’d say a man who
throws lavish dinners every night for a select group of people may not seem
lonely but effectively is a very lonely secluded person. Does not our world
hold up this Rich Man as an example to emulate? Doesn’t our society say ‘forget
that person who will drag you down with their problems?’ Aren’t we in fact
living in the age of YOLO? An age where you only live once can easily be used
as an excuse for running from the problems in your own life, and especially in
the lives of those around us? Don’t we know the name of someone whom we’ve kept
on the other side of a great wall built of our own self interests? Don’t you
know a name?
But wait! Christ
knows our name, doesn't he? Sisters and brothers there is good news here, for
Christ knows our name! Christ knows the pain in your hearts, Christ knows the
walls we build up, Christ knows your fear over letting people in and he knows
our anxiety over reaching out to those around us. Christ Jesus knows your name!
He knows your name and he is not afraid to cross the uncrossable chasm. When Father
Abraham told the Rich Man that no one could cross from one side to the other he
was talking about humanities ability to do so. What is impossible for a man is
possible for God-made-man, for that is an uncrossable chasm in itself. The Incarnation
reveals to us the lengths that God will go to because God knows the names of
each and every one of us. The Incarnation and the Resurrection free us from chains
of comfortable complacency. Jesus graciously gives us the opportunity to know
his name and by knowing and loving his name we have the opportunity to be moved
towards loving the names of those around us. Christ Jesus knows our name and he’s
willing to do the impossible because of that, not because he has to but because
he loves us.
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