Lazarus and the Rich Man
26th Sunday in the Ordinary Time
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| Lazarus and the Rich Man |
- Lazarus
Means: "God is my help"
- Dives=
Latin= Rich
- In the passage Lazarus’
name is mentioned and it will last for all eternity but the name of the rich man is not mentioned. He is known only as the rich man (dives).
- Lazarus had a lot of friends in heaven (God, Saints, Mary, Abraham, Angels) but the rich man had no one to help
him in Hades.
- The Jewish people were considering riches/wealth as blessings from God and poverty as His punishment. And so they were not helping the poor people, thinking that they might have had done something wrong in their previous life that is why they were living a life of poverty which was nothing but God's punishment. It is not
true.
- We
need to share our food, drink, home, mercy, compassion, time, talents, and
resources with others specially the poor and the needy.
- Jesus shared his Eucharist/his own body and blood with us. There can be no greater sharing than this. Priestley and religious and even christian life without sharing will be meaningless and incomplete.
- We should avoid the sin of culpable omission and also the sin of commission. In “I confess” we pray ".....what I have done
and what I have failed to do...."
- He
feasted every day. In so doing he definitely and positively broke the fourth commandment.
That commandment not only forbids work on the Sabbath; it also says six days
you shall labour (Exodus 20:9).
- Jesus
stresses on the dignity and value of each person (Lazarus the poor man is as precious as the
rich man in terms of human dignity).
- God
has preferrential option for the poor people.
- Jesus himself was born poor, died as a poor man on the cross. May we always have a place for the poor in our heart.
- God
rewards in heaven those who are deprived of many things in this life.
- Sharing our resources with others specially with the poor and the needy will be the criterion of the last judgment.
- Our
choice here on earth will determine the kind of eternity we will have in the
future.
- Nobody
needs to come from heaven to tell us. Prophets are always there to tell/warn/remind
us here on earth but we do not listen to them. We go for selective listening. Before
listening to him we try to find out about the background of the person and then we decide whether to listen to him or not to listen to him.
- Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary had died and was brought to life by Jesus and yet people did not believe in Jesus. So do you think that the brothers of the rich man could have got converted if Lazarus had gone to them from heaven?
- Jesus
himself rose from the dead and yet many people did not believe in him.
- It was
a very good reminder to the Sadducees who did not believe in life-after death that there is life after death.
- The rich
man had the same attitude of Cain “Am I my brother’s keeper.?
- The life
of luxury and of self indulgence will take us nowhere/ do us no good.
- Even
in Hades the rich man is trying to make Lazarus his servant which he was used to doing on earth with his servants by expecting Lazarus to go
and tell his brothers to live a good life. Once a bad habit is formed, it takes lot of time, effort and energy to break it and replace it with a good habit.
- The rich
man is not so much guilty of his riches but guilty of something else because Abraham also was a
rich man and he is in heaven. Basically the problem with the rich man was that he was a selfish man.
- We can
ask ourselves today as to what is the thing/weakness/ inclination/sin that
creates chasm between us and God, that keeps us away from the friendship of God and his saints and angels.
- The Risen Christ can become for us the bridge (at the confessional, at the Holy Mass celebrated devoutly and with proper disposition and in other sacraments) to cross from this part of Hades to our original abode in heaven.
- The Holy Father Pope Francis divided his message into three section in his message on Lent 2017 based on the passage of Lazarus and the rich man.
- The other person is a gift
- Sin blinds us
- The world is a gift (https://zenit.org/articles/popes-message-for-lent-2017/ ) on 9/2/2017
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