God’s helps
Thursday of the Second Week of Lent
Gospel: Luke 16:19-31
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032025.cfm
At the end of today’s gospel, Jesus says that if the rich man’s family didn’t listen to Moses (the law) or the prophets, nothing will convince them. Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees. They were focused on following the law for the law’s sake, not the deeper spirit behind it. Their strict interpretation of the law would have aligned more with the rich man. Their interpretation of the law was to avoid the unclean, and Lazarus was unclean. The Pharisees would have also recognized that the rich man had received glory from God for God had rewarded him with wealth. Whereas, Lazarus was in a horrible state because of something he must have done or because someone in his family must have greatly sinned.
In the story, Jesus specifically calls the suffering man Lazarus. The name Lazarus means “God has helped” or “God’s help.” The Pharisees would have picked up on this and recognized the juxtaposition at the beginning of the story. In life, it didn’t appear that God was helping Lazarus, but God did try to comfort Lazarus. Lazarus was in the position of receiving aid from the rich man. The rich man had the resources that Lazarus needed or at least the resources to improve his situation, but he did not share them. As Jesus’s story explains, the dogs even tried to comfort Lazarus but not the rich man. The opportunity was with the rich man to act on behalf of God for Lazarus and he chose not to.
For Jesus, the message from the law and the prophets is simply to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. That can be broken down into a long list of rules, but its source goes beyond any set of rules. God’s law of love transcends how we can break that down into rules to live by. The rules do not transcend the source. If the rules cause you to go against the source, then they are not serving their intended purpose.
Today’s gospel is a parable, not a literal story about heaven and hell. Lazarus was in a position of need in his life. What he needed was right there with the rich man. Instead of seeing his possessions as belonging to God and him needing to steward them, he enjoyed them as his own. God’s creation is enough for all of us, but we don’t treat it as such. It’s only enough for us if we share it. If we treat creation as God intended, there is plenty for all. God’s kingdom could be fully here today if we all lived like it. It’s not about a reward of heaven but striving to make heaven through how we live and treat one another. When we see suffering in the world, it’s a reminder that there is work to be done and God is calling us to do it.
