Hearts and Minds
Sunday, September 26th, 2004
17th after Pentecost
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton
Luke 16:19-31
The night before last there was a story on the news, I can’t remember which station it was out of Richmond, but it was a story about how someone had set fire to a 6 week old kitten. The kitten survived, and is being cared for, but what struck me about the news story was that, in the course of introducing it, there were at least three different occasions where the anchor or the reporter warned the audience that ‘some of the images included in this report are graphic, and may not be suitable for all viewers.”
Just thinking back over the last few weeks, it feels like I’ve been doing a lot of confessing from up here.
Well, I’ve got another confession to make:
This is one of those parables that make me real uneasy.
Why?
Because it is so graphic.
There’s a man covered with sores,
There are dogs licking them,
There’s a place of torment,
There’s agony,
And there’s that statement at the end …
The one that basically says ‘you had your chance … and you blew it’.
It makes me uncomfortable because it goes against my concept of an ever-redeeming, loving and patient God. But then, this isn’t so much a statement about God as it is about us as humans, is it? it is an aspect of life and faith that we need to be reminded of – that we mentioned a couple of weeks ago – there are eternal consequences for temporal – or earthly – decisions we make.
Just like that news story brought to the forefront of my conscience the fact that there are broken people in this broken world who would torture animals, seemingly just because they can, and go on about their lives, with little or no regret or sense of guilt about what they’d done.
I’ll admit, there is DEFINITELY a sense of ‘just rewards’ being meted out at the end of this parable, but it still causes some discomfort, when I stop and think about how wealthy I am, in relation to the millions of starving people in the world, as Leslie mentioned in her report to the RBA Executive Committee Thursday night, the estimated 1 billion people in the world who survive on less than a dollar a day, THAT’S when I start to feel uncomfortable.
While there is SOME reassurance in the fact that this was a PARABLE, and meant to be taken more as an object lesson rather than a literal description of what might await us at the end of our lives, the point is still … pointed.
The juxtaposition of a beggar, named Lazarus (and a named character in a parable was unusual, to say the least), and a nameless rich man, and how their lives were here on earth and what happens to them in the hereafter … it just makes for a disquieting story.
But then, that was the whole point, wasn’t it? To make the folks who heard it uneasy. To make them THINK about how they were living their lives.
Jesus has been talking to and about Pharisees in the passages that led up to this one, and his whole thrust has been to lay before them the fact that they do not practice what they preach. Hop back up to verse 13 in the same chapter:
Jesus was being his usual ‘in your face’ storyteller with these people. It doesn’t get any plainer than ‘YOU ARE THOSE’.
And yet, what happened in the end?
They crucified him.
What happened after he rose from the dead?
They denied that it happened. They completely and utterly turned their backs to it, and pretended it never happened.
It is not a new phenomenon. Modern day psychiatry has named it appropriately: Denial. It is a psychological response to an event or situation that is simply too much to accept. We know it happens on an emotional and psychological level. It happens on a physical level as well. Have you ever heard of ghost pains? It’s where amputees still feel sensation from a non-existent arm or leg, even years after it is gone.
On a spiritual level, it is no different. How often do we close ourselves off to the possibilities when we are confronted with a spiritual event that goes against what we are used to, what we are comfortable with, what we can understand and predict?
What does that say about our ability as humans to deny the truth? To reject a revelation so transformative, so radical, so completely opposite to what we perceive the world around us to be, that we would rather hide our hearts and close our minds, shut out the possibilities God has in store for us if we only give in, and give up this utterly senseless notion that we are in some way able to control how and when God is going to move in, through, and around us?
It is for us to be humble, willing and obedient, not self-important or boastful of having an inside track on God’s will.
So what does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?
The obvious, of course: We care for those in our community who need caring for. We care for each other – within the congregation and without.
The trickier part is keeping our hearts and minds … moldable, impressionable, and teachable. We keep an eye and an ear out for the voice of God in a whisper, in a presence, in a passing comment. We check our vanity and our position at the door and enter into this journey as fellow pilgrims, helping each other along while all the time following Jesus.
Let’s pray.
Sunday, September 26th, 2004
17th after Pentecost
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton
Luke 16:19-31
19 ‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. 24He called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.” 25But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. 26Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.” 27He said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— 28for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.” 29Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.” 30He said, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” 31He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”’
The night before last there was a story on the news, I can’t remember which station it was out of Richmond, but it was a story about how someone had set fire to a 6 week old kitten. The kitten survived, and is being cared for, but what struck me about the news story was that, in the course of introducing it, there were at least three different occasions where the anchor or the reporter warned the audience that ‘some of the images included in this report are graphic, and may not be suitable for all viewers.”
Just thinking back over the last few weeks, it feels like I’ve been doing a lot of confessing from up here.
Well, I’ve got another confession to make:
This is one of those parables that make me real uneasy.
Why?
Because it is so graphic.
There’s a man covered with sores,
There are dogs licking them,
There’s a place of torment,
There’s agony,
And there’s that statement at the end …
The one that basically says ‘you had your chance … and you blew it’.
It makes me uncomfortable because it goes against my concept of an ever-redeeming, loving and patient God. But then, this isn’t so much a statement about God as it is about us as humans, is it? it is an aspect of life and faith that we need to be reminded of – that we mentioned a couple of weeks ago – there are eternal consequences for temporal – or earthly – decisions we make.
Just like that news story brought to the forefront of my conscience the fact that there are broken people in this broken world who would torture animals, seemingly just because they can, and go on about their lives, with little or no regret or sense of guilt about what they’d done.
I’ll admit, there is DEFINITELY a sense of ‘just rewards’ being meted out at the end of this parable, but it still causes some discomfort, when I stop and think about how wealthy I am, in relation to the millions of starving people in the world, as Leslie mentioned in her report to the RBA Executive Committee Thursday night, the estimated 1 billion people in the world who survive on less than a dollar a day, THAT’S when I start to feel uncomfortable.
While there is SOME reassurance in the fact that this was a PARABLE, and meant to be taken more as an object lesson rather than a literal description of what might await us at the end of our lives, the point is still … pointed.
The juxtaposition of a beggar, named Lazarus (and a named character in a parable was unusual, to say the least), and a nameless rich man, and how their lives were here on earth and what happens to them in the hereafter … it just makes for a disquieting story.
But then, that was the whole point, wasn’t it? To make the folks who heard it uneasy. To make them THINK about how they were living their lives.
Jesus has been talking to and about Pharisees in the passages that led up to this one, and his whole thrust has been to lay before them the fact that they do not practice what they preach. Hop back up to verse 13 in the same chapter:
13 No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."
14The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. 15 So he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God.
Jesus was being his usual ‘in your face’ storyteller with these people. It doesn’t get any plainer than ‘YOU ARE THOSE’.
And yet, what happened in the end?
They crucified him.
What happened after he rose from the dead?
They denied that it happened. They completely and utterly turned their backs to it, and pretended it never happened.
It is not a new phenomenon. Modern day psychiatry has named it appropriately: Denial. It is a psychological response to an event or situation that is simply too much to accept. We know it happens on an emotional and psychological level. It happens on a physical level as well. Have you ever heard of ghost pains? It’s where amputees still feel sensation from a non-existent arm or leg, even years after it is gone.
On a spiritual level, it is no different. How often do we close ourselves off to the possibilities when we are confronted with a spiritual event that goes against what we are used to, what we are comfortable with, what we can understand and predict?
What does that say about our ability as humans to deny the truth? To reject a revelation so transformative, so radical, so completely opposite to what we perceive the world around us to be, that we would rather hide our hearts and close our minds, shut out the possibilities God has in store for us if we only give in, and give up this utterly senseless notion that we are in some way able to control how and when God is going to move in, through, and around us?
It is for us to be humble, willing and obedient, not self-important or boastful of having an inside track on God’s will.
So what does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?
The obvious, of course: We care for those in our community who need caring for. We care for each other – within the congregation and without.
The trickier part is keeping our hearts and minds … moldable, impressionable, and teachable. We keep an eye and an ear out for the voice of God in a whisper, in a presence, in a passing comment. We check our vanity and our position at the door and enter into this journey as fellow pilgrims, helping each other along while all the time following Jesus.
Let’s pray.
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