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Pentecost 16 Proper 21C September 29, 2019

Posted on September 29, 2019 by Beth Crane

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16
1 Timothy 6:6-19
Luke 16:19-31

In our first reading, the prophet Jeremiah gives us the exact year. It is the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, and the eighteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, also known as Nebuchadnezzar. It is the year 588 B.C.E. In 587 B.C.E., Jerusalem will fall to Babylon. In our time, Babylon is known as Iraq.

Jeremiah is in prison in the court of the palace guard. King Zedekiah has arrested Jeremiah because Jeremiah predicted that, with all the corruption and injustice that was going on under the leadership of Zedekiah, the Babylonian Empire would conquer Judah.

And yet. And yet. Our reading contains details of a real estate transaction. Jeremiah is from Anathoth. He buys a field from his cousin. The text tells us, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both the sealed deed of purchase and the open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.”

No matter how bad things get, with God there is always hope. Jeremiah is investing in that ray of hope, and God has the last word.

Our gospel reading for today is the story of the rich man and Lazarus. This is not the Lazarus who is the brother of Mary and Martha. The rich man’s clothing and food are the finest available. At his gate lies Lazarus, a poor man covered with sores. In those days, there were no napkins, and the wealthy used pieces of bread to wipe their mouths and then threw those pieces of bread on the floor. Lazarus would have loved to eat those bits of bread. The picture of the dogs coming and licking his sores is particularly moving. It also means that he is unclean and therefore an outcast.

When the the rich man and Lazarus die, there is a great reversal. The poor man is carried by angels to be with Abraham. The rich man descends to Hades, where he is tormented. The rich man looks up and sees Abraham with Lazarus by his side. The rich man calls 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.”

This tells us so much. The rich man knows Lazarus’ name. He went in and out of his gate every day and saw this poor man begging, and he even knew his name, yet he never shared any of his food or clothing or riches with Lazarus. He never really saw Lazarus as a fellow human being.

There is a long tradition that teaches that wealth is a sign of God’s favor and poverty is a sign of God’s disfavor. If someone is poor, they deserve it, says this tradition. In this parable and others, Jesus makes it clear that he does not agree with that tradition. He is calling us to see everyone as a brother or sister in him.

Barbara Brown Taylor reminds us of the version of this parable in the Cotton Patch Gospel. “O Father Abraham, send me my water boy. ‘Water boy! Quick! I’m just about to perish down here. I need a drink of water.’ That old rich guy has always hollered for his water boy. ‘Boy, bring me water! Boy, bring me this! Boy, bring me that! Get away, boy! Come here, boy!’”  (Taylor, Bread of Angels, pp. 111-112.)

Taylor comments, “Even on the far side of the grave, the rich man does not see the poor man as a fellow human being. He still sees him as something less. He thinks Lazarus is Father Abraham’s gofer, someone to fetch water and take messages, but Father Abraham sets him straight. Cradling old bony Lazarus in his bosom, he says No, No, and No.”

We are hearing this parable from our Lord, who has risen from the dead. We are here because we are trying , to the best of our ability and with his grace, to follow him. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. paraphrased Unitarian minister and theologian Theodore Parker when he said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Our epistle gives us clear direction. Paul calls us to “Fight the good fight of the faith.”  “…do good, be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing for [ourselves] the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that we may take hold of the life that really is life.”

This is the first Sunday after the consecration of the Rt. Rev. Shannon McVean-Brown as the eleventh Bishop of Vermont. As you know, the whole process has been conducted in an atmosphere of prayer, and the Holy Spirit has been present at every stage of the journey.

Our new bishop is building on a strong foundation laid by God and her predecessors. She has long and faithful experience in helping the arc of the moral universe to bend toward justice and in helping our Lord to build his shalom. 

May we keep her in our prayers. May we also give thanks for the ministry of Bishop Tom, who helped to build the foundation on which we now stand. And may we give hearty thanks for our Presiding Bishop, Michael. May we continue to keep these faithful and loving servants of God and their families in our prayers.

May we all continue to work together in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the power of the Spirit.

Guide our feet Lord, while we run this race. Amen.

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Pentecost 19 Proper 21C RCL September 25, 2016

Posted on September 25, 2016 by Beth Crane

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16
1 Timothy 6:6-19
Luke 16:19-31

Our first reading today is one of the most tragic yet powerful passages in the Bible. It is the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah and the eighteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Babylon is what we now call Iraq. The Babylonian Empire is laying siege to Jerusalem. This is a situation very similar to what is happening in Aleppo, Syria right now. The year is 588 B.C.E. and in the next year Jerusalem will fall to the Babylonians. The temple will be reduced to rubble. The people will be deported to Babylon.

Jeremiah has been put in prison by King Zedekiah because he told the king this would happen. Jeremiah will be deported to Egypt and held captive. It is Judah’s darkest hour.

And yet—in the midst of this tragedy, Jeremiah describes in minute detail a real estate transaction. Jeremiah is from Anathoth, a town about two miles northeast of Jerusalem, just outside the city wall. Hanamel, son of his Uncle Shallum, comes to him and asks him to buy a field. According to the law, if you needed to sell a piece of property, you were required to try to sell it to the nearest relative. In Judah, just as in Vermont today, families valued and cherished their land.

Jeremiah describes the transaction very carefully. Then he asks his secretary, Baruch, to store the scrolls recording this transaction in a clay jar so that they will last a long time. We recall that the scrolls found at Qumran lasted for two thousand years.

God’s message is that fields and vineyards will again be bought in the land. At the darkest hour, there is always hope with God. The Exile will be a terrible time but out of that crucible will come deep and careful scholarship,  a more profound commitment to God’s law, and a renewed dedication to worship and to compassionate life in community.

Our gospel for last Sunday ended with Jesus’ words, “You cannot serve God and wealth.” Today, he tells us the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. This is not the same Lazarus who is the brother of Mary and Martha.

There is a rich man who has the most expensive clothing, eats the most luxurious foods, and generally has the best of everything. At his gate lies the poor man Lazarus. He is starving. His body is covered with sores, which scholars tell us makes him ritually unclean. The dogs lick the sores.

Both men die. The rich man is buried, The poor man is carried by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man looks up from the underworld and sees Lazarus beside Abraham. He calls to Abraham to send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and satisfy his thirst. This is the shocking part. The rich man knows Lazarus’ name!

The rich man has gone by this man every day of his life. He has done nothing to help Lazarus. Yet he actually knows his name! His wealth and power have blinded him to the needs of this fellow human being whose name he knows. Now he is asking that Abraham allow Lazarus to become his waiter, his slave, and bring him some water.

But Abraham says No. The great reversal of the kingdom of God has happened. A chasm has been fixed. No one can cross it. The rich man then thinks of his five brothers and asks that they may be warned. But Abraham says they have Moses to warn them. In other words, the law of Moses calls us to love God and to love others as ourselves. But how easy it is to forget that law, especially when we have a great deal of wealth and a great deal of power.

That is why Jesus tells us that we cannot love God and wealth. We are called to love God first and foremost and to love others as ourselves. If wealth comes our way, we are called to put it in its proper place as a gift from God and to be good stewards of that wealth, which includes sharing it with others.

Even in our reading from the Letter to Timothy we are cautioned about the seduction of wealth. Paul writes, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil….” We see this in our own society. The accumulation of wealth and possessions appears to be the goal of many in our world. This parable gives us an insight into what is dangerous about wealth and power. When we humans become extremely wealthy, that wealth gives us power. People are deferential to us because our wealth gives us power over them. Then we begin to live in our own little world in which we are supreme. No one has the courage to set us right, and perhaps that is because we do not want to hear the truth. For example, King Hezekiah did not want to hear the truth that Jeremiah was trying to tell him on behalf of God, so he put Jeremiah in prison. The religious and secular powers of Jesus’ time were threatened by his message, so they had him killed.

Someone has come from the dead to lead us in the way of compassion. Our Lord Jesus calls us to know our neighbors by name and to care for them. Those neighbors may live in South Dakota or halfway around the world, and we are called to treat them as we would want to be treated.

One of the most powerful things about the history of Grace Church is the great good work done by people like Mary Catherine “Kate” Whittemore and the many others who over two centuries have ministered to the needs of our brothers and sisters in South Dakota, have helped our neighbors locally, and have supported ministries here in Vermont, in our country, and around the world.

We will be continuing to collect money to help a family who lost their home to fire, and, as we move toward the time when we make our offering to Episcopal Relief and Development, I ask you to continue to keep in mind the suffering of refugees, especially in Syria. I ask your prayers for Syria, and especially Aleppo, and I encourage us to do anything we can to help our brothers and sisters who are suffering.

Paul’s guidance to Timothy is good counsel for us, and I paraphrase: “May we pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. …May we  fight the good fight of the faith, may we take hold of the eternal life, to which we were called….may we be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share…that we may take hold of the life that really is life.” Amen.

 

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Pentecost 19 Proper 21C RCL September 29, 2013

Posted on September 29, 2013 by Beth Crane

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15

Psalm 91:1-6.14-16

1 Timothy 6:6-19

Luke 16:19-31

In today’s reading from the Book of Jeremiah, Nebuchadrezzar II, King of Babylon, is besieging the city of Jerusalem. In 597 B.C., Nebuchadrezzar had placed King Zedekiah on the throne of Judah, but now, in 587 B. C., the Babylonians are on the attack. They will now reduce the temple to rubble and will deport the leaders of  Judah to Babylon, where they will spend almost fifty years in exile.

The people had comforted themselves with the thought that, no matter what they did, God would protect them from foreign invasions, Jeremiah had told them that this was not so. King Zedekiah branded Jeremiah as a traitor and put him in prison.

In the midst of this disaster, God guides Jeremiah to buy a piece of land, to invest in the future hope for God’s people. Jeremiah is very careful to follow every provision of the law and to preserve the documents regarding this transaction. In the darkest hour, there is always hope. In 539 B. C. the people returned home.  King Cyrus of Persia, now Iran, conquered the Babylonians. He had a more benevolent policy toward those who had been deported and allowed them to return home.

Last Sunday, Jesus told us that we cannot serve God and money. This Sunday, we have the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. This is not the brother of Mary and Martha, but another Lazarus.

The rich man is extremely wealthy. At his gate, very near the rich man’s home so that he can see him every day, lies Lazarus, covered with sores, who longs to eat the crumbs from the rich man’s table. Both men die. The rich man goes to Hades. He looks up from his torments and sees Lazarus at the side of Abraham. Now we find out that the rich man actually knows Lazarus’ name, because he asks Abraham to tell Lazarus to dip his finger in some water and bring it to him, but Abraham says that is not possible.

The rich man saw Lazarus at his gate every day. He even knew his name. But he never dipped his finger in water to help him. He never fed Lazarus or tended to his sores.

Herbert O’Driscoll summarizes the point of this parable in these words, “Our Lord’s parable is about one who lives an utterly self-centered existence for which a terrible payment must be made.”  (The Word Among Us, Year C, Vol, 3, p. 117.)

As Christians, we are called to care about our neighbors, and, as Jesus points out in another parable, everyone is our neighbor.

Walter C, Bouzzard, Professor of Religion at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, points out that “the verb translated, ‘to satisfy his hunger’ appears elsewhere in Luke at 6:21, the beatitude about how the hungry will be filled.” Bouzzard continues, “That beatitude’s promise is previewed in Luke 9:17 when the hungry crowd is satisfied with the loaves and fishes Jesus provides.” Bouzzard writes, “ The satisfaction of hunger is clearly a sign of God’s reign. Moreover, in this parable, that aspect of God’s reign and will is just as plainly something the rich man might have advanced from the things that, in his opulence, he simply wasted. …There are consequences for the willful neglect of our neighbor.” (Bouzzard,  New Proclamation Year C 2013 Easter through Christ the King, pp. 185-86.)

Jesus powerfully calls us to love God and love others. We cannot be self-centered or self-involved if we are to live a Christian life. The whole life and ministry of our Lord show us an example of one who is constantly reaching out to others. In the Judah of Jeremiah’s time, one of the great tragedies was that the rich were getting richer and the poor were suffering. That is happening in our own day as well. Those at the very top are doing great, and the rest of us are losing ground. As Christians, we are committed to helping those who are in need and finding ways to correct this inequality.

I recently heard an interview with Will Rapp, the founder of Gardeners Supply, who has gone on to work on sustainability issues around the world. In the interview, he posed a question which provides a window into the kingdom, the shalom of God” “What would happen if we put the well being of people ahead of the production of stuff?”

This is a great question. As a psychologist and as a Christian, I believe that something happens to us when we become self-centered to the point of ignoring the needs of others as this rich man did. We become hard, uncaring. We think that we have achieved our wealth through our own efforts and that we deserve to keep it all. We give no credit or thanks to God for our good fortune. We really don’t care. Something dies within us. We become a closed, self-absorbed system.

Once again, I feel that I am preaching to the choir. I don’t know anyone at Grace who would do as this rich man did. One of the reasons that I love being among you is that you live your faith. You do care about people and their concerns and problems. You do reach out and help.

However, as we look at the growing gap between the wealthy and the rest of us in this country, I hope we will all think about this parable and about Jesus’ teachings on wealth. I hope we will continue to keep in mind that we are called to take care of those who are less fortunate. As our epistle says, we are called to set our hopes “on God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment…[and] to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for [ourselves] the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that [we] may take hold of the life that really is life.”

May we love our Lord Jesus, and may we love and care for others in his Name.  Amen.

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