September 30, 2007
The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 21, Year C)
Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15; Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16; 1 Timothy 6:6-19; Luke 16:19-31
I have preached on these readings before and what has been the theme? I did not go back in the archives to find out; but I presume it was more on the level of the individual saving him or herself from eternal damnation by being conscious of those around who are in need and/or of the dangers of wealth and its all-consuming passion of wanting even more. This week, however, as I looked again at these readings I was literally awakened to a much broader picture, not just of the individual but of society as a whole. It was a universal picture. Jesus was telling a story that is as applicable today as it was two thousand years ago, a story of misuse of wealth. But no, that’s not quite correct either. It was rather, as Jesus told it, a lack of the use of the rich man’s resources for the improvement of life of one man, Lazarus. Dives, as the rich man is commonly called, was not morally wrong for having great wealth, wearing the purple, dressed in fine linen, and dining on the best dishes every day. Moreover, Lazarus was not morally in the right for being poor. The problem was that Dives could and did just ignore the poor man begging at his gate. And again maybe not intentionally but maybe he just didn’t see him! And I’m sure none of his retainers would have pointed Lazarus out to him unless he had specifically asked to be told of such a situation as a poor man lying at his gate.
Fast forward to the year 2000 when 188 nations including the United States adopted the UN Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of time-bound targets, with a deadline of 2015. This declaration has become known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). At the General Convention of 2003 the Episcopal Church endorsed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for the first time and the 75th General Convention in 2006, last year, adopted the MDGs as a mission priority for the coming triennium, i.e., three years, presumably until the next General Convention.
What are these goals and how do they relate to today’s gospel? For an itemized listing you can go to the web and find them or, easier still, I believe they are posted out on the M /O board in the Parish Hall. In general terms the goals address extreme poverty in its many dimensions: income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter, and exclusion. At the same time they promote gender equality, education, and environmental sustainability. They also stand for basic human rights: the rights of each person on this planet to health, education, shelter, and security.
So, if you look at today’s gospel and think globally, not just in terms of Dives and Lazarus but rather in terms of Dives representing the nations, all nations, that have an abundance of food, energy resources, opportunities for education, in other words, for the good life as we think of it, and of Lazarus as representative of those nations whose majority live in abject poverty, without adequate food, clothing, housing, education, health care, or many of the other basic amenities that we take for granted, then what Jesus is saying is abundantly clear. And what he said was what Moses and all the prophets, including Jeremiah, had said before him. It was not then and is not now a new message: take care of those in need. Use whatever you have, your treasure, your talent, your time, to care for others. Or as Jesus said elsewhere, “Love your neighbor!”
And this mission is what the church has been about for over two thousand years; it’s nothing new, and yet still we struggle. Dives was blind to the plight of Lazarus until it was too late for either of them to do anything about it. Although thinking he could still be in control, he made a stab at having that poor man he had ignored all his life do what he should have done. It was not to be.
Today the nations with the most, oh, yes, say they will do such and such for the common good, the world’s good, the betterment of the universe, but what gets in the way? Politics, greed, suspicion? Apathy? Then the recipients themselves are often denied through the same circumstances. Strides have been made in the years since 2000 but they have been far from uniform, and we are now half way there to the deadline of 2015, and those in the know think we may not reach those goals.
What can we do? How do we make sure that our descendants will not be in need of a special warning as Dives thought his brothers needed so that they would not rest in Hades? What can we do to answer the call of the gospel? Timothy put it this way: “As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.“
“They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share.” “We are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share.” Here in our comfortable pews in Acton we can give of our money and our time to support these goals but there is one more very important way that we can actively get behind this ambitious program, and that is to pray.
Recently I preached on that fact that to pray is not the least we can do but rather it is that which can be most effective. On Wednesday mornings, on the first Sundays of the month, at the monthly Taize services, we do not hesitate to pray for healing of our own or our friends or acquaintances ills or concerns, for strength, for comfort, for the power of God to come into and work in our lives. And I think we all believe that in some way all our prayers will be answered. The fulfillment of MDGs project needs our prayers. Yes, it needs our financial and moral and political support, too. But praying is something we are all capable of doing. We can be active pray-ers regardless of our age, our income, our job, our residence, our commitments. And maybe the most important prayer we can pray for these MDGs is one that Trinity Church Wall Street has proposed. It’s very simple but very much to the point. It is apolitical and, in fact, might even be called, areligious. It is a prayer we can all say at any time. “The world now has the means to end extreme poverty, we pray we will have the will. Amen”
Dives had the means to help Lazarus. He could have provided him with food and shelter, medicine. He could have given him a job. But he didn’t, and when he realized what he had not done, it was too late for either of them. We can do something about our planet and its inhabitants; we may not all agree as to what needs to be done or how it should be done; but I think we are all aware of what poverty, hunger, disease, lack of education, deprivation of voice, does to societies, our own as well as those in Africa or Asia or South America. So let us not wait until it’s too late. We have the "means" and the "way" to do it. The problem is a lack of will, or conviction, or prioritizing on the part of the world's governments. Like Dives it’s easier for them to not see, but they are the ones who have to act. And in the western world, the “first” world, “they” are “us!” Bad grammar, I know, but you know what I mean. We have, we are, the voices that can speak to our governments.
The Episcopal Church is trying very hard to raise the consciousness of its members as well as the nation to what can be done by individuals or churches and I invite you to check out their web site.
In the meantime let us remember Dives in his all too late awakening, and all the Lazarus’ who are still with us throughout the world; let us consider how we can make a difference. Above all let us, a people of faith here in Acton, a people truly blessed by God with many riches, add our prayer to those of others – and will you now pray with me – it is in the Blue Sheet?
Let us pray: “The world now has the means to end extreme poverty, we pray we will have the will. Amen”
I invite you to take this prayer home with you, paste it up on the refrigerator, or somewhere obvious, and then say it as often as you see it.
Amen.
Sonia F. G. Stevenson, M. Div.
Church of the Good Shepherd