The parable of the rich man and Lazarus reminds us that true wealth brings responsibility. God has already revealed His will in the Gospel, and we are called not only to hear His Word but also to obey it.
The Rich Man and Lazarus: Hearing and Obeying God’s Word
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
The parable we heard today is so familiar to us that we often fail to notice how directly it speaks to each one of us.
We are all very rich, extraordinarily rich. If we compare ourselves with people living in many other parts of the world, we possess so much materially that we ought to be ashamed of how little we give to meet the needs of others.
We are also rich spiritually. We enjoy the freedom to believe, the right to hear about God, to worship Him, and to profess our faith openly. We have been given so many opportunities to develop our minds and hearts. Yet, despite all this, we bear a painful resemblance to the rich man in today’s Gospel parable.
We have everything, but how few crumbs from our table reach those who are truly deprived: those who suffer materially, emotionally, and spiritually, those who are poor in every sense.
And yet God loves them no less than He loves us. He created them in His tender love and desired to give them the fullness of life. But, sadly, as an old saying reminds us, a failed harvest may come from God, but famine is caused by human beings.
We therefore find ourselves in the same position as the rich man in the parable. Will others receive nothing but the crumbs that fall from our table? Will we spend our lives in comfort and prosperity and then be buried with honor, while a soul that has hungered for God and for the fullness of life is carried by the angels to the throne of the Lord?
Today’s Gospel speaks of this with striking clarity. Lazarus died, and the angels carried his soul to God. What remained of his body? It was sick, starved, and covered with sores. Yes, that body was buried. But death released his soul into the fullness of life, and his soul was lifted to the throne of the Lord.
The rich man also died. He was buried solemnly and with honor. His body was lowered into the earth to which he had been so deeply attached and to which he truly belonged. He belonged neither to heaven nor to other people. He belonged only to the earth, because nothing else remained within him.
Then he found himself face to face with eternity, just as each one of us will one day stand face to face with eternity, with the living God, and with eternal truth.
He saw Lazarus, and he recognized how deprived he himself had now become. Yet he was so accustomed to ruling over poor Lazarus, so accustomed to believing that everything existed for his benefit, that he appealed to Abraham and asked him to send Lazarus, who had been miserable and destitute on earth, back into the world to serve his brothers.
“My brothers are still living in my father’s house. Send Lazarus. But first, let him dip his finger in cool water and bring me some relief.”
Bring relief to me, even though I never remembered him and never did anything for him. Yet, in the rich man’s mind, Lazarus was still Lazarus, someone who existed to serve him.
Then, he pleaded, send Lazarus back to earth so that he may warn my brothers about the horror awaiting them if they do not come to their senses while they are still alive.
And what did Abraham answer?
“They have Moses and the prophets. They have the Law and the witnesses of eternity who, from the beginning of history, proclaimed the truth of God. Let them listen to them.”
But the rich man objected: “No! If someone rises from the dead, then perhaps they will believe.”
They no longer believe the ancient writings, the sacred books, the prophets, or the Law.
Does this not also apply to us?
How often we long to hear some new word from God or to receive a new revelation. How often we turn to one another and ask, “What is God’s will for me in the circumstances in which I now find myself?”
But we should receive the same answer that was given to the rich man: you already have everything.
You have the Old Testament, with the Law and the prophets. You also have the witnesses of Christ in the New Testament. More than that, you have the very thing for which you are asking: the risen Lord has already given us His commandment. The risen Christ has already taught us how to live.
Listen to what He has already said. Fulfill what He has already revealed.
Only when your mind and heart have been opened through obedience to the commandments of the Gospel will you hear, in the depths of a purified and enlightened heart, the voice of God showing you what you must do now.
But we must begin by obeying what has already been commanded. We should not ask for a new commandment simply to avoid fulfilling the one we have long known and just as long neglected.
Let today’s Gospel reading inspire us to listen attentively to the word of the Gospel and to fulfill the Lord’s commandment. Then, within our own hearts, without the mediation of Lazarus, the prophets, or anyone else, the word of the Holy Spirit will resound.
Amen.
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