26th Sunday in Ordinary Time C.
September 26, 2010. Our Lady of Grace 9:30, 6PM.
Amos 6:1a, 4-7. 1Timothy 6:11-16. Luke
16:19-31
A few days ago I was in a supermarket and I watched a tiny
child throw a tantrum that certainly got everyone’s attention. The mother
was embarrassed. Of course the mother had been very busy shopping and the
child wanted her attention. Every child knows that only the rare parent
hates his or her children. Every child knows instinctively that the
opposite of love is not hatred. The opposite of love is being ignored.
The child was saying “Show me that you love me by not ignoring me.”
The opposite of loving God is not hating
God. The opposite of loving God is ignoring God and acting as it God
doesn’t exist. The opposite of loving your spouse is usually
not hating your husband or wife. The opposite of love in marriage
is ignoring the person you are married to. Hate demands taking a hard and
clear stance toward another person. Hate demands
focusing on another person and giving him or her enough energy and attention to
hate them. Teenagers in trouble often show this very
clearly. They sometimes get into trouble so that their parents will
notice them and pay attention to them. Why do they fail in school or break the
law? It is very simple. It is much better to have your parents
upset with you even to the point of disliking you than it is to have your
parents ignore you. The opposite of love is not hate. The opposite
of love is indifference to your existence. The most painful part of not
being loved is being ignored, not being hated.
Jesus said, “There was a rich man who dressed in purple
garments and fine linen and dined extravagantly every day. Lying outside
his door was a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. He would
gladly have eaten the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs
even used to come and lick his scores.” When the rich man died he
ended up in the place of torment we call hell. Jesus taught that hell
does exist. The poor man ended up with Abraham in the place we call
heaven.
The rich man didn’t go to hell because he was rich.
Jesus doesn’t tell this parable to say that it is wrong to be wealthy.
The rich man went to hell because he didn’t notice the poor man lying right
outside of his door. It is easy to picture the rich man having to step
over the body of the poor man as he came and went from his house. The
rich man didn’t kick the poor man. He didn’t yell or swear at him.
He simply ignored the poor man, acting as if the poor man didn’t exist. Perhaps
the biggest insult we can give to others is to act is if their existence is so
unimportant that we don’t even acknowledge that they are there. The sin
of the rich man is not that he is rich. The sin of the rich man is that he
didn’t even notice the poor.
Don’t get me wrong. Jesus does teach that being
wealthy can negatively influence our perception of reality and our spiritual
life. On the other hand, being rich can give us both the opportunity and the
means to be more completely aware of the world in which we live. Many of
us support orphans through Friends of the Orphans. Several years
ago I visited the orphanage in
In our first reading the Prophet Amos says, “Woe to the
smug and self-satisfied among God’s people! They sleep on fancy beds of
ivory. They stretch out in comfort on their couches. They have
plenty to eat. They love to listen to interesting music on harps.
They even devise their own music as accompaniment. Yet the collapse of
their neighbors does not make them sick. These heartless people will be
the first to be exiled and then their celebrations will be no more.”
The rich man in the gospel didn’t see his callousness in
stepping over the poor man until it was too late. From the place we
call hell the rich man begged that someone be sent to warn his five brothers
about the consequences of ignoring the needs of others. He said, “Perhaps
if someone comes to them from the dead they will change their lives so that
they will not come to this place of torment.” The rich man is a good
man in many ways. He cares about his five brothers. He doesn’t want
them to end up in hell fire. His is told by Abraham that his brothers
have the teachings of Moses and the other prophets to guide their lives.
If they don’t listen to the warning of the prophets they will not change even
if someone comes to them from the dead. They will not change even if Jesus
rises from the dead.
Goodness and care for the poor and the needy is something
that we learn and teach to our children now. The gift that we give to
those we love is a clear vision of what it means to be rich and what it means
to care for those in need. If we only discover that we ignored the poor
after death, it will be too late to teach our children the truth from beyond
the grave. The gift that we give to those we love is a clear message about
God’s love for the poor person lying at our door.
The Lord hears the cry of the poor – blessed be the Lord.
(Sing)
Happy are those who understand and live this message now and
teach it to their children.