Seeing Grace Through Those Experiencing Poverty

 I don't know about you but when I read our Gospel for this morning I instantly feel convicted.

The rich man in the parable feasted sumptuously while Lazarus begged at his door.

I know that I feast sumptuously all the time.

I have talked many times about my love of food.

What are we to do this morning with Jesus' parable?

It would seem that all of us who have means are in trouble here.

As a Lutheran, this text is challenging because it seems to suggest some connection between my behavior towards the poor and my getting into heaven.

I believe that getting into heaven is a gift, a free gift of God's grace that does not depend on my behavior.

What is going on in this parable?

What are we to make of it?

 

To me, the key to this parable is the chasm that exists between the rich man and Lazarus.

In life, there was a chasm between them.

One of them ate and lived a lavish life.

One of them had all they needed.

And because of that wealth and privilege didn't see the poor man at his door.

Not only that but did not care about the plight of this person experiencing poverty.

It would seem the issue here is one of being able to see, it is about bridging a chasm.

 

And we have to be honest there are all sorts of chasms between other people and us.

Some of it is cultural.

It is about what we grow up with, and understand to be how life should be.

We can't always see the goodness of others through our cultural experiences.

Some of it is economical.

We don't really know what it is to experience poverty.

We can't see why someone would make certain choices about life.
We can't understand why they just don't work harder.

And of course, there is just a chasm of people with a different understanding of the world.

There is a chasm of misunderstanding one another.

 

The issue in our Gospel this morning is how we bridge those chasms.

How do we connect with people who are not us?

How do we see other people, as people?

 

I want you all to know that one of the reasons I was so fired up about bringing Family Promise to Concord was so that we as a congregation would have an opportunity to be around people experiencing poverty.

Often times when we help people experiencing poverty we are removed from the people themselves.

We give money, or a can of food, or a coat we don't need anymore.

We do this without ever having to get close to the actual people.

It is through Family Promise we could bridge the chasm that exists between us and people trying to survive without all the resources we have.

I was hoping that through that experience we would come to see the issues faced by the families we encountered through Family Promise.

Over the years talking to those families I know I got a better sense of what they were facing.

 

First of all, we must say that poverty is violence.

It is violence because it dehumanizes people.

It puts them into a category.

And we as a society tend to view those living in poverty as lazy, mentally ill, or having a substance abuse problem.

Those things might be true for some people, but it is a shallow analysis of the problem.

It takes away the societal systems that lead to poverty.

It does not take into account that poverty in most cases is generational.

It is passed down.

And it does not take into account the uniqueness of each person.

 

I have seen in Family Promise how poverty robs so many of making choices.

How it makes families live in chaos.

How it makes families have to really work extra hard for just the basic amount of human needs.

Poverty robs us of what is most precious and needed in life.

 

This is Jesus' point.

Because in Jesus' day, just like ours, many religious people believed that people that lived in poverty did so because they deserved it.

They had done something wrong.

They didn't live the righteous life that God demanded and their poverty was because of this.

Jesus teaching this morning directly contradicts that idea.

In the text, Lazarus is rewarded with eternal life in heavenly glory, while the rich man ends up in eternal torment.

This would have been a shocking twist to Jesus' hearers.

 

In this way, the text is infused with grace.

What we do on this earth is not about rewards and punishment.

Those who are given eternal glory are given it only because of God's grace.

It is not earned through a righteous life.

What we think on this earth of as success might not be what God thinks is successful.

We treat people living in poverty as a problem to be solved, God treats them with grace and love.

 

For me, this is the takeaway for today.

That it isn't about trying to earn my way into heaven.

It is about living out the grace that God has given unto me.

It is about seeing in others God's grace present.

It is seeing all the world through those eyes.

And in doing that we close the chasm that exists between us.

If God is in all people then I can see and appreciate each person for who they are.

 

I can overcome my economically privileged place.

I can see other people who are begging at my door.

And I can advocate for people living in poverty.

I can work for a more equitable and just world.

I can see.

But none of that is done to make favor with God.

Jesus tells us that we have everything we need to know God's goodness to us.

We know what God expects of us.

We have been given the grace to know God intimately and deeply.

We know that God deals with the world through mercy and grace.

The problems come when we don't know that.

It comes when we think we have earned our privileged life, instead of it being a gift.

 

Jesus is telling this parable to rich religious people.

He is telling it to people like you and me.

And trying to get them, and us, to see that it really isn't about doing the right things so God will reward you.

But living in the understanding of God's grace.

 

That is how we bridge the chasm.

Not through trying to be good, but by seeing God's action in the world.

It is through seeing other human beings that are different from us as God sees them.

It is through the law, prophets, and the resurrected Christ that we know of God's love and grace.

It is through our faith in that God that we bridge the chasm.

May all of us be able to see our neighbor, and act with grace and love as Jesus would.

Amen