Dog-Licked Sores And Linen Underwear
Preaching
The Parables Of Jesus And Their Flip Side
Cycles A, B, and C
Object:
I wonder if there has ever been a study of how the kind of underwear we wear affects our behavior. This wealthy man named Dives in our parable for today wore underwear of fine linen, according to Luke. In fact, he said that the man was so wealthy that he "... lived in luxury every day" (Luke 16:19b). Purple was the color of royal robes and "fine linen" described the very best undergarments. There is nothing wrong with his fine underwear except that he thought everyone wore it. Listen to this wonderfully told story so that not a sentence is wasted.
1)*There was this very wealthy man who lived luxuriously, not a couple days a week, but all the time. In contrast, there was a cripple covered with sores who begged at his gate. His name was Lazarus, which means "God is my help." It's a good thing God was his help because Dives didn't even seem to notice this wretched man who was so weak he couldn't keep the dogs from licking his open sores. The man had wasted there day after day to get the hunks of bread used by the rich to wipe their hands in place of napkins. Dives walked by in his purple, royal robe and linen underwear without seeing the pitiful scene.
Then the two died and everything is reversed. The one with the sores of poverty went straight to heaven and the one with the fine underwear went straight to hell! Typical of the aloof and wealthy, Dives thought Lazarus should come and help him. But no -- there was a big gulf between the two so that it was not possible!
Then Dives got serious and asked Abraham to send someone to warn his five brothers about how it is in eternity for the linen undergarment wearers. But Abraham said simply that if they hadn't listened to Moses and the prophets they probably wouldn't "be convinced even if someone rises from the dead" (Luke 16:31b).
A little later we'll look at the flip side of this marvelous story and what the motivations are for our good works, the lesson about witnessing to our own family members, and something about heaven and hell. None of which will have anything to do with the kind of underwear we put on.
2)Now let's turn to the more traditional approach to this parable. It tells us a lot about our God. It says loud and clear that what God delights in is our having compassion on others.
Luke had written Jesus' words earlier, "What is highly valued among people is detestable in God's sight" (Luke 16:15b). In other words, God hasn't ordered it that some be so rich and live so luxuriously and others like Lazarus have such a pitiful existence. I'm certain God also loves us all alike: the wealthy, the poor, the misfit, the extrovert, the manipulator, the dependent, the con man, and the straight arrow.
There are situations which God must permit to exist in order to be a dependable God. That doesn't mean God wants them to be like that. This beggar with the dogs and sores was one of them. Our God is a loving one who wants the very best for us. And one who just might be a bit reluctant to receive us into heaven in our silk underwear when all around us there are those who can afford none at all.
I've heard misguided preaching, especially in Brazil and Chile, South America, and from German Lutheran pulpits which claimed that the poor's worldly situation was bad but that it was God's will. However, they would be rewarded in heaven for putting up with their worldly situation.
They may have wrongly interpreted this parable or maybe they were wearing the fine linen underwear themselves. In any case, it's just not true. God wants our circumstances to be the best possible and when they are, wants us to help those whose are not.
3)This story also tells us about ourselves. One of the curses of wealth happens when we begin to overlook those who don't have it, like Dives did Lazarus. In his fine robes and linen underwear he didn't see those in need around him. He might even become so divorced from the real earthly world that he assumed everyone could live, eat, and dress as he did.
We Americans can be like that. If we have not traveled to other countries we assume everyone has it as good as we do. And when the occasional television news program shows abject poverty which is a part of so much of the world, we are stunned to see it. Or we get such a steady diet of those pictures of famine and disease we become immune to their pull on our heart.
Isaiah 58:7 points out that the kind of fasting God wants of us is "... to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderers with shelter -- when you see the naked, to cloth them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood."
During one of my visits with our foster daughter, now living in Montevideo, Uruguay, she wanted to show me the cathedral where the Pope had recently celebrated mass. When we got to the massive main wooden doors there was a homeless woman lying there in rags and throwing up. Our daughter, Beatriz, bent over to see if she could help. Her husband, Antonio, said the woman was there every day and that we should step over her and go in to see the fabulous church. Beatriz refused and stated: "First we help this woman, then we'll see the beauty of the cathedral."
That day I saw the beauty of compassion far beyond that of a grand cathedral. Our tendency is to not even notice. Jesus tells us to do differently. We must see and help on God's behalf.
4)My guess is that Luke recorded this story for us because he thought that after Jesus' crucifixion and Easter resurrection and the return in the Spirit at Pentecost, this would explain why the religious of his day refused to be converted even though Easter had taken place and there were many witnesses to it. Jesus says, "... if they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead" (Luke 16:31b). And, of course, that's exactly what he did and many were not convinced either.
I suspect Luke wanted to hold up Jesus' teaching here that there would be a reversal of roles in the afterlife, too. He probably took delight in that almost vindictive idea that the rich would be poor and the poor rich. No more fine linen underwear for old Dives and no less than the angels carried poor Lazarus right to the side of Father Abraham.
While it may have been the reason Luke recorded this parable for us, I doubt it's what Jesus wanted to teach from it. He wanted us to see the needy in our midst and for his sake help them. He wanted us to be aware of the dangers of wealth addiction which could dull our sensitivity to those who have so much less.
5)Now let's look for a fresh and new approach to an old, old story. If we turn this parable upside down and look at its other side, we learn a little about the afterlife, something about witnessing to our family members, and a new motivation after the crucifixion to have compassion for those less fortunate than us.
It's wrong to consider this hypothetical teaching story as a lesson on the mechanics of eternal life. But we can say a little about how we see those "states of being" now in the twenty-first century. I like the contemporary definition of heaven as being with God and as hell as being left alone by our own choice.
The rest of the Bible gives us very little to go on other than to say it won't be the same for everyone beyond the grave. Most of us reject the old idea of hell as torment or a heaven of gold pavement and pearly gates. But we know Jesus died on a cross so we might know God's forgiveness and love for us, and Jesus came out of the grave so that we need not worry about our grave either. We might add it's what God did that makes this possible and not what we do here on earth that makes us deserving of our reward.
The way we help others, I believe, also demonstrates what heaven might be like. An evangelist, Tom Skinner, told us at a Florida conference: "God's intention is that the church shall establish itself in an alien territory so people can see what heaven is like. We pray it in the Lord's Prayer. It's like the English came to Africa and Africans could see what living in England is like." So we have compassion on the poor at our door and others can taste a little heaven.
Remember Jesus told this story before he had died for us. Back then, one's heaven or hell was completely dependent on how one lived life here. Today, after the cross of Calvary we have a much better and happier motivation for noticing those in need and helping them.
If we really believe God's son has died a cruel death for our forgiveness and that God's son came out of the grave so we might also, then we have compassion on others because of all God has done for us. We love others because God first loved us. We feel sorry for others because God shows sorrow for us -- not in order to have heaven with Abraham, but in order to respond properly to the accomplished fact we have heaven given to us as undeserving as we are.
Martin Luther claimed we don't do good deeds to be saved, but if we are saved we just can't help ourselves but to do them. And I'd add -- that's whether we can afford linen underwear or not!
Did you notice that there was some compassion expressed by Dives? He said to Abraham, "... send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also came to this place of torment" (Luke 16:27-28).
While it certainly wasn't in the original story to encourage us to speak to our family members about the faith, I don't think it dishonest to use it that way. Statistics in the U.S. reveal that each one of us hearing this sermon knows six to eight unchurched people who live near enough to this church to be active members. Many of these are members of our own family.
I'm reminded by the parable that it's a good thing and right that we have heart-to-heart talks to them about our faith. We can do this in a non-judgmental, loving, concerned way that neither offends nor turns them off to Christ and the church. It's often just a matter of inviting them to come to worship with you. It might mean telling them about your relationship to God and God's people and then listening for them to share theirs. By all means it does not mean to threaten with punishment or hell.
In an effective witness to people you know and care about (i.e., family members) there ought to be three stories shared: your story, their story, and God's story. When those intersect, the Spirit of God can be most effective.
In this parable, Abraham said he doubted if someone rose from the dead it would convince those five brothers. But in our case, now that one did rise from the dead, it's often a matter of inviting. If this parable can get us to do this, it certainly will have been worth Jesus' time in telling it and Luke's effort in writing it down.
6)I'll be interested in hearing what all of you think we should do as individual Christians and as a congregation of compassionate disciples of Jesus because we have considered this parable. We ought to pray for a new sensitivity to the plight of the poor and for the insight of how best to help them. We ought to be warned of getting calloused to need which may be all around us.
We ought to resolve to thank God for our undeserved eternity by inviting those most apt to accept our witness to God's grace. And if you think of a person right now who could use your help, why not try even yet today?
7)Our Uruguayan daughter Beatriz's words sound clearly in my ears yet today: "First we'll help the woman, then we'll see the cathedral."
It would be an interesting study to see if the type of underwear we wear affects our behavior. I suspect it does. I suspect it affected rich Dives and poor Lazarus also. Nevertheless, wear what we like or nothing at all -- we are challenged to take notice and do something about the Lazarus at our door.
____________
*The numbers in this sermon correspond to the steps outlined in the introduction to this book for preaching on a parable.
1)*There was this very wealthy man who lived luxuriously, not a couple days a week, but all the time. In contrast, there was a cripple covered with sores who begged at his gate. His name was Lazarus, which means "God is my help." It's a good thing God was his help because Dives didn't even seem to notice this wretched man who was so weak he couldn't keep the dogs from licking his open sores. The man had wasted there day after day to get the hunks of bread used by the rich to wipe their hands in place of napkins. Dives walked by in his purple, royal robe and linen underwear without seeing the pitiful scene.
Then the two died and everything is reversed. The one with the sores of poverty went straight to heaven and the one with the fine underwear went straight to hell! Typical of the aloof and wealthy, Dives thought Lazarus should come and help him. But no -- there was a big gulf between the two so that it was not possible!
Then Dives got serious and asked Abraham to send someone to warn his five brothers about how it is in eternity for the linen undergarment wearers. But Abraham said simply that if they hadn't listened to Moses and the prophets they probably wouldn't "be convinced even if someone rises from the dead" (Luke 16:31b).
A little later we'll look at the flip side of this marvelous story and what the motivations are for our good works, the lesson about witnessing to our own family members, and something about heaven and hell. None of which will have anything to do with the kind of underwear we put on.
2)Now let's turn to the more traditional approach to this parable. It tells us a lot about our God. It says loud and clear that what God delights in is our having compassion on others.
Luke had written Jesus' words earlier, "What is highly valued among people is detestable in God's sight" (Luke 16:15b). In other words, God hasn't ordered it that some be so rich and live so luxuriously and others like Lazarus have such a pitiful existence. I'm certain God also loves us all alike: the wealthy, the poor, the misfit, the extrovert, the manipulator, the dependent, the con man, and the straight arrow.
There are situations which God must permit to exist in order to be a dependable God. That doesn't mean God wants them to be like that. This beggar with the dogs and sores was one of them. Our God is a loving one who wants the very best for us. And one who just might be a bit reluctant to receive us into heaven in our silk underwear when all around us there are those who can afford none at all.
I've heard misguided preaching, especially in Brazil and Chile, South America, and from German Lutheran pulpits which claimed that the poor's worldly situation was bad but that it was God's will. However, they would be rewarded in heaven for putting up with their worldly situation.
They may have wrongly interpreted this parable or maybe they were wearing the fine linen underwear themselves. In any case, it's just not true. God wants our circumstances to be the best possible and when they are, wants us to help those whose are not.
3)This story also tells us about ourselves. One of the curses of wealth happens when we begin to overlook those who don't have it, like Dives did Lazarus. In his fine robes and linen underwear he didn't see those in need around him. He might even become so divorced from the real earthly world that he assumed everyone could live, eat, and dress as he did.
We Americans can be like that. If we have not traveled to other countries we assume everyone has it as good as we do. And when the occasional television news program shows abject poverty which is a part of so much of the world, we are stunned to see it. Or we get such a steady diet of those pictures of famine and disease we become immune to their pull on our heart.
Isaiah 58:7 points out that the kind of fasting God wants of us is "... to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderers with shelter -- when you see the naked, to cloth them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood."
During one of my visits with our foster daughter, now living in Montevideo, Uruguay, she wanted to show me the cathedral where the Pope had recently celebrated mass. When we got to the massive main wooden doors there was a homeless woman lying there in rags and throwing up. Our daughter, Beatriz, bent over to see if she could help. Her husband, Antonio, said the woman was there every day and that we should step over her and go in to see the fabulous church. Beatriz refused and stated: "First we help this woman, then we'll see the beauty of the cathedral."
That day I saw the beauty of compassion far beyond that of a grand cathedral. Our tendency is to not even notice. Jesus tells us to do differently. We must see and help on God's behalf.
4)My guess is that Luke recorded this story for us because he thought that after Jesus' crucifixion and Easter resurrection and the return in the Spirit at Pentecost, this would explain why the religious of his day refused to be converted even though Easter had taken place and there were many witnesses to it. Jesus says, "... if they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead" (Luke 16:31b). And, of course, that's exactly what he did and many were not convinced either.
I suspect Luke wanted to hold up Jesus' teaching here that there would be a reversal of roles in the afterlife, too. He probably took delight in that almost vindictive idea that the rich would be poor and the poor rich. No more fine linen underwear for old Dives and no less than the angels carried poor Lazarus right to the side of Father Abraham.
While it may have been the reason Luke recorded this parable for us, I doubt it's what Jesus wanted to teach from it. He wanted us to see the needy in our midst and for his sake help them. He wanted us to be aware of the dangers of wealth addiction which could dull our sensitivity to those who have so much less.
5)Now let's look for a fresh and new approach to an old, old story. If we turn this parable upside down and look at its other side, we learn a little about the afterlife, something about witnessing to our family members, and a new motivation after the crucifixion to have compassion for those less fortunate than us.
It's wrong to consider this hypothetical teaching story as a lesson on the mechanics of eternal life. But we can say a little about how we see those "states of being" now in the twenty-first century. I like the contemporary definition of heaven as being with God and as hell as being left alone by our own choice.
The rest of the Bible gives us very little to go on other than to say it won't be the same for everyone beyond the grave. Most of us reject the old idea of hell as torment or a heaven of gold pavement and pearly gates. But we know Jesus died on a cross so we might know God's forgiveness and love for us, and Jesus came out of the grave so that we need not worry about our grave either. We might add it's what God did that makes this possible and not what we do here on earth that makes us deserving of our reward.
The way we help others, I believe, also demonstrates what heaven might be like. An evangelist, Tom Skinner, told us at a Florida conference: "God's intention is that the church shall establish itself in an alien territory so people can see what heaven is like. We pray it in the Lord's Prayer. It's like the English came to Africa and Africans could see what living in England is like." So we have compassion on the poor at our door and others can taste a little heaven.
Remember Jesus told this story before he had died for us. Back then, one's heaven or hell was completely dependent on how one lived life here. Today, after the cross of Calvary we have a much better and happier motivation for noticing those in need and helping them.
If we really believe God's son has died a cruel death for our forgiveness and that God's son came out of the grave so we might also, then we have compassion on others because of all God has done for us. We love others because God first loved us. We feel sorry for others because God shows sorrow for us -- not in order to have heaven with Abraham, but in order to respond properly to the accomplished fact we have heaven given to us as undeserving as we are.
Martin Luther claimed we don't do good deeds to be saved, but if we are saved we just can't help ourselves but to do them. And I'd add -- that's whether we can afford linen underwear or not!
Did you notice that there was some compassion expressed by Dives? He said to Abraham, "... send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also came to this place of torment" (Luke 16:27-28).
While it certainly wasn't in the original story to encourage us to speak to our family members about the faith, I don't think it dishonest to use it that way. Statistics in the U.S. reveal that each one of us hearing this sermon knows six to eight unchurched people who live near enough to this church to be active members. Many of these are members of our own family.
I'm reminded by the parable that it's a good thing and right that we have heart-to-heart talks to them about our faith. We can do this in a non-judgmental, loving, concerned way that neither offends nor turns them off to Christ and the church. It's often just a matter of inviting them to come to worship with you. It might mean telling them about your relationship to God and God's people and then listening for them to share theirs. By all means it does not mean to threaten with punishment or hell.
In an effective witness to people you know and care about (i.e., family members) there ought to be three stories shared: your story, their story, and God's story. When those intersect, the Spirit of God can be most effective.
In this parable, Abraham said he doubted if someone rose from the dead it would convince those five brothers. But in our case, now that one did rise from the dead, it's often a matter of inviting. If this parable can get us to do this, it certainly will have been worth Jesus' time in telling it and Luke's effort in writing it down.
6)I'll be interested in hearing what all of you think we should do as individual Christians and as a congregation of compassionate disciples of Jesus because we have considered this parable. We ought to pray for a new sensitivity to the plight of the poor and for the insight of how best to help them. We ought to be warned of getting calloused to need which may be all around us.
We ought to resolve to thank God for our undeserved eternity by inviting those most apt to accept our witness to God's grace. And if you think of a person right now who could use your help, why not try even yet today?
7)Our Uruguayan daughter Beatriz's words sound clearly in my ears yet today: "First we'll help the woman, then we'll see the cathedral."
It would be an interesting study to see if the type of underwear we wear affects our behavior. I suspect it does. I suspect it affected rich Dives and poor Lazarus also. Nevertheless, wear what we like or nothing at all -- we are challenged to take notice and do something about the Lazarus at our door.
____________
*The numbers in this sermon correspond to the steps outlined in the introduction to this book for preaching on a parable.
