The rich man in the gospel this weekend thought that wealth, honor and
prestige were all there is to life. He was oblivious to the fact that our ultimate
flourishing is yet to come. But what is even worse is for him to be completely
absorbed in himself, not being able to see anyone around him, unmindful of the
presence of Lazarus who was in front of him begging for scraps of food. In Dante’s Inferno, when he travelled to the lowest part, where he found himself at the mouth of Satan, he described the place as extremely cold. The coldest place that one can ever be. It is cold because Satan, being so full of himself, being so self-absorbed and narcissistic can’t possibly exude any kind warmth. In fact, Dante said that Satan was so focused on himself that he didn’t even realize that someone was passing in front of him. That is how extremely and exaggeratedly self-absorbed he is. It’s all about me..me..me..me. There’s no such thing as the “other.” We always have a picture of hell as full of fire, always burning just like what we heard from the Gospel, but it can also be very cold because it is characterized by self-absorption, selfishness, egoism, stripped of warmth just like the rich man in the parable. And, just like what is hinted in the Gospel today, heaven or hell starts right here in this world.
This parable is an invitation to genuine conversion. Jesus was telling his immediate audience, the Pharisees, that authentic love for God doesn’t just mean complying to the external obligations of my faith, or that I can intellectually understand the complexities of my religion (remember that the Pharisees were the experts of the law), or to see faith purely in terms of rituals, smoke and incense, but truly it involves becoming vulnerable to the difficulties and sufferings of people around me. And, that I feel shocked, moved and compelled to do something whenever there is injustice, whenever there is abuse in whatever form. God doesn’t ask us to carry the burden of the world. He doesn’t expect us to be the Messiah. We have only one Messiah. But, we are all called to make sure that we are always in right relationships with others. And, that we do the best that we can to alleviate the suffering of others. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act." At times, we don’t even have to look too far – sometimes within our families, there are people who like Lazarus are waiting for a scrap of mercy – waiting to be recognized and be seen, or probably waiting to be visited because no family member has seen them or visited for ages. The name Lazarus in Hebrew means, “The one God cares for.” And Lazarus here, as poor, doesn’t only represent those who are materially poor, but also those who are suffering from all other kinds of poverty – a growing son or daughter who is waiting to be trusted by their parents, a wife who in all these years has been begging for the love and respect of her husband, a husband who is asking for understanding and appreciation for his great sacrifices for his family, or a prison convict who is pleading for a second chance after being released from jail — the list could go on and on.
Jesus reminds us not to commit the same mistake of the rich man. He lost his opportunity to make it right. The rich man in the parable wasted his opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others. He wasn’t being asked to solve the problem of his entire community or the world, but was only being asked to be a good neighbor – to be compassionate to those who are around him. When he wanted to make it right, it was too late for him. God only gives us one life, and we really have to make the most out of it. There’s no time to waste when it comes to loving, forgiving and caring. Who is the Lazarus or the Lazarus’s in our own lives who are waiting and asking us to see and recognize them? At the end of our lives, God won’t ask us many questions. I don’t think he will ask how much money did we have in the bank, or what brand of clothes did we wear. But, he will ask how much we have loved because it is what truly matters in the end — because that is who He is, God is love. And, if we share in his very image and likeness, then it is also who we are. – Fr. Cary