The Gospel for this First Sunday after Trinity places before us this truth. When you die, there are only two possibilities – heaven or hell – eternal life or eternal death – eternal comfort or eternal anguish and torment. Heaven is God’s gift to unworthy sinners for Christ’s sake. Hell is actually what all sinners deserve on account of sin.
The topic of eternal damnation is uncomfortable for some. As a result, they deny the existence of hell. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists teach that there’s no such place as hell where people suffer eternal punishment for their sins. Many Christians also deny hell. Or, they may say that hell exists but it’s only for really bad people, such as Joseph Stalin or Adolf Hitler.
Yet, Jesus reveals to us today that heaven and hell are real place where real people go. He teaches us that those who go to heaven stay there, and those who go to hell stay there. It is not a place of “purgation” or purgatory. We are told that “…a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from [heaven] to [hell] may not be able, and none may cross from [hell] to [heaven]” (Luke 16:26). So, why eternal life and comfort for some, and eternal death and anguish for others? To answer this question, we consider today’s Gospel – the parable of the Rich man and the beggar Lazarus.
The rich man is described as one, “…who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day”. (Luke 16:19). The poor beggar Lazarus is described as one “clothed” with sores and suffering “he was covered with sores”.
Upon hearing this description, it’s easy for us to despise the rich man and exalt the poor beggar, Lazarus. We despise the rich man because of his great wealth. We exalt Lazarus because he occupied the lowest position in the community. We picture him as a humble and lowly man. Because of this, there’s the temptation to think that this economic and social difference is why Lazarus ends up in heaven and the rich man in hell.
However, the text doesn’t say the rich man was a terrible person. If we had lived in same community as he did, maybe we wouldn’t have such a low opinion of him. The fact he was “clothed in purple and fine linen” indicates he was a prominent person in the community. Perhaps, he was leader or merchant whose businesses fueled the local economy. Perhaps he allowed Lazarus, a poor beggar, to sit at his gate specifically so that he may give him money and food.
Lazarus, on the other hand, might not have been so humble and lowly. The text says only that he’s poor, not that he’s good. He could’ve had as many sins and flaws as anyone else. He could have had possessions and wealth at one point in his life but could have gambled them away. And then, left without resources to care for himself, ended up lame and covered in sores. Who knows?
What we know is that, “The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side” (Luke 16:22-23). We must not think Lazarus went to heaven simply because he’s poor. There are poor people who end up in hell. And we must not think the rich man goes to hell simply because he was rich. There are rich people who end up in heaven – think of Abraham, Job, and King David. Additionally, we must not think the rich man was a sinner and Lazarus wasn’t. They were both sinners before God who alone is holy and righteous. So again, what’s the reason for eternal life for one and eternal death for the other?
It has to do with “faith”; faith in one’s god. Luther, under the First Commandment in the Large Catechism, writes, “A god means that from which we are to expect all good and in which we are to take refuge and comfort in all distress” (LC I 2-3).
We must deduce that based on Jesus’ description of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man ended up in hell because his faith was not in the true God, that is the Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as revealed through Sacred Scripture. His gods were likely that which described him: his wealth, his clothing, food, and the like, perhaps all the things that he had achieved for himself, including his good name and reputation. These are the things to which he cleaved and found comfort.
In comparison, despite all his misfortune and sores, Lazarus’ God was the Lord – the God of Abraham – in whom Lazarus hoped despite having no good health and material goods, yet God was his help. In fact, that’s what the name Lazarus means, “God is my help.” Despite a lack of earthly success, his confession was, “…though I am a sinner…though I deserve nothing from God but both temporal and eternal punishment, I trust Him, whether for good or ill, because He is merciful to me a sinner through Jesus Christ my Lord.”
Of course, for ourselves, we would desire in the life to come: heaven; eternal life; eternal comfort. Yet, if we were to be honest, we also desire comfort now, in this life. We certainly do not wish to live here like Lazarus, who having no earthly goods, had nothing to hope in but an eternal future.
As discussed last week we sometimes doubt God and whether or not He will allow us to suffer like Lazarus, we don’t want to just hope for the future but want to experience comfort and joy now… Superficially, an argument could be made, yet there is a difference between enjoying life as it is lived, having optimism in the gift from God in this world on the one hand and worshiping those things, needing them so badly, that they define you, drive you in your work, and would eliminate your faith in God if they were taken away. That is sinful selfish human nature and response, when the created gifts become gods, because they comfort self.
So, consider this day, in who or what do you fear, love, and trust? What is the top priority in your life? Where do you spend most of your time and energy? What is it that you can’t live without? What is it that you fear most and why? Again, whatever you set your heart on, whatever you put your trust in, that is your god.
Let us this day, repent for the false gods and idols that we have made. Repent for the times you’ve feared, loved, and trusted in them instead of the true God, the Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Repent and pray that God would have mercy upon us sinful beggars, and that He keep us in the one true faith by crushing the idols of our lives, lest we lose the one thing needful for eternal life, that is faith in Christ and His life-giving Word.
The rich man in our parable never repents of his sin, not even in hell. As he’s in anguish and torment, he still doesn’t see his sin nor does he have any remorse. While there’s no hope for him, this isn’t necessarily the case with his five brothers.
You can imagine these men were just as wealthy. They trusted in the false gods of the world – wealth and a good name and reputation. Yet, they have Moses and the Prophets, that is they had the Word of God. Not only do they have God’s words of Law that accuses them of their sin. They have God’s words of the Gospel that reveals for them forgiveness of sins and eternal life through the promised Seed of Abraham.
This should be a comfort for you. While our lives closely resemble that of the rich man, we’re not without Moses and the Prophets. The certainty of eternal salvation is set before us through the words of Holy Scripture and you are here to hear God’s Word, to repent and be fed.
Remember what Jesus did for you and me beggarly sinners. Jesus, the Son of God joined human flesh to become a beggar like Lazarus. He emptied Himself entirely on the tree of the cross. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich!” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Christ set aside His divine rights, His divine wealth to accomplish redemption. It was His greatest delight to serve you, to take your sin upon Himself. He was willing to endure your punishment for sin, your hell – the torments of the flames. His death upon the cross makes the atoning sacrifice for all of your sins. And by the power of the forgiveness that He earned in His death, as the One true Lazarus, Christ rises from the dead.
It is He, your crucified and risen Lord, who says to you today, “‘Come to me…,’ as you struggle with idolatry, the things in this world you grow anxious over, the things you can’t live without. ‘Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest'” (Matt. 11:28). The rest He gives is the rest of sins forgiven. And where there’s forgiveness of sins, there’s also eternal life and salvation.
In the waters of Holy Baptism, He has clothed you, not with purple robes and fine linen, but with the robe of His righteousness by His shed blood. In the Sacrament of the Altar, He doesn’t feed you scraps from His table but bids you to come to His table so that He may give you His lifegiving very body and blood. Here you may feast sumptuously in the victory won for you for the forgiveness of your sins.
You don’t earn heaven by being poor. You aren’t kept out of heaven by being rich. The only way to heaven is through faith in Christ crucified and raised. The true God who is generous for us that we may live richly and generously for Him by His grace in faith and love for Him and each other. Heaven is God’s gift, and He gives it sinful beggars for Christ’s sake. Thanks be to God! Amen!
Pr. Aaron Kangas