Closing the Chasm

Photo by David Lusvardi on Unsplash

Luke 16:19-31

What we just read reminds me of the story of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.  For those who don’t know the story, Ebenezer Scrooge is a rich and selfish businessman. He overworks and underpays his clerk Bob Cratchit and doesn’t care about other people.  One Christmas Eve, Scrooge is first visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley who is forced to wander the earth chained to heavy boxes of money.  Marley tells Scrooge he will be visited by three spirits: the ghost of Christmas past, the ghost of Christmas present, and the ghost of Christmas future.  The first spirit shows Ebenezer Scrooge his childhood years of innocence.  The second shows him current Christmas dinners, including Bob Cratchit’s family and his seriously ill son Tiny Tim.  The third spirit shows Scrooge what the future will be like if he does not change his ways: a future where nobody mourns his death and where Tiny Tim dies an early death and where Scrooge’s wealth has not helped anyone experience a better life.  Scrooge wakes up the next morning and it’s Christmas Day.  He is blessed with a second chance!  He donates to charity and attends his nephew’s Christmas party.  He gives Bob Cratchit a significant pay raise and pledges to help Tiny Tim be healthy and strong. 

At first it may seem that it’s the threat of the future that scares Ebenezer Scrooge into being kind and generous.  But many point out that the biggest change may have come about through witnessing Christmas present.  Seeing clearly the misfortune Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim seem to cause a heart of heart, even before he sees the ghost of Christmas future.  The story seems to suggest it was a combination of remembering kindness shown to him in the past, understanding the misfortunes of others in the present, and seeing the consequences of the future that work together to transform Scrooge into a kind and generous man with a second chance on life.

In the Gospel reading today Jesus tells a parable of a man who does not get a second chance.  He’s an unnamed rich man who lived lavishly in his earthly life.  He wore the best clothes and ate the best food and never paid attention to the poor, even a poor man named Lazarus who was just outside his gate.  The poor man Lazarus died and was carried by angels to be with Abraham.  The rich man died and went to Hades.  Now it’s important to understand that this is a parable, not a literal description of the afterlife.  Jesus was using the common imagery of the time to get his point across, his purpose was not necessarily to say that common imagery about the afterlife was right or wrong.  Nor was his purpose to promote works righteousness, the idea that doing good deeds earns us good rewards and bad deeds bad consequences.  Parables are not just stories to teach us morals.  They are usually about transforming our way of seeing and understanding the world.  The Greek word often translated “repent” that appears at the end of this parable, more literally means “transform your mind”.  The parables of Jesus are always a call to deepen our spiritual awareness in some way, to transform our way of being.   

With that in mind, we see that the point of the parable is more than just learning to be afraid of punishment.  This parable is a call to awareness.  This is the sense we get from the parable’s conclusion: “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone rises from the dead.”  Jesus is calling us to be aware of the Lazaruses around us.  Aware of the poor man, woman, or child at your gate.  The parable is a call to awareness and a call to action.  A call to repent of our selfishness and greed, to cultivate our generosity and to share God’s goodness with those in need.  

We live in a world of tremendous inequality.  A recent Oxfam report showed that the richest 26 people on earth possess as much wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population (of about 4 billion people).  And the wealthiest 3 Americans people possess as much wealth as the bottom half of Americans.  There’s enough money and enough food and enough shelter in the world to take care of everybody, we just don’t do it.  Every Christian should be outraged by this.  The Bible tells us over and over and over again to care for the poor, the sick, and the oppressed.  I think it’s fair to say that economic justice is THE issue God is most concerned with in the Old Testament prophets like Amos who we read this morning, and in the New Testament teachings of Jesus, when it comes to teaching God’s children how to live on Earth together. 

And yet, just like there is a chasm between the rich man and Lazarus, so there is a chasm between the way world is and the way God intends it to be.  This chasm is represented by the gate the rich man uses to shut Lazarus out.  This great chasm, this barrier between the rich man and Lazarus is a barrier their society created long ago, and which the rich man himself reinforced his whole life. 

And so maybe the point of the parable is to become aware of that chasm and to work to close it, to cross that chasm in our own lives, to break barriers with the destitute of the world and demand social change and radical transformation of the way the world works.  That’s what Jesus wants Christians to do: demand that we no longer live in a world where people starve to death!  Demand that we no longer live in a world where people are homeless!  Demand that we no longer live in a world where people die in war and violence! 

The point of this parable isn’t to make us feel guilty that we haven’t given enough to the poor.  The point isn’t to make us fearful of burning in hell.  The point isn’t to make us feel we have to do more good to earn a spot in heaven.  This parable is calling us to see the world differently.  To recognize what the rich man failed to see in his life.  To recognize what Ebenezer Scrooge did learn to recognize in his visions.  To follow Christ’s call to establish a better world.  To manifest God’s way of being on this planet.  And that means crossing the great chasm, breaking down barriers, not building up walls or reinforcing division. 

Living up to Christ’s call means caring for the poor and marginalized, seeing the Lazaruses in our world today.  Not because we have to in order to earn a spot in heaven (we already have that by grace), but doing so because we long for the world God longs for.  Because we love the people God loves.  And because we are transformed by the Spirit into people who seek God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Let us commit ourselves to closing the chasm, breaking down barriers, and creating a better world.  Following the call of Jesus and participating in the new creation God is building. 

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Pastor Brian | September 28, 2025