1st Sunday after Trinity + Luke 16:19-31

Grace and Peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The rich man dies and goes to hell. He goes to Hell not because he’s rich but because he’s set his heart on his riches. He found his joy in his wealth. He lived for the sake of accumulating and enjoying the best things this life could offer. Consider how Christ describes him. He “was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.” He word the most expensive color of clothing, the color of kings. He fared sumptuously every day. His table was set with the richest foods and the finest wines, not once a month, not once a week, but every day. This man was the epitome of wealth. There’s nothing wrong with wealth. It isn’t sinful to be rich. Look at the saints of the Old Testament. Abraham was quite wealthy. He acquired “sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels” from Pharaoh (Genesis 12:16). He had “three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house” (Genesis 14:14). David had riches as king, as did his son Solomon. Solomon even wrote in Ecclesiastes 5:19 that it is God who gives wealth and gives man the power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor. All this is a gift from God. So it’s not the possessing of riches that damns.

This man goes to Hell because He had no faith in God. Riches were his highest good. He set his heart on them. He expected every good thing from them, so that as long as he had wealthy and luxury, he had had God’s favor. In his heart, riches and wealth had become his god. Jesus said a few verses prior to today’s reading, “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Luke 16:13). St. Paul tells Timothy, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Not money itself, but the love of money, serving wealth, pursuing riches as if riches were the highest good in this life, that is the root of all kinds of evil. This man had no faith. He felt no need to trust God to provide anything for him. He imagined that his riches and luxury were signs of God’s favor, so he had no reason to listen to Moses and the Prophets. Imagining that his wealth was a sign of divine favor, he had no reason to repent of his sins. He had no reason to look forward to the promise of the Messiah from sin. He had no reason to trust God for the life of the world to come because if this life was good, the life to come could only be better.

Because he has no faith, he doesn’t have any love either. He loves his wealth and his lifestyle. But since he doesn’t love God he doesn’t love his fellowman. If he loved God in even the slightest bit he wouldn’t have let poor Lazarus languish at his gate. If the rich man understood that the Lord had blessed him with such good things out of sheer grace and favor, he would have gladly fed Lazarus with the scraps from his table. Faith works through love. St. John writes in the Epistle for today, “If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also” (1 John 4:20-21). The rich man’s lack of faith is evident from his lack of love. Since he had closed his ears to Moses and the Prophets, he saw no need to help his brother at the gate with even the crumbs from his lavish table. He has no love because he has no faith. That is why he dies and goes to Hell.

Lazarus is the rich man’s opposite in every way though. He has no wealth. He has nothing. He’s not clothed in soft purple garments. He’s covered in sores. He doesn’t feast sumptuously each day. He can’t work because of his illness and so he must beg for his daily bread. But he has faith. He heard Moses and the Prophets. He repented of his sins. He looked for the coming of the Messiah from sin. Lazarus patiently looked forward to another life, the life of the world to come, where all these earthly griefs of this life would end. He had no good works but this is because he didn’t have the health or ability. How do we know Lazarus had faith in Christ? Because of where he ends up. Lazarus dies and “was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom.” In life, Lazarus was so destitute that he was only accompanied by dogs. In death he was accompanied by the holy angels who took him to paradise. That Lazarus believed God’s Word and waited patiently for its fulfillment is evident from the fact that he’s taken to Abraham’s bosom. Abraham is the father of faith. Abraham “believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). Lazarus is a true child of Abraham because he believes God’s Word in Moses and the Prophets. In faith he waits patiently for the Lord to fulfill His promises. And fulfill them the Lord does. He doesn’t heal Lazarus in this life, or give him food, or soft clothing. He brings him to His heavenly home, that paradise where “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

Jesus tells us this parable so that no matter how much wealth we have, or how much we lack, we don’t set our hearts on wealth. He doesn’t want us to trust that if we have wealth we have God’s favor, as if wealth and health were signs that God is happy with us. The Holy Spirit says in Psalm 62:10, “If riches increase, Do not set your heart on them.” Don’t trust in riches because riches are fleeting. Wealth can be here one day and be gone the next. If God gives you good health, don’t set your heart on that either, so that you use it as a barometer of God’s favor, because as you know, health often fails when we least expect it. If God has given you good things in life, enjoy them because they’re gifts from God. But do not make them the highest good. Don’t put your trust in them. Don’t find your security in them. “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Luke 16:13), but the Lord God alone you shall serve. Look to Him as the highest good. Make His promises your treasured possession, so that in the day of plenty you won’t abuse His gifts, but use them for the sake of those around you in need. St. Paul says, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). Love won’t get you into heaven, only faith can do that. But faith works through love so that where there is faith there is true love for neighbor.

And if the Lord sends you lack instead of plenty, if He covers you with sores instead of soft garments, if your daily bread isn’t as much as someone else’s, don’t set your heart on the riches and health you don’t have. Don’t despair in the day of want and trouble, but in true faith, wait patiently for the Lord to end your griefs. He will fulfill His promises, perhaps not in this life, but for certain in the life of the world to come. No matter what God has given you in this life, He has given you Moses and the Prophets, and since you live after the Messiah has come, also the Evangelists and Apostles! Hear them. No matter what God temporal blessings God has given, or withheld, He has commanded all men everywhere to repent and flee to Christ Jesus in faith, trusting in Him for the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. Faith alone justifies sinners, so that like Lazarus and Abraham, to believe in Christ is to have everlasting life in paradise, where the grief and sadness of this life is no more, and all the promises of God to you are fulfilled. Amen.