Joshua 9:3-10:43
Luke 16:19-17:10
Psalm 83:1-18
Proverbs 13:4
"At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores."
In reading this passage, and reading about beggars in Biblical times, Lazarus's condition seems much worse than mere mendicancy. In Biblical times, the poor had resource and recourse - they were supposed to be able to glean in the fields; they were supposed to have an inalienable inheritance that would revert back in the year of the Jubilee. Not so, Lazarus. He wasn't just poor, he appeared disabled. Not only could he not glean, it didn't seem like he could move freely - hence he "was laid" at the rich man's gate, and couldn't get away from the dogs that "came and licked his sores".
Consider, then, what a gloriously incomprehensible 'riches-for-rags' experience it must have been for Lazarus when he finally died and found himself standing next to Abraham on the good side of the chasm. What must it have been like, when he returned to consciousness and thought "something is different". When it dawned on him what was missing was the pain to which he'd grown inured, the stench of sores he'd ceased to notice, the attention of dogs he'd been helpless to prevent. And then, when he was able to stand, to walk without difficulty, the ache of unused, perhaps injured limbs.
And all this before he'd even begun to take in all the change in his surroundings. Where there had been lack, there was now abundance; where there was stench, sweetness; where there was once every reason to wish for an end to all things, an inestimable joy at the prospect of eternity.
WHAT. A. CHANGE.
As happy as I am for Lazarus, I find myself aghast for the rich man. See, we know how bad Lazarus had it on earth - so it is easy to see how much better things were for him after death. Leaving aside the disastrous turn the rich man's circumstances took, what we may fail to see is that, even for the rich man, things could have been SO MUCH BETTER after death. That the good, finite life he enjoyed likely distracted him from the still infinitely better abundance of the God-filled life that could have been his throughout eternity.
The truth is, those of us reading (and writing) this - our lives have far more in common with the rich man than with Lazarus. We have regular access to the internet. Many of us live in a county whose per capita income ranks 13th out of over three thousand in the country. In a more global context, we have reliable power, running water, in house plumbing and such an abundance of resource we can afford inanities like "reality" tv and delusions about basic scientific fact.
We are tempted to think we have it really good. And the truth is, for the most part, we do. But, like the rich man, what we have threatens to capture our entire attention, to fool us into thinking this is as good as it gets, and to distract us from the infinite abundance our Lord hasn't just offered us, but has already purchased for us, at an unimaginably terrible price, and for such woefully undeserving recipients.
Father: please don't let us wait till our throats are so parched a drop of water would provide indescribable relief; grant us today an appreciation for the life You offer, that we might live for THAT eternity, rather than the limited and finite life we have today.
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