22nd Sunday After Pentecost-- The Rich Man and Lazarus

THE LORD’S PARABLE: A LESSON ABOUT AVARICE, NOT ABOUT THE FATE OF THE DAMNED

Brothers and sisters in Christ—

In the library of the Royal Academy of Physicians and Surgeons in Ottawa, there is a fascinating Coptic manuscript of a work by the second century medical doctor Celsus. The manuscript is referred to as Coptic Celsus 137.  That manuscript has a gloss, or marginal note, written by some interested but anonymous reader, that refers to today’s Gospel reading.  The note explains the problems and pitfalls of accepting too literal an interpretation of this parable of the Lord Jesus.  The note states right from the start that it is important for the reader to remember the central point: Jesus is explaining, as He does in several other places, that the obstacle to the Jewish authorities believing in Him is not some high-flown theological position, but their avarice.  The parable is a continuation of the previous section of the Gospel in which Jesus warns the people that they cannot serve God and money. Luke’s Gospel then says: “Now the Pharisees, who were covetous, heard all these things; and they derided him. And he said to them: You are they who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is admirable to men, is an abomination in the sight of God.” The Pharisees had been blinded by their greed (their love for worldly things) and, as a result, they had not believed Moses and the Prophets, and they would not believe even if someone should rise from the dead.  This is the point of the story, and herein lies its value also for us, because we can ask ourselves whether our attachment to worldly things has deadened or destroyed our faith.

     The gloss goes on to explain that it is impossible to derive information from the parable concerning the sufferings of those in Hell, or the blessedness of those in Heaven. As proof of this statement, the author of the note refers to the words of the rich man concerning his father’s house and his five brothers.  Indeed, in the story, the man begs Abraham to send Lazarus to his father’s house in order to warn his brothers, so that they will not meet the same fate of punishment. The author of the note points out that this is an act of charity on the part of the rich man (he is thinking of someone else, rather than himself), and that this is clear evidence that the Lord is not speaking literally of the conditions of those suffering in Hell, since those who are so condemned are no longer capable of any act of charity. The note then goes on to describe at length what this lack of charity must entail. First, those who have been condemned are not aware of a particular past.  They are only aware that they exist and that they have rejected God, since they are eternally fixed in the moment at which they rejected Him. Memory is a good. No matter how miserable or abject one’s history may be, one is always able to recall certain goods as a part of that experience.  Those who have been eternally condemned are deprived of this good, as they are deprived of all good. Existence is a good, but the rejection of all good leaves these souls in a state of everlasting hatred of self, as well as of God.

     We might well imagine that those who are condemned might derive some consolation from the remembrance of their previous life, but this is not the case, since they have no recollection of these things whatsoever. They exist only in that moment at which they rejected God at the moment of their deaths.

     The marginal note then speaks concerning knowledge and the way that we know things. It describes the way that the human mind perceives an object by means of the senses, and that the mind intends that object (that is, the mind brings that object into itself), so that the object has an intentional existence within the mind. The damned are no longer capable of this entire process, since their minds cannot admit the intentional existence of any other being. Although they continue in being, because God willed the human being be immortal, they exist in total isolation from all other beings, since they are not capable of intending anything that is good. Their suffering is derived from their deprivation of every good, on account of their rejection of Good.

     Fittingly, the gloss goes on to a reflection on the nature of generosity, and that when we are generous we actually receive much more than we give. This is true on account of the fact that when we give to others for the love of God, we dissolve the attachment that created things have on us, while increasing our attachment to that which is Eternal Good, namely God. The gloss then concludes with a short but fervent prayer for God’s help against the two things that ultimately result in our damnation: namely, the inordinate love and attachment to created things, and rejection of God Himself.

     We should also make this prayer our own. We cannot afford for our affections to be divided between our God and His creatures, especially at this time in history in which the world and its ways are proving so unreliable and unstable. Rather, we need to turn to God, one in the Holy Trinity, for solutions to the conundrums of our lives.  Rather than a commitment to a life of avarice and greed, we ought to be solidly committed to a life of prayer in which our peace in God is our treasure rather than our earthly possessions. Not even death will be able to deprive us of this treasure.