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Sermon for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 28, 2025
Amos 6:1a, 4-7, 1 Timothy 6:6-19, Luke 16:19-31
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
There is some question about whether what we hear from Jesus today should be classified as a parable. It is never described or introduced as such in the text. It lacks some key features of parables. Parables are often offered as similes, as in “the kingdom of God is like…” Parables are often playful and sometimes mysterious, laced with ambiguity and layers of meaning, gently inviting the hearer in. What we hear today is more like getting whacked upside the head with a two-by-four! And so it has been suggested that instead of thinking about this as a parable, we should think of it as an editorial cartoon. Those of us from the newspaper generation are familiar with editorial cartoons. They are drawn with exaggerated features and stark contrasts. They are more in-your-face. For those who are of the internet generation rather than the newspaper generation, you might think of this as a dank meme, as an edgy message conveyed through sharply contrasting images.
The contrast is indeed sharp here. On the one hand we have a rich man. He is dressed in purple and fine linen. The dye to make purple clothing was extremely rare, which made purple fabric extremely expensive. Only the super-rich could afford to wear purple. He feasted sumptuously every day, eating the finest of food and lots of it.
On the other hand, we have a poor man. He lies at the gate of the rich man. He was so hungry that even the scraps left on the rich man’s plate would have been a feast for him. He was covered in sores. This could have been leprosy, which was common in the ancient world. It could have been ulcerative lesions, a common affliction of the very poor. It could have been bedsores from lying in the same position on the hard ground for so long. Instead of being waited on by servants, he was being licked by dogs. These were not sympathetic puppy kisses. These were the mangy street dogs that roamed the city in packs. These scavengers were licking him in anticipation of the dinner in store for them when he finally expired. His sores were appetizers.
The poor man had none of the things the rich man had. He had no home. He had no food. He had no clothing by which to cover his wounds. But he did have one thing that the rich man didn’t. He had a name. The rich man isn’t named at all. He is anonymous, unknown. But the poor, suffering man is known. He has a name. His name was Lazarus, which means “God helps.”
And when both of these men die, we see that God does indeed help Lazarus. Lazarus is personally escorted by the angels of God into the arms of Father Abraham, where he is comforted at last. When the rich man dies, he finds that their situation has been reversed. Now he is being tormented. He finds himself in agony, roasting in the flames of Hades. Wham! Right between the eyes. No subtlety here, right?
But as clear as the contrast is between the rich man and his fate and the poor man and his fate, we shouldn’t be too quick to make this about rich verses poor. This editorial cartoon is not about the haves verses the have-nots. After all, Abraham himself is described in scripture as a rich man, and he is on the good side of the great chasm. He is with God in heaven. We have other people in scripture who are both wealthy and faithful, people like Zaccheus and Joseph of Arimathea and Lydia, the dealer in purple cloth. So, this editorial cartoon isn’t some anti-capitalist critique, damning the bourgeoisie and idealizing the proletariat. This is about something else, and this becomes clear as we look at the rest of it.
Even as the rich man asks Abraham for mercy, he still thinks he is in control. Even as he is roasting in the flames, he still thinks he has power to call the shots. He practically orders Lazarus to bring him a Gatorade! He still thinks other people exist in order to serve him. And so he is still acting like the Lord of the manor.
Abraham tells him, “Nope, sorry, that’s not how things work here,” but even then, he still acts like the Lord of the manor, asking Abraham to then send Lazarus to warn his five brothers, who are still alive. He still sees Lazarus as someone who should do his bidding. He is still unrepentant.
And what Abraham says next is the final flourish on this editorial cartoon, revealing what it is all really about. Abraham says that they have Moses and the prophets, and that they should listen to them. The rich man insists that Lazarus would be a much better messenger, coming back from the dead and all. Surely he could get them to repent. But Abraham is unmoved. “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”
The great chasm is not divided along the lines of rich and poor. It is divided along the lines of those who listen to and trust in the Word of God and repent and those who do not. It is divided along the lines of those who insist on being the Lords of the manor and those who know how desperately they need the Lord’s help.
Our other lectionary readings help clarify this for us. The prophet Amos convicts those who lounge and feast and drink wine from bowls, not merely because they do those things, but because in doing them they have come to see themselves as their own Lords who can safely ignore the ruin of Joseph. St. Paul says it isn’t money that is the root of all evil, but the love of money which causes people to wander away from faith. That’s the key problem – wandering away from faith! Those who are rich in the present age, Paul warns, should be careful not to place their hopes on the uncertainty of riches. We should instead place our hopes on God, who richly provides us with everything.
The great chasm then, is divided along lines of unfaith and faith. It is divided between unfaith which leads to indifference to those in need, and faith, which inevitably moves hearts towards love of neighbor, noticing especially the ruin of Joseph and the beggar at the gate.
Editorial cartoons can evoke a variety of responses. The same cartoon can make one person squirm and another person laugh. It depends on where you see yourself in the cartoon, right?
Many of us should probably see ourselves as the rich man. We have been given so much that it is easy to be lulled into thinking that we are the Lords of our own manors. It becomes easy to feel that we are in control. Our wealth and our comfort make it easy to wander away from faith in God. And once we wander away from faith, we no longer see that everything we have been given comes from God, to be used not to numb ourselves with overindulgence, but to serve others, especially our neighbors in need. How we do that is complicated and demands wisdom. It does not necessarily mean indiscriminate handouts, which can often make things even worse. But it does begin with noticing the need. It does begin with seeing the person behind the problem. To shut ourselves off to the needs of others is a sign that we have shut ourselves off from God. It is that serious.
There are others among us, however, who may well see a bit of themselves in Lazarus. I’ve had conversations with people this past week who are experiencing great suffering. Some are sick. Some are hurting. Some feel alone and abandoned. To those I want to point out that just as God knew Lazarus’ name, so too does he know yours. You are not forgotten. You are not abandoned. God’s help will come, even if you can’t see it now.
You might identify more with one or the other of the contrasting characters in this editorial cartoon, or even a little bit of both. But where we all should find ourselves reflected today is in the five brothers sketched lightly in the background. You see, like them, we are still alive. And because we are still alive, we can hear the Word of God. Because we are still alive, we can listen to Moses and the prophets. And do you know what they have to say to us? They tell us that what we really need is not more money or more wine or more status or more control. What they tell us is that what we really need is a savior. What they tell us is that we all need God’s help, and that this help has come in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Jesus has planted an Easter egg in this editorial cartoon. The reference to one who comes back from the dead is an Easter egg hidden in plain sight, pointing us Jesus himself, who is the fulfillment of everything spoken of by Moses and the prophets. Jesus did indeed rise from the dead, and he came to the living with a message. He called people to believe. He called people to trust in him as their Lord and not themselves. He called people to relinquish control and to receive his peace. He called people to feed his sheep.
In this editorial cartoon, Abraham didn’t think anyone would believe even one who rose from the dead. But this is Jesus winking at us, because when Jesus rose from the dead many did believe in him.
And this risen Jesus is still bringing people to faith today. Our risen Lord continues to come to the living through his Word. He comes to us even now. He comes to us as the God who helps. He comes to us as the savior who heals both hardened hearts and open wounds with his forgiveness and his mercy. He comes to us as the one who has ultimately conquered death for us all, so that we can one day be carried by the angels to his side, where we will receive eternal comfort on the safe side of the great chasm. He calls us to repent of our love of money, to repent of trying to be our own Lords, so that we can take hold of the life that is really life – a life lived with faith towards God and fervent love towards one another.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church