Proper 21 C
The Surprise Ending
St. Luke 16:19-31
25 September 2016 – Redeemer
Every parable has a surprise. Just when you think you clearly see the Kingdom Jesus paints something in the picture of the parable that changes everything.. Something hidden is revealed. By some surprise Jesus opens the door to a Kingdom we could not imagine. And so it is with the Rich Man and Lazarus. At first listen you’ve got it all figured out. The Rich Man is blessed of the Lord – that is why he wears Armani suits and eats a filet mignon every night along with a fifty dollar bottle of his favorite cabernet. Jesus then paints an obvious portrait of a man with whom God must surely be upset. What other reason could there be for this poor man, right at the end of the Rich Man’s gated driveway to be so poor, so weak, so disgusting as to having the dogs licking his wounds? God must hate him.
Then comes the surprise – what you thought was the picture is all wrong. There’s surely something hidden in the Savior’s brushstrokes that you did not see. The supposedly blessed rich man ends up in hell, while the obviously cursed Lazarus ends up in heaven.
What does this mean? Does this mean that those who suffer here get blessed after death and those who are blessed with wealth and prosperity here end up in hell? If that’s the case then we’re in trouble because as Americans we are all among the richest people in the world, even the poorest American is richer than most people in the world.
Or perhaps it means if you do not treat your neighbor well here God will punish you for those sins after you die and if you were sinned against here, God will relieve you there. That’s a great interpretation if you’re a social justice warrior and you think God’s Kingdom is all about forcing people to share the wealth with the less fortunate.
Whenever we come to the surprise of the parables it is best to let God’s Word explain our surprise. When the rich man dies he realizes how he ended up in hell. He ended up in hell because he didn’t listen to his preacher. He realizes this too late for himself, but he cares about his brothers. The only way for his brothers to be saved from hell is if someone goes to tell them the truth. He wants Father Abraham to ordain Lazarus and send him back from the dead to preach to His brothers, to warn them that the day of judgement is coming so that they repent.
But that is not going to happen says Father Abraham. Once you die there’s no coming back. You’re either with Jesus or you’re apart from Jesus. Besides Abraham says, “They have preachers. They have Moses and the Prophets.” Moses and the prophets tell us not only why we die, but what our only hope is when we die.
This past week in Catechesis we studied the creation of the world. We ended by talking about the wonderfully good gift God gave in marriage and how He gave this gift – one man and one woman for one lifetime. When God finished creation and crowned it with marriage He said, “It is very good.” This coming week in catechesis we will learn why it is not so good now – why the rich man didn’t share with poor Lazarus, why marriages end in divorce, why children are raised without a father in their homes, why there is anger and prejudice and neglect and violence not just next door, but in our own hearts. Preacher Moses tells us. Adam and Eve departed from the goodness of God’s Word. They did what was evil and wrong in His sight. They ruined themselves with sin and brought death to all humans. The rich man and Lazarus both died because they were both sinners. Lazarus didn’t go to heaven because he was poor or suffered injustice and God wanted to make amends. The rich man didn’t go to hell because he was selfish and didn’t love his neighbor Lazarus.
The difference between the rich man and Lazarus is that one believed the preaching of Moses and the Prophets and one did not. Moses and the Prophets (that’s long hand for the Old Testament) tell us that all humans die because all humans inherit sin from Adam and Eve. These same preachers tell us that there is one way out of sin – one way to reverse the sentence of death and hell upon all sinners. God alone would provide that way. He would send His Son, a Son promised to Eve, a Son promised to Abraham, a Son promised to Judah and David, a Son who finally was born of Mary.
In Jesus God would right the picture of everything that is wrong with you and the world. He rights your wrongs at the cross. Now there’s another picture with a surprise. When you contemplate those three crosses outside of Jerusalem, what’s the surprise? What is out of place? The thief on the right and the thief on the left are exactly where you would expect. But the man in the middle is out of place. Not only had Pontius Pilate declared Him not guilty three times, but we know Jesus has no sin of His own. He is God’s own Son, incarnate by the Holy Spirit and made man. But there He is because God not only made Him man, but made Him to be sin for us. Jesus Christ, suffers for us, is damned for us, endures the fire of His Father’s anger over our sins. He dies for us. It is finished – your sin, your death, your separation from God, all that is wrong with you is righted in Christ, at the cross.
You know it is finished because the story of Jesus ends once again with a surprise. The women go to the tomb three days after He dies. What did they expect to see? A stone rolled in front of the tomb and a dead body in the grave that needed final preparations for burial. But everything was wrong when they arrived. The stone was rolled away. The tomb empty. And soon Jesus would be seen alive, walking, talking, eating. Jesus’ body was missing because He was alive. What’s wrong with that cemetery picture declares everything right between you and your Father in heaven. Christ Jesus rose from the dead and that preaches the sure forgiveness of your sins.
The rich man did not believe Moses and the Prophets. He wanted someone to rise from the dead to preach to his brothers. Abraham told him, “‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ” Moses and the Prophets preach Jesus. They tell us of the promises, describe His work in its entirety, and describe this singular way out of death – that God’s Christ would take the sinner’s place and die for us. The New Testament preachers – the Evangelists and Apostles tell us simply His work is finished. How do we know? Because Someone did actually rise from the grave – Jesus the one who bore your sin, suffered your hell, and died your death. In His resurrection He preached that He finished sin, death, and hell for you.
How do you picture the end of your life? A sinner’s end ought to be death, hell, and suffering. Yet for the believer in Christ, for you it will be a surprise. Your life will not end with death, but life, not old and worn out, but in the new heavens and new earth with a resurrected body free of every ailment and pain and sorrow. That surprise ending is yours, when you listen to the preaching of Moses and the Prophets, the Apostles and Evangelists, and your pastor, when you listen and believe in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
24 September 2016 anno Domini