Luke 16:19-17:10
Remember the poor
If you have food to eat every day, own a pair of shoes and have a roof over your head you are rich in comparison to most of the rest of the world. And if you own a car, or even a bicycle, you are very rich in comparison to the rest of the world.
This passage is a challenge to me personally as I look at our situation compared with much of the poverty around the world. It is also a challenge to our society, as we look at our global neighbours, for example in Africa, who as a result of television and other forms of global communication are now ‘at [our] gate’ (16:20).
The great nineteenth-century preacher D.L. Moody often took as the title of his talks the words: ‘Son, remember…’ (v.25). This parable is a warning. (It is a parable and therefore it is not a complete teaching about life after death.)
The words of Abraham to the rich man, who had ‘[wasted] his days in conspicuous consumption’ (v.19, MSG), are haunting: ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things’ (v.25). The rich man was judged for his failure to act on behalf of the poor. I live in Western Europe, which is one of the wealthiest parts of the world. Relative to most of the world I live ‘in luxury every day’ (v.19).
The rich man was aware of the poverty of Lazarus because he was laid at his gate ‘covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table’ (vv.20–21a). Modern media makes us increasingly aware of global poverty. Now is the time to act. I have even less of an excuse than the rich man. In the Old Testament the people were called to act upon the word of Moses and the Prophets (v.29). We are called to remember and to live out of the death and resurrection of Jesus (v.31).
Yet this parable is not merely an attack on being rich. After all, Abraham was exceedingly wealthy and he is pictured in heaven (v.22). The rich man’s love of money reveals his spiritual state and lack of relationship with God based on repentance and faith.
When he realises his mistake, he says to Abraham, ‘If someone from the dead goes to [my five brothers] they will repent’ (v.30). Abraham replies, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead’ (v.31).
If the rich man had listened to Moses and the Prophets, he would have repented and put his faith in God. Luke, in recording this parable of Jesus, is of course confronting the reader with the fact that we have even less of an excuse now that we have the evidence of Jesus rising from the dead. We are challenged to repent and put our faith in Jesus.
Underlying all the sections of today’s New Testament passage is the common theme of a relationship with God based on repentance and faith.
This continues in the next section (17:1–4). Jesus calls us to watch our lives carefully to avoid either causing others to sin or falling into the traps set by others. Live a life of constant forgiveness. Forgive even those who sin against you seven times a day (v.4).
The disciples realise that this is only possible with great faith. They say to Jesus, ‘Increase our faith!’ (v.5). Jesus replies, ‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, “be uprooted and planted in the sea,” and it will obey you’ (v.6).
It is this faith that leads to humility. Whatever you do in service of God, you can never put God in your debt. Everything we do is simply out of gratitude for what he has done for us. All we can say, at the end of the day, is, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty’ (v.10).
Faith is a muscle that grows by stretching. One of the ways you increase your faith is by doing something God asks you to do.
If you want to avoid hearing those haunting words, ‘Son, remember...’ in the future, now is the time to respond in repentance, put your faith in Jesus and live out your faith, especially in your response to the poor.
Lord, have mercy. Forgive my sin. Help me always to forgive. Increase my faith. Open my eyes to see the needs of those around me and to act now.