Jesus, our high priest, feels for us.  To say we are his means to share with those who are poor our goods. 

What lesson is there that we can share with those who read or hear the parable of the rich man and Lazarus?  The parable does not mean to portray what will play out after death.

Nor does it ask those who are poor to accept their misfortune and just wait for the next life.  On the promise that there, theirs will be eternal joy to make up for the miseries they have suffered.  Such resignation, of course, paves the way for some to get rich at the expense of the poor.

The parable teaches, rather, that we should share with the poor.  It cries out against, yes, the sin of indifference, the failure to share with those who have nothing one’s wealth.

Such crying out calls to mind the woe the Lord utters through Amos’ mouth.  It matches also another text that reads:

If one has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how can God’s love abide in him?

And if the one who closes his heart says he Christ’s, he will just be a caricature of a Christian (SV.EN XII:222).

But not to care, not to share with the poor, this needs nipping in the bud.  Which asks that we guard against all greed, against love of money, the root of all evils.

And we are to give up what we own so we may share with those in need.  We shall thus have the Friend that will welcome us into his eternal dwellings.  He is the one we should serve, not money.

Wealth, after all, cannot help or save us.  For man, though wealthy, is like the beasts that die.  Wealth, besides, makes us its slaves and, yes, cuts us off from God, from others, from ourselves.

Lord Jesus, the way you share with the poor is so new that your guests are those who cannot return the favor.  Grant us poor folks who share in your banquet to avoid the old order of things and welcome the new.  So that, like you, we may be, for others, wealth by our being poor.  A blessing for our being a curse and salvation by our being sin.  Free us from what we own so we aim at what is right, godly.  And what makes for faith, love, patience, gentleness.

28 September 2025
26th Sunday in O. T. (C)
Amos 6, 1a. 4-7; 1 Tim 6, 11-16; Lk 16, 19-31