By Sarah Levesque Losardo
Luke 16:19-31
In life, the rich man seemingly ignored the poor, destitute, starving man at his door. Perhaps he thought himself generous for letting Lazarus even stay there. Or perhaps that is where Lazarus collapsed of hunger. In any case, I find four points of this story particularly interesting.
Firstly, Lazarus has a name – the name of the man Jesus rises from the dead, the name of one of His good friends. The name Lazarus means “God has helped”. The rich man, on the other hand, gets no name. He is every person, any person; He is you and I.
Secondly, while alive, Lazarus wished he could feed himself from the scraps under the rich man’s table. This brings to mind the story of the Prodigal Son, who wished to eat his fill of the food thrown to the pigs. Both stories should remind us to be mindful of how much food we buy, how much food we allow to spoil, how much food we throw away, and contrast this to how much food we give to those in need – the local soup kitchen or food pantry, the grieving family, the young couple who just had a baby, the single parent who works multiple jobs, the man begging on the roadside, the family whose breadwinner is sick… the list goes on. The Lord works in mysterious ways, and He wants to work through US.
Thirdly, in life, the rich man seemingly paid no attention to Lazarus, but in death he recognized him and even knew his name. It makes me wonder how long the rich man had known Lazarus. Perhaps Lazarus had once been a friend of the rich man, or a neighbor, or even a family member. Perhaps he was merely a stranger that stuck around. We, too, can know and ignore those who need our help, be they family members, friends, or strangers. Some may be in obvious need, while some may have invisible needs that we should be discovering in our conversation with them, which brings me to my final point.
When both the rich man and Lazarus had died, the rich man asked Abraham to send Lazarus to give him water. When Abraham refused, the rich man requested Lazarus be sent to his brothers. The rich man is not seeing Lazarus as a man who had met his just reward, but as a slave, someone there to do his bidding, nothing more. He does not address Lazarus at all, only Abraham. Likely, the rich man never stopped to converse with the poor man when they were alive; let us not follow in his footsteps. So many people are starving for compassionate conversation even more than bread – the estranged family member, that friend who is going through a rough time, the man with the cardboard “homeless” sign on the corner. These people need to be recognized as persons; they need our attention, care, and support, and so often we ignore and forget about them. For those in positions of authority, how easy is it to order people about without pausing to recognize their personhood, to talk with them, to hear them out and connect to them so we may better help them.
All in all, the story of the rich man and Lazarus seems to me a specific example of what Jesus was continuously telling those who listened to Him – “you shall love your neighbor as yourself,” and “whatsoever you do to the least of these, you do unto Me.” If, like Mother Teresa of Calcutta, we saw the face of Our Lord in each person we met, how would we change our behavior toward them? Remember the words of Christ, and try to see Him everywhere in everyone; learn their names, love them like Christ.
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