Genesis 15:1-6/1 John 4:16-21/St Luke 16:19-31
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Did he get depressed, lying in the dirt? As people passed him by on the road, hurrying to meetings, walking or running for exercise, heading for the store to purchase a present, carrying a bag to market to pick up food for the evening meal. Did he get depressed? Perhaps a few people tossed a small coin to Lazarus, but doubtless more passed by with nothing. With guilt some would look away from him; but children drew a little closer to their mother’s skirts when they saw his hideous body, covered with sores. The more callous adults would stare with revulsion and condescension. Did this make Lazarus sad?
Did he snarl with anger at the passers-by, so cold to his need? Was his heart filled with contempt for the rich man, whose table was loaded with a Thanksgiving Feast every day? Did he struggle with hatred towards the man who had so much yet gave him nothing? Or was he mostly just beaten down by despair, as year after year passed and his life grew more pathetic?
If Lazarus did despair, if he was depressed by his condition, how ought we view this? Is it sin? It appears as though Lazarus could not alter his condition. Today’s pop sermons would tell Lazarus, “Have your best life now! Become a better you!” But I imagine those Christ-less sermons would only make him more despondent.
Lazarus is an extreme but accurate picture of man before God: a sick, dying, despised beggar. He owns nothing. He is going nowhere. He is in pain. And no one cares.
No one, that is, except the only One that matters. For God still cares. We can go further: God still loves. Even when a man is in the dirt. Especially when he is in the dark dungeon of despair, when he is suffering, hurting, sad, lonely, angry, confused, disconsolate. God loves that man. And that man is us - collectively, as the human race, but also individually.
You may be clothed and well fed like the rich man, but inside you are Lazarus. You are hurt by the sins you have committed, or the sins committed against you. Sometimes those two go together - we sin against those who have sinned against us, and the cycle continues, making enemies and hurting brothers.
Or you may be hurt by the burdens others place on you, the losses you have known leading to guilt, loneliness, and emptiness. Nameless fears trouble you, a dark road lies before you, and there seems no end in sight. In all of that, God is still love. God is love. He will not change through seasons of elation or depression. And when you are clinging to the last, nearly-broken thread, still God is love. Still He loves you.
A seventeenth century Lutheran hymn writer named Paul Gerhardt suffered terribly. One child died in infancy, another two during early childhood. His wife passed away in 1667. At the same time he was removed from his position as Associate Pastor at St Nicholas Church in Berlin for refusing to sign an edict that disallowed the public confession Formula of Concord. For over a year, raising an infant son alone, he lived without employment in Berlin. Sometime during all of this he wrote this hymn:
Why should cross and trial grieve me?
Christ is near with His cheer;
Never will He leave me.
Who can rob me of the heaven
That God’s Son for me won
When His life was given? (LSB 756:1)
God gives times of gladness when it is good for you; and the times of sadness are for your benefit too. Why? How? Because in those times especially the Lord is purifying you from everything that does not cling to Him alone.
But He never stops loving you. His love in this life is not chiefly shown in giving you a table full of rich foods, a body free from disease, a mind free from troubles. His love is demonstrated in while we were yet sinners, He gave His Son Jesus for us.
For there was a Rich Man who for your sake became poor. He was stripped of His purple and linen and given nothing to eat. He was taken outside the gate and raised up on a Tree. Covered in blood and gore, He desired nothing but the forgiveness of His torturers, that morsel of Divine Mercy. He died and they would have made His bed with the dogs, but a child of Abraham gave Him a tomb.
He descended into Hell, not to be tormented, but to proclaim His victory. For He had mercy on the children of men and gave them to drink from the water of life. In His lifetime He received bad things - mockery, ridicule, persecution, hatred, rejection. Now He comes to deliver the good things, to bring comfort and peace, help and aid, mercy, love, and forgiveness. He has crossed the great chasm between death and life. By His death He has opened the door to eternal life.
Who is this Man? Moses and the Prophets bear witness to Him. Hear them. For this is the true Lazarus, the One whom God helps, the One who is the Help of God, Jesus Christ. He is your Help and Salvation. He is the Love of God made manifest. He has come among you as a brother, the Seed of Abraham. And in perfect love has laid down His life for you.
Was Lazarus depressed? Probably. Was he angry, resentful, bitter, driven to sin in his condition? Doubtless any man in such a situation would struggle in these ways. We all do. We all sin amidst our various burdens and crosses.
But the name Lazarus means “God is my help.” And He is your help too. He helps you with the deep help you truly need: beginning in your baptism, you have received the Holy Spirit, the light that illumines in the darkness, the robe of splendor and righteousness.
And in Baptism God the Father becomes your Father, a true Rich Man quite different from the rich man in the Gospel parable. He comforts your conscience with the sweet Word of His Absolution. The Word of kindness and love and forgiveness spoken by His servants to you who are hurting. He gives us beggars bread of heaven and wine of gladness from His Table, in the living body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the help we need, joy for the despairing, healing for the sick, communion for the lonely, love for those sinned against, forgiveness for sinners. .
Now then, has God made you rich in the world’s things? Then do not withhold them from those in need. For this commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. Has God given you money? Give it to the poor. Has God given you time? Give it to those who need comfort, or a friend. Has God given you talents and skills? Give to those who need help. He who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. None of this is done to be saved, for indeed, by no deeds of ours can we gain salvation. But by our deeds we can begin to show to others the love God has for us all.
Weep today and repent, you rich men, and make yourselves beggars before God. Listen to Moses and the Prophets, look to Jesus alone as your treasure.
Rejoice today and be glad you Lazaruses for God is your help. Jesus has gone into the gutter with you. With your hunger He was made hungry, because of your sorrow He wept, with your sins He was made to be sin – and now to you, poor man, blind woman, hungry man, hurting woman, sinful child, He has given you forgiveness, clothing, sight, a resurrected body, a clean conscience, love, a sun that never sets. God is love, in Jesus He has loved you completely; His love never fails, and He will not leave you in the gutter but will bring you to Himself for endless comfort.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Did he get depressed, lying in the dirt? As people passed him by on the road, hurrying to meetings, walking or running for exercise, heading for the store to purchase a present, carrying a bag to market to pick up food for the evening meal. Did he get depressed? Perhaps a few people tossed a small coin to Lazarus, but doubtless more passed by with nothing. With guilt some would look away from him; but children drew a little closer to their mother’s skirts when they saw his hideous body, covered with sores. The more callous adults would stare with revulsion and condescension. Did this make Lazarus sad?
Did he snarl with anger at the passers-by, so cold to his need? Was his heart filled with contempt for the rich man, whose table was loaded with a Thanksgiving Feast every day? Did he struggle with hatred towards the man who had so much yet gave him nothing? Or was he mostly just beaten down by despair, as year after year passed and his life grew more pathetic?
If Lazarus did despair, if he was depressed by his condition, how ought we view this? Is it sin? It appears as though Lazarus could not alter his condition. Today’s pop sermons would tell Lazarus, “Have your best life now! Become a better you!” But I imagine those Christ-less sermons would only make him more despondent.
Lazarus is an extreme but accurate picture of man before God: a sick, dying, despised beggar. He owns nothing. He is going nowhere. He is in pain. And no one cares.
No one, that is, except the only One that matters. For God still cares. We can go further: God still loves. Even when a man is in the dirt. Especially when he is in the dark dungeon of despair, when he is suffering, hurting, sad, lonely, angry, confused, disconsolate. God loves that man. And that man is us - collectively, as the human race, but also individually.
You may be clothed and well fed like the rich man, but inside you are Lazarus. You are hurt by the sins you have committed, or the sins committed against you. Sometimes those two go together - we sin against those who have sinned against us, and the cycle continues, making enemies and hurting brothers.
Or you may be hurt by the burdens others place on you, the losses you have known leading to guilt, loneliness, and emptiness. Nameless fears trouble you, a dark road lies before you, and there seems no end in sight. In all of that, God is still love. God is love. He will not change through seasons of elation or depression. And when you are clinging to the last, nearly-broken thread, still God is love. Still He loves you.
A seventeenth century Lutheran hymn writer named Paul Gerhardt suffered terribly. One child died in infancy, another two during early childhood. His wife passed away in 1667. At the same time he was removed from his position as Associate Pastor at St Nicholas Church in Berlin for refusing to sign an edict that disallowed the public confession Formula of Concord. For over a year, raising an infant son alone, he lived without employment in Berlin. Sometime during all of this he wrote this hymn:
Why should cross and trial grieve me?
Christ is near with His cheer;
Never will He leave me.
Who can rob me of the heaven
That God’s Son for me won
When His life was given? (LSB 756:1)
God gives times of gladness when it is good for you; and the times of sadness are for your benefit too. Why? How? Because in those times especially the Lord is purifying you from everything that does not cling to Him alone.
But He never stops loving you. His love in this life is not chiefly shown in giving you a table full of rich foods, a body free from disease, a mind free from troubles. His love is demonstrated in while we were yet sinners, He gave His Son Jesus for us.
For there was a Rich Man who for your sake became poor. He was stripped of His purple and linen and given nothing to eat. He was taken outside the gate and raised up on a Tree. Covered in blood and gore, He desired nothing but the forgiveness of His torturers, that morsel of Divine Mercy. He died and they would have made His bed with the dogs, but a child of Abraham gave Him a tomb.
He descended into Hell, not to be tormented, but to proclaim His victory. For He had mercy on the children of men and gave them to drink from the water of life. In His lifetime He received bad things - mockery, ridicule, persecution, hatred, rejection. Now He comes to deliver the good things, to bring comfort and peace, help and aid, mercy, love, and forgiveness. He has crossed the great chasm between death and life. By His death He has opened the door to eternal life.
Who is this Man? Moses and the Prophets bear witness to Him. Hear them. For this is the true Lazarus, the One whom God helps, the One who is the Help of God, Jesus Christ. He is your Help and Salvation. He is the Love of God made manifest. He has come among you as a brother, the Seed of Abraham. And in perfect love has laid down His life for you.
Was Lazarus depressed? Probably. Was he angry, resentful, bitter, driven to sin in his condition? Doubtless any man in such a situation would struggle in these ways. We all do. We all sin amidst our various burdens and crosses.
But the name Lazarus means “God is my help.” And He is your help too. He helps you with the deep help you truly need: beginning in your baptism, you have received the Holy Spirit, the light that illumines in the darkness, the robe of splendor and righteousness.
And in Baptism God the Father becomes your Father, a true Rich Man quite different from the rich man in the Gospel parable. He comforts your conscience with the sweet Word of His Absolution. The Word of kindness and love and forgiveness spoken by His servants to you who are hurting. He gives us beggars bread of heaven and wine of gladness from His Table, in the living body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the help we need, joy for the despairing, healing for the sick, communion for the lonely, love for those sinned against, forgiveness for sinners. .
Now then, has God made you rich in the world’s things? Then do not withhold them from those in need. For this commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. Has God given you money? Give it to the poor. Has God given you time? Give it to those who need comfort, or a friend. Has God given you talents and skills? Give to those who need help. He who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. None of this is done to be saved, for indeed, by no deeds of ours can we gain salvation. But by our deeds we can begin to show to others the love God has for us all.
Weep today and repent, you rich men, and make yourselves beggars before God. Listen to Moses and the Prophets, look to Jesus alone as your treasure.
Rejoice today and be glad you Lazaruses for God is your help. Jesus has gone into the gutter with you. With your hunger He was made hungry, because of your sorrow He wept, with your sins He was made to be sin – and now to you, poor man, blind woman, hungry man, hurting woman, sinful child, He has given you forgiveness, clothing, sight, a resurrected body, a clean conscience, love, a sun that never sets. God is love, in Jesus He has loved you completely; His love never fails, and He will not leave you in the gutter but will bring you to Himself for endless comfort.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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