Rev. E. Scott Winnette
A Sermon Preached by the Rev. E. Scott Winnette
Stepping Over Lazarus
July 30, 2006
Years ago on a very cold winter morning I ran on the Canal Towpath into Georgetown. I felt like I was flying as I ran under Key Bridge. Up ahead there was a dark mound in the path. I veered to the very edge of the water to avoid it. As I skipped around it, I saw that it was a person tightly huddled under a blanket. I shot past him, up the steps to M Street and then over the top of Key Bridge. The homeless man must have been sleeping. I was glad. Glad he didn’t reach out, or call out. I would not want to stop running to speak with him. I don’t carry cash when I’m running, no McDonald’s coupons, no food, nothing to help the man. I just prayed that he was somehow warm and passed by.
Before moving here, I had not encountered homeless people. I never had anyone shake a can at me, or sit quietly with a cardboard sign asking for help, or shout out in anger after I refused them money. Before moving here, if I were to write a sermon on Lazarus and the rich man, I might have preached about the afterlife and God’s judgment.
On March 16th the Reverend Jerry Falwell preached on this passage. He said, “Jesus makes it clear that Hell and Heaven are real places for real people. This is not a parable. It is the story of two specific men. One, though a beggar, was prepared for Heaven and the other, though rich, was not. The beggar died and his spirit went to Heaven (Abraham’s bosom). But the rich man died and went to Hell (or Hades). Notice several things about Hell. The rich man said it was a place of torment, suffering and flames. Jesus said more about Hell than He did about Heaven. He warned us over and over not to go to Hell. In this passage, we see that Hell is a place of: 1. No Mercy…, 2. No escape…, 3. No Hope…” [1] I beg to differ. This is a parable! It is a parable rich in the legacy of the challenging parables of Luke. As a parable, it deeply challenges humanity. As a parable of Jesus, it is more about life than afterlife.
Rev. Falwell didn’t look deeply enough into this parable. He preached what he wanted to hear. Honestly, every sermon includes a preacher’s personal interpretation of scripture. I mean every sermon includes what the preacher wants to hear. For preachers interpret the texts out of the fabric of our lives: our stories, our theology, our church community, and our social location within society. We cannot escape our biases and prejudices as we study for sermons. We cannot escape our contexts and experiences as we write sermons. We cannot escape the core principles that guide our living, as we preach. We cannot fully avoid benefiting ourselves and those we befriend as we seek to interpret theological realities. We cannot avoid promoting our own worldview as we expound on scripture.
My worldview is different than Rev. Falwell’s. My life has been different: different experiences, different teachers, different friends, a different economic class.
On that cold day I made it across Key Bridge and turned around to run back home. I ran down the stairs to the Canal. I ran down the path. Ahead I saw paramedics lifting the dark mound off the ground. They lifted his stiff body unto a gurney. The man had frozen to death. Any opportunity to say hello, to befriend, to help him, to bridge our social locations was over.
I cannot hear of Lazarus without seeing this man. I cannot hear of the rich man without remembering my stepping over the man on my run. It’s not a parable about heaven and hell. It’s a parable about missed opportunities for compassion and companionship -- missed opportunities to humanize someone who lives a life less-than-human -- missed opportunities to befriend, to love a neighbor. It is a parable about the dividing walls we unnecessarily build between each other -- walls between brothers and sisters that diminish us all while comforting some and discomforting others.
I guess that Rev. Falwell has not encountered extreme poverty. He didn’t look hard at the text. I studied it finding no biblical scholarship denying that it was a parable, learning that the Judaism of the day had not even developed the concept of hell. The hard story nests within the Gospel of Luke among a plethora of prophetic words and teachings of Jesus against oppression, against poverty, against selfish wealth - opulent wealth - wasteful wealth. I heard within it a cry to heed the central message of Moses and the Prophets that we should care and share with everyone, everyone.
Rev. Falwell preached this text to perpetuate his central commitment to dualism. Some of us go to heaven, especially those who share his worldview. Others are dammed to a suffering hell. God may love us all but not equally. Falwell has built a ministry around the carrot of heaven and the stick of hell. He protects his wealth and promotes the wealth of his friends by spiritualizing this parable. His interpretation is exactly what Jesus in this parable is teaching against. Jesus teaches against the dualisms of clean and unclean, righteous and unrighteous, that wealth declares you holy deserving of comfort and poverty reveals you sinful deserving of discomfort.
Christians must be very careful as we look at scripture. We must look at our own lives to see if our interpretation of the stories protects us or promotes us over others. We can help ourselves come closer to the truth by listening to those who are different from us. I have learned to look for the interpretations of scriptures arising out of different contexts.
Falwell helps me. He helps me better understand the religious leadership that Jesus sought to reform. He helps me see that this parable needs to be preached from every street corner and city sidewalk in America.
Martin Luther King Jr. interpreted this parable in sermons and speeches. His interpretation has nothing to do with afterlife and everything to do with how we treat each other. Rev. King speaks a word of good news to me. The parable scares me. It encourages me to be anti-money and anti-comfort. And yet, I have not figured out how to live in our society without money and comfort. His Good News is that the parable is not anti-rich and pro-poor. The parable is about bridging economic and power gaps, sharing and loving.
He said, “You know, Jesus reminded us in a magnificent parable one day that a man went to Hell because he didn't see the poor. And his name was Dives. There was a man by the name of Lazarus who came daily to his gate in need of the basic necessities of life. Dives didn't do anything about it. He ended up going to Hell.
But there is nothing in that parable that says that Dives went to Hell because he was rich. Jesus never made a universal indictment against all wealth. It is true that one day a rich young ruler came before him talking about eternal life. And he advised him to sell all. But in that instance Jesus was prescribing individual surgery, and not setting forth a universal diagnosis. If you will go on and read that parable in all of its dimensions, and all of its symbolism, you will remember that a conversation took place between Heaven and Hell. And on the other end of that long distance call between heaven and Hell was Abraham in Heaven talking to Dives in Hell. It wasn't a millionaire in Hell talking with a multimillionaire in heaven. Dives didn't go to Hell because he was rich. His wealth was an opportunity to bridge the gulf that separated him from his brother Lazarus. Dives went to Hell because he passed by Lazarus every day, but he never really saw him. Dives went to Hell because he allowed Lazarus to become invisible. Dives went to Hell because he allowed the means by which he lived to outdistance the ends for which he lived. Dives went to Hell because he maximized the minimum, and minimized the maximum. Dives finally went to Hell because he wanted to be a conscientious objector in the war against poverty.”[2]
I cannot preach this sermon today as if it were about heaven and hell. Even Rev. King’s rhetorical use of hell is too much for me. I cannot preach this sermon today about racism or even the larger systems of classism and poverty in our society. This week when I studied this text, that frozen man under the bridge cried out, the belligerent woman on Pennsylvania Avenue cried out, the homeless teenage girl and boy who interrupted an evening meeting here at Bradley Hills cried out, the homeless ones in Frederick cried out, those on the corners of Bethesda with their cardboard signs cried out, Lazarus cried out – please quit stepping over us. Christ cries out treat them as humans. Christ cries out befriend them they are worthy of your friendship. They are beloved children of God too.
The tragedy of this parable is that both Lazarus and the rich man were captive to the powers of their world. Lazarus could not make a living, became destitute, fell into malnutrition and disease because God’s Manna commands were not followed. God said to take enough food for yourself not more than you need. The rich man fell captive to the myths that self-worth was about wealth and indulgence. He fell captive to a fear of not having enough and he hoarded. He fell captive to the structures of religious and societal power that commanded him to separate himself from those who had less than him. Both Lazarus and the rich man were dehumanized. Lazarus was forced down lower than the dogs. The rich man was imprisoned behind a gate. The homeless people on our streets and under our bridges are captive to dehumanizing poverty. We are also captive as long as we don’t befriend them. We are imprisoned behind our car doors, our cell phones, our fast walking, and our police protected streets. I am preaching this sermon hoping to hear that we can change. We can love even the dirty, smelly, toothless, scary, homeless children of God. I hope to hear that we can destroy the injustice that tells us they somehow deserve their fate and should not be helped.
My cat, Katya teaches me an important lesson, to follow a new core ethic. She’s much more a loner than Tasha. Katya spends much of her day off alone asleep or down in the basement messing around in my Halloween and Christmas decorations. You might not guess this but when I am home I don’t sit down much which annoys Tasha who wants to sit in my lap. When I’m home I’m outside in the garden and when I’m inside I’m busy pacing on the phone, moving around cleaning, getting ready to leave, or like yesterday walking in circles with a yellow pad while writing this sermon. When Katya wants attention she lays in the doorways. She then reaches out with her paw and pats me. Every time I pass her she will pat me. If I don’t stop to pet her or pick her up, she gets frustrated and begins to launch herself at my ankles blocking my way. She’s like those homeless people that I pass who reach out and even when I don’t stop say, “God bless you”. Katya is a blessing to me for her pats and tackles force me to stop and love her. She forces me to pause and realize what a beautiful creature of God she is. I gave in and picked her up yesterday. If I stop stopping, if I decide I’m too busy to love and hold her, I will be less. If we start stopping for the homeless ones who reach out to us, we will be following the Jesus who taught this parable.
Today, I promise God that I will live my life cherishing life. I will live my life acting like I really believe that we are all made in God’s image. All of us. I will live my life treating everyone I meet as a beloved child of God. Join me in this. Stop hiding as conscientious objectors in the war against homelessness. Live your life cherishing life, looking for God’s image in all, treating every homeless person and wealthy person you meet as a beloved child of God. Wave, smile, say hello, ask their name, take them to lunch, ask them their story, tell them your story. Christian brothers and sisters befriend them, bridge the chasm, gain new friends, and gain your freedom. Amen.
[1] The Rev. Jerry Falwell, "Unpopular Doctrines that Must Be Preached," sermon delivered to Thomas Road Baptist Church, March 12, 2006, Lynchburg, VA, web document: http://sermons.trbc.org/20060312_11AM.html.
[2] Martin Luther Jr., King, "Martin Luther King, Jr. Addresses Strikers In Memphis Tenn., March 18, 1968,"
Aft A Union Of Professionals, http://www.aft.org/topics/civil-rights/mlk/memphis-speech.htm.
