What Size Miracle Are You Looking For?

This sermon was delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville Arkansas on September 30, 2007, the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time.

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16
1Timothy 6:6-19
Luke 16:19-31

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

One of the problems with preaching parables is the richness of their imagery. It’s hard to take the words of Jesus through the brushstrokes of Luke’s words and do anything that is more than a pale reflection. And this parable of the rich man clothed in purple is a dramatic example of the way Luke frames the wonderful words of Jesus. Hopefully one thing I can do is point out some echoes that we have lost in the translation.

The contrasts in this story are just one element that makes it so wonderful. We begin with a man who is very rich, a man who has everything this life can offer. Then we have another who is poor, destitute. This difference between the two is the root of the other distinctions between them. The rich man is dressed in purple and in fine linen. The other’s clothing is without description. We know that one is clothed in the finest cloth of the day. The color of his clothes showed that he was a very important man, a man of regal stature. Purple linen could not be worn by just anyone. It was the law. There were actually laws about who could wear purple, and how much of it they could wear, and the rich man in the parable could wear it enough that he was the purple Johnny Cash of his day. He was the “Man in Purple.”

As for the other man, the parable doesn’t even say he was covered with clothes, he was covered in sores.

One feasts daily while the other one sits hungry. Different translations color this differently. One says feasted sumptuously, another says lived in luxury, and a third says he was living in splendor. Each of these translations says he lived like this everyday. The rich man is the first guy on “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” Robin Leech could have followed this guy looking for pointers everyday.

The other man, he is laid at the gates of the rich man’s home. He is shown with out food, longing for scraps from the rich man’s table. Even worse, not only is he without food for himself, he is a source of food for the mongrel dogs who come and lick his sores.

What does seem a little strange is that while the rich man seems to have everything, he doesn’t have a name. The poor man, Jesus tells us his name is Lazarus. When Jesus tells a story of layered contrast, he isn’t shy about pouring it on so we get the message. But the contrasts have only just begun.

The rich man dies, and he was buried. The rich man is buried and by his stature and his wealth, tradition would mandate an incredible funeral. By the description of his clothes, the “Man in Purple” may have even been accorded a state funeral.

So Lazarus dies. And when he does, he is carried away by the angels and he rests in the bosom of Abraham. Oh, rock-a-my-soul in the bosom of Abraham. By the way, this may be one of those weird little questions of the bible, like “Where did Cain’s wife come from?” Where’s Lazarus’ body? Was it carried away? Was it put in a pauper’s grave? Was it eaten by the dogs that licked his sores? Was it miraculously lifted to the bosom of Abraham? Scripture says he was lifted, but whether he was lifted bodily or spiritually is not specified, though hearers of this parable would have heard this as being carried spiritually. But, if he was raised bodily after his death, and made whole so to rest in the bosom of Abraham, that would be some kind of miracle, wouldn’t it?

The rich man is in Hades while Lazarus is with Abraham. This is not just another contrast, but a stunning reversal of fortune. The man who was resting on a cold stone portico of a rich man’s estate is now feasting at the table of eternity while resting in the bosom of Abraham. The man whose every whim was catered on earth is now the one who is being tormented in what the Jews called Sheol the Greek called Hades, and we call hell. The one whose sores were being licked by dogs is now resting in a place anyone would long to be while the one who feasted sumptuously every day now lives in fiery torment.

“Father Abraham,” the tormented man cries out. Even in the pain of the fires he remembers his earthly status and cries not to just anyone, he cries to Father Abraham. He cries out as a Jew to the great patriarch of the faith. “Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue.” Send Lazarus. Even in the pain of the fires he remembers his earthly status and cries out to Father Abraham; send me Lazarus that he might do me this service. That he might do me this service.

But Abraham said, “Child,” acknowledging the tormented man’s status as a member of the chosen people of Israel, “Child, too bad, so sad, what you once enjoyed Lazarus now enjoys. What Lazarus once endured you now endure. Where once the distance between you and Lazarus was nothing, now there is a chasm so great that no one can cross from one side to the other.” The stunning reversals of fortune continue. And as they continue the tormented man sees there is no hope for him. But perhaps it is not too late for others.

Well then Father Abraham, send Lazarus like a lackey and have him warn my brothers so they won’t be forced to face this horrible fate of fire and torment. Still from the torment, for the second time, the tormented man asks Abraham to treat Lazarus in the same way he treated everyone else while he was alive, like Lazarus’ greatest purpose in life, and now in death, is to do his bidding.

“Nope,” Abraham says, “they have the word of God recorded by Moses and the prophets. That is enough, they should listen to them.”

“No, no, no, Father Abraham, if Lazarus goes, if anyone from the dead goes to them, then they will repent.”

Father Abraham ends this discourse telling the tormented man, “If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” Now there’s a little dig for the end of the story. If they don’t pay attention to the words of Moses and the prophets they won’t pay attention to anyone else who is sent, even if they have risen from the dead. I read this with the none-too-subtle foreshadowing of someone who celebrated Easter twenty-four weeks ago.

Send them Lazarus. Send him well fed and healed. Send him with word of my torment and my status in the afterlife. Let them hear what happened to me. Even in the torment of the fires of hell, it’s still all about him. My brothers will repent if they hear about me and my fate. I never paid any mind to the frail, lifeless, sore ridden body of Lazarus while he was alive. Now that he is perfect and at your side have him run an errand for me. If he does this chore, my brothers will be saved, they will repent.

Father Abraham just says no, if they don’t hear and heed the words of my children while they are alive; surely the voice of one more, even one from the dead, will be without consequence. You think one more miracle will help, surely I tell you that one more miracle, even one as grand as the redemption of Lazarus, will not change your brothers. Even something so wonderful as and appearance from beyond the grave will not cause them to turn their lives, to repent.

The life of the rich man clothed in purple was all about him. He was dressed in purple and in fine linen. He feasted sumptuously every day. Even after he died his body was handled in the most extravagant of ways. And now in death, it is still all about him. Send Lazarus to quench my thirst. Send Lazarus to tend to my family. In life and in death, it’s all about him. He tells Abraham, “If you do this one miraculous thing, all will be good in my death. My family will be saved.”

I don’t think there is contempt in the voice of Father Abraham, but a simple acceptance of life its own self when he replies, “No, they have their miracles. Let them learn from that. Let what has been done be their salvation.”

I began by saying parables are difficult to preach because of the richness of their imagery, and the images of this parable are over the top. There is luxurious living and there is abject poverty. There is cloth of purple and fine linen and a coating of sores. There is then a stunning reversal of fortune where the outsider is suddenly the insider covered in the bosom of Abraham and the insider left to the woes of his torment unhappily ever-after. What else can be said about this? All the man has to say is “Have Lazarus take a message and save my brothers.” Then Abraham responds, “Moses and the prophets have given them all the message they need.”

When folks seek a word from the Lord, seeking guidance or direction, often we ask for a miracle, signs and wonders that will cause us to change the way we see life. Miracles and signs and wonders that will cause us to change the way we live life. But as Father Abraham tells the rich man dressed in purple whose fate was reversed to become the man clothed in the torment of Hades, the miracle is there in the words of Moses and the prophets. The miracle is with you, pray your brothers seize it that they may escape your fate.

What size miracle is the tormented man looking for? The tormented man hopes for Lazarus, the miracle of Lazarus, whether in body or spirit, to appear to his brothers. As I said a moment ago, this is some miracle, isn’t it?

What size miracle are you looking for? We have the answer to that question; we are looking for the most wonderful miracle imaginable. What we have is a miracle that is even grander than that. The miracle we have been given is that God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.[i] For us the miracle is not a what, it is who. We have been given the miracle who is able to do abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine,[ii] the miracle of the Word of God come to life in Jesus Christ.

And through this miracle, now we are to be the miracle. We are called by the Lord to take and share the miracle of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only with one another but with the world, the world that begins immediately outside the doors of this sanctuary.

Much has been written and said lately about evangelism in the Presbyterian Church. There are some congregations where when you say the word “evangelism” you are confronted with the imperial sins of the church that once took the word to the world with a bible and a gun. But in truth evangelism is sharing the Good News of God, life in Jesus Christ here and now, and for eternity. Evangelism is loving God and saying it out loud.

Christ lived for us. This is a miracle. Christ died for us. This is a miracle. Christ rose for us. This too is a miracle. Now, we are called to live for Christ, by Christ, through Christ. This is how we are to be the miracle. We are called to share the Good News of Jesus Christ and what God has done and continues to do through the power of the Holy Spirit.

[i] Romans 6:8
[ii] Ephesians 3:20

Duke, Paul Simpson, The Parables, A Preaching Commentary. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005, pages 57-66.