Tuesday, June 21

Tuesday

“No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.  He said to them,  “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.  – Luke 16:13-15

Jesus was speaking to “His disciples” yet he was also dealing with the Pharisees & their greed. They turned up their nose at Jesus, why?  Because they had a contrasting view of money, they saw money as evidence of God’s favor, not as a false god threatening to take God’s place.

This is the context into which Jesus told this story of the Rich man and Lazarus.

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.  At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.  “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.  In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.  – Luke 16:19-23

The entire story is a remarkable study in contrasts.  Jesus contrasts their earthly condition, wealth & luxury – poverty & suffering.  He contrasts their death, the rich man is buried, and Lazarus is not.  He contrasts their eternal destinies; Lazarus is carried to heaven, while the rich man ends up in hell.  But the one thing they shared was the fact that they both died.  Death was still certain for the rich man and for the poor beggar.

It is interesting to note that Jesus doesn’t tell us why Lazarus went to heaven and the rich man went to hell.  He doesn’t mention some terrible crime that the rich man committed or that he lived a sinful life.  In fact, most people in Jesus’ day would have assumed that a man like this was a Godly man.  They associated wealth with God’s favor, so surely God must have blessed this man.  A diseased beggar on the other hand, would have been viewed as cursed by God.  It is quite possible that this rich man thought he was just fine, that God was pleased with him.  He may never have realized how far his heart was from the heart of God until it was too late.

“The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” - C. S. Lewis

(Can you see the shock value of this story to Jesus’ listeners?)

So, why did the rich man end up in hell?  The clear implication is that this rich man was not in hell because he was rich.  He was in hell because his riches were his God.  This is a very real temptation for many of us, to worship our stuff.  Oh, not that we would actually physically bow down to big piles of money or sing praise songs to our possessions.  But many in our culture are devoted to the accumulation of wealth, they are consumed and obsessed with protecting and increasing what they “own”. 

1 Timothy 6:10 - For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 

Hebrews 13:5 - Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,  “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Jeff Frazier