Trinity I 2021

​Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst 
thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: 
but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
(St. Luke xvi. 25)


Trinity tide is all about belief that grows into Wisdom and Love. If Eastertide might be called the season of vision and knowledge, Trinity tide is about habituation to the Good that we know and its application to our lives. To know God through vision as He reveals Himself in the historical life of Jesus Christ is not enough. Satan himself knows that Christ is the Son of God and he believes and trembles (St. James ii. 19) with a resentful fury that drives him to carry as many men as he can down and away from the love of God. Knowledge of God’s goodness is one thing; but to love, cherish, grow, and perfect it in the human heart is quite another.

Now, as we all know, learning to love God’s goodness is no easy matter. In fact, we really do need to have a vision or knowledge of the Good if we hope to apply it to our lives. In the New Testament, an accurate illustration of what it is not is found in the lives of the Pharisees. Prior to today’s Gospel, Jesus had just warned His hearers that Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. (St. Luke xvi. 13) Mammon means both riches and possessions in both the Hebrew and Greek. It can also mean that in which one trusts. Archbishop Trench reminds us that while the Pharisees’ way of life was sparing and austere –many of them were ascetics…. their sins were in the main spiritual, (Par., 343) their real sin was covetousness. For they did not trust in God’s provision, were all rooted in unbelief, in a heart set on this world, refusing to give credence to that invisible world, here known only to faith. (Idem) They believed that their theological knowledge and ritual privileges were the closest that man could come to God. As a result, they enviously resented and maliciously sought to destroy God’s presence and power in the life of Jesus Christ.

So, Jesus recites a parable. There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day….(St. Luke xvi. 19) St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that the worship of Mammon is here illustrated in the prosperity of the wicked by way of temporal success. (St. TA: Hom. Trin. I) First, we read that the man was rich in earthly things. Second, that he was clothed in purple –the costliest of colors in the ancient world which clothed princes and kings. Third, in fine linen –secured only at a high price from the looms of Egypt. So, the rich man would have had a robe of princely purple and an inner tunic of the softest linen. That this was his customary attire we know since it is what he wore as he fared sumptuously every day.  That he has no name is, according to the Archbishop, indicative of the fact that he is everyman or most men who live forever for this world and seldom with any thought for the next. 

We read also that there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. (Ibid, 20,21) Those who are destined for the Kingdom have their names written in the Book of Life. The poor man’s name is Lazarus. His name is also translated as Eleazar and it means the one whom God has helped. That he is a beggar is clear. But because he was full of sores (Idem), in earthly life he was unable to walk and so was carried and laid him at the rich man’s gate (Idem) by those who, no doubt, prayed the rich man would have mercy upon him. That there was no relief for this man’s hunger is seen in his desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. That stray dogs came and licked his sores, reveals that he was ignored by his fellow man. The brute beasts had compassion and mercy upon Lazarus clothed in sores while the rich man and his associates clothed in purple and fine linen fared sumptuously. One had hosts of attendants to wait upon his every caprice; only stray dogs tended to the sores of the other. (Trench, 349)

So, we find a great contrast between the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus’ sickness and poverty are external and visible signs of that inward spiritual illness and destitution that each of us must acknowledge if we hope to be saved. St. Thomas tells us that Lazarus reveals to us that adversity in this present life, though short-lived, characterizes the life of the saint in three ways.  First, there is poverty of possessions –a beggar named Lazarus is a sign of spiritual indigence and that poverty of spirit that needs God more than anyone else. And fear not, my son, that we are made poor: for thou hast much wealth if thou fear God and depart from all sin and do that which is pleasing in His sight. (Tobit iv, 21) True riches are found when we fear God and depend upon Him for any and all manner of goodness that He might bestow upon us. Second, St. Thomas says, the life of a Saint is found in contempt of this world. ‘Lazarus was laid at his gate.’ ‘We are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.’ (1 Cor. iv. 13) If men follow Jesus, they will be ignored and abandoned at rich men’s gates, who step over them. Third, the saints will endure bitterness of tribulations and afflictions –‘Full of sores.’ Discipline and correction are the methods that our Heavenly Father uses to refine our faith, perfect our hope, and deepen our love for Him. For whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth. (Hebrews xii. 6)

Next, we read, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. (Ibid, 22) Lazarus is an image of the Saint who is taken to Paradise at the time of his death. We read also the rich man died and found himself in Hell whence he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. (Ibid, 23) St. Thomas reminds us, Lazarus was received with honor and glory by the Angels. The rich man was buried with honor and glory by unnamed earthly men...only to end up in Hell. (Idem) Lazarus is relieved of his suffering and pain and we hear no more from him because Heaven’s Mercy is now his treasure. The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God and there shall no torment touch them. (Wis. iii. 1) But the Rich Man, like the well-healed Pharisees, is left out. His soul and body are tormented because while he may have known God and fulfilled the religious duties of his own day, he did not love. To make matters worse, he looks up into Paradise and knows that Lazarus is in a better state, having been relieved of his earthly suffering and poverty. So, he cries, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. (Idem, 24) The Rich Man cries out for the relief of his earthly body’s torture because he is still very much the earthly man he has always been. His own sense of superiority even supplicates the services of his earthly inferior, Lazarus. Send Lazarus to me; surely he is now fit enough to wait upon me! 

Now, Father Abraham reveals the hard truth of God’s Justice. Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. (Ibid, 25) O thou who trusted not in God but in earthly mammon, who trusted in perishable commodities and relied upon them solely to ensure your impermanent happiness, see what you have forsaken! Because you did not believe and trust in me, saith the Lord, you shall live with what you desired most forever in eternity! Men have one life to live, and at death they shall be judged. When a man dies, he is either taken up or cast down. If he is taken up, he cannot descend to help his lost brothers; if he is cast down, he cannot ascend up. At the end of life, every man’s faith or its absence shall be rewarded with Heaven or Hell. The rich man, with his eyes still centered upon earth, asks Abraham to rescue his earthly family. Send Lazarus to my brethren that he might serve up the truth to them (Ibid, 29), for if they see Lazarus risen from the dead, they will believe. (Ibid, 30) Abraham assures him that they will not be persuaded though one rose from the dead since they did not hear Moses and the Prophets. (Ibid) The knowledge of Heaven’s power seldom saves most men. Man is called to hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness. Desire for God’s bounty is needed. Besides, the Saints are with God, they can never descend to earth again, for they are where no torment touches them, consumed with God in joyful friendship and cannot be distracted from their First Love by the desires of those who chose Hell.  

In this life, Lazarus was poor but now is rich in Paradise. The rich man is now poor but still believes that his earthly riches ought to earn him the provision of his cries. Notice how demanding he continues to be. His pride believes that he ought to be honored and served. His arrogance insists that God’s honor is still owed to him. The rich man is still his own god destined to live forever in the delusion of his own power and worth. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love. (1 John iv 8)

Today, my friends, by God’s Grace, let us make a moral decision to become poor like Lazarus, reaching out to God alone, knowing that we cannot pass through Heaven’s gate unless we obtain Heaven’s mercy, ‘hoping to obtain crumbs that fall from [God’s] table’. Lazarus, full of sores, like you and me, cried out for God’s love from the place of his poverty. We must lie there too and desire to eat of the crumbs that fall from [God’s] table. Like Lazarus, if I have no strength of will, no nobility of disposition, no excellence of character, Jesus says, “Blessed are you”, because it is through this poverty that I enter His Kingdom….I can only enter His Kingdom as a pauper. (O. Chambers, August 21) 
Amen.
        
           

---