Good things came to you and bad things went the way of Lazarus; now he is being comforted while you are in agony. We once again find ourselves staring at one of those Gospel stories that can be misinterpreted in a manner that exalts the poor and the suffering while putting down those who are rich and having their fill of what the world has to offer. The parable of Lazarus and the rich man which is the content of today’s Gospel Reading is a very popular one, and for a good reason. No one enjoys a story or a movie in which the underdog never gets his/her revenge just as nothing makes a sports tournament as memorable as a lower seeded team upsetting a top seeded team. The parable of Lazarus and the rich man fits perfectly in this scenario of the underdog emerging triumphant.
The parable of Lazarus and the rich man is among the teachings in the Gospel according to Luke that illustrate the universality of the kingdom/salvation which Jesus came to inaugurate. Though slightly biased towards those who were hitherto considered unworthy of salvation (the poor and sick, women, the people of the nations [Gentiles]), the evangelist Luke presents Jesus as a preacher of salvation that is accessible to all. Lazarus and the rich man could not have been more different. They lived their respective lives on earth as was dictated by their different fortunes – the rich man enjoying the best things that wealth could buy while Lazarus languished in poverty. However, at the end of their earthly lives, the two experienced a reversal of fortunes. The rich man found himself in torment while Lazarus got comforted at the bosom of Abraham.
Even though no reason is given us for the rich man's torment in the abode of the dead vis-à-vis Lazarus' comfort at Abraham's side, we always hypothesize that the rich man is punished because he had a good time while on earth, and that Lazarus was now enjoying the things he was not fortunate enough to have in his earthly life. Abraham's response can even be seen to be supporting such a supposition: my child, remember that you received what was good in life while Lazarus received the bad, but now he is being comforted here. To be fair to the rich man, we shouldn’t read too much into what is not given. We are not told that he was mean to Lazarus or that he refused his call for help. The rich man just lived his life was as dictated by his wealth and social status. He might not even have noticed Lazarus eating scraps that fell from his table. His social status had created such a great schism between Lazarus and himself so much so that even if he had seen him, he might not have known how to relate to him. Perhaps it is this inability to form a relationship with Lazarus that became his undoing.
The rich man was so much buried in his wealth and good life that he failed to notice the human being Lazarus who was crying out for help. He was blinded by his wealth so much so that he failed to listen to Moses who, through the Scriptures, was calling on him to put to practice the greatest commandment: love (of neighbor). Wealth had become his strength, and his stomach became his God (cf. Philippians 3:19b). The rich man found himself tormented in the afterlife because once separated from his wealth and social status, he had nothing to lean on. He found himself in agony because separated from his wealth, he had become a barren bush in the desert. He was being tormented, not because of his wealth, but because he did not trust in God (cf. Jeremiah 17:5ff).
Lent is a time wherein we are reminded to repair the relationships which we might have knowingly or unknowingly severed. Lent is an opportunity afforded us by the Church to practice the virtue of charity even as we recognize God as the giver of the good things that we enjoy. Lent is an opportunity for us to step back from the busyness of our earthly life in order to re-evaluate what is of importance in our lives. It is an opportunity for us to re-align ourselves to God by making an effort to show our love to him and to our brothers and sisters in need. May we open our hearts and ears to the word of the Lord that come to us in the Scriptures and remain faithful to it.