Proper 21C, 2025
Text: Luke 16:19-31
Title: Beggars
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No one wants to be a beggar.
As you were listening to Jesus tell His story about the rich man and Lazarus who would you rather be?
If you’re being honest, you would want to be the rich man. No question. No debate. It’s not even close.
The rich man has nice, comfortable clothes- fine linen, purple, the best money can buy. He’s practically royalty.
The rich man has good food. He “feasted sumptuous every day.” Not just for special occasions. Not just for birthdays and anniversaries and holidays. Every day there was a feast on his table.
The rich man is used to being waited on. He’s used to being able to order people around. Now, this isn’t directly mentioned in the story, but did you catch how he treated Lazarus. Even in Hell, the rich man is ordering him around. Tell him to bring me some water. Tell him to go talk to my family. He expects Lazarus to be at his beck and call, even in the afterlife.
Everyone wants to be the rich man.
No one wants to be a beggar.
It’s humiliating. It’s demoralizing to have to ask for things, to rely on other people to provide for you and take care of you.
Some of you have been there. Whether it’s been unemployment, or crushing medical bills, or an unforeseen tragedy, you’ve found yourself in need of help. And it’s hard to ask for it. It’s hard to admit that you can’t pay your bills and provide for your family without other people’s help.
Now Lazarus is not just your typical, hard on his luck beggar. It’s hard to imagine someone worse off than Lazarus. He’s poor. He’s hungry. He’s disabled (notice that someone has to lay him at the rich man’s gate). And he’s covered in sores.
All Lazarus has for company are the dogs.
Now, you might think that’s a good thing, but these dogs are no household pets. These are not lapdogs or your well-behaved labradoodles, retrievers, and Alaskan huskies. These are the junkyard dogs, the feral, wild dogs. When they aren’t licking Lazarus, they’ve got their noses in the trash heap or the open sewers. And in Israel, remember, dogs are unclean.
No, you wouldn’t want to be Lazarus the beggar, at least when the story begins.
As the story progresses, you’ll probably want to change your vote.
The rich man didn’t remember what Paul wrote to Timothy, that “we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.”
The rich man’s fancy clothes and his expensive meals profit him nothing in the afterlife and he was in torment.
Why was he being punished? It is simply that all rich people are evil?
No. The rich man’s problem, as Abraham identifies it, is that he and his family did not listen to Moses and the Prophets.
The role of Moses and the Prophets was to prepare God’s people for the Messiah, to point out their need, their helplessness so that they would look for a Savior.
Last week, we heard about the Pharisees. They didn’t think they were sick. They didn’t think they needed a doctor. They thought they could keep the law perfectly, so they didn’t need any forgiveness. It was folks like Matthew, the tax collector, who saw their sickness, their need and welcomed Jesus.
Similarly, the rich are often the villains in Jesus’ stories. There’s the Parable of the Rich Fool, who builds lots of barns for his goods, but doesn’t think about tending to his soul. There’s the rich young man, who knows the law and wants to keep it, but won’t follow Jesus if it means getting rid of his possessions. There’s Jesus’ words about how hard it is for the rich to enter heaven, and that it’s easier to get a camel through the eye of the needle.
Over and over again, the wealthy are in trouble when it comes to Jesus.
The point is this. When you have lots of possessions, you don’t really see a need for Jesus. You trust in your wealth to carry you through. And you’re also prone to thinking of yourself as better than all those poor people, who are lazy or just not loved as much by God. And you’re unwilling to part with your possessions to give away to a bunch of lousy beggars.
If the rich man had listened to the prophets, if he had heard the words of the prophet Amos read just moments ago, he would know that the wealth of this world does not provide security. Amos says, “Look at all these other kingdoms that have fallen. Look at all these others who have lost their wealth. Don’t think that this can’t happen to you.”
The problem with the rich man isn’t that he’s rich. His problem is that he trusts in his riches and ultimately in himself.
And that can only get you so far, because when death comes, you will be powerless. In the end, the rich man cries out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me.” “Have mercy on me” is the cry of the beggar. In death the rich man has been turned into a beggar, suffering worse than Lazarus ever had.
On the other hand, Lazarus trusts in God. We know this from his name. Lazarus is the only character in any of Jesus’ parables who has a name, and the name Lazarus means, “God is my help.”
The rich man certainly didn’t help Lazarus. No one seemed to be able to help him in this world, but God provided him the best of the best in the afterlife. To recline at Abraham’s side was the top spot at the table. The place of honor.
The only way you get that spot is if the Lord brings you there.
You rely on the Lord for everything. You rely on Jesus as your Savior. You come to Him begging for mercy.
When Martin Luther died, they found a scrap of paper in his pocket with the words written, “We are all beggars.”
We can never do enough to earn the love and favor of God. We come to Him as beggars, crying, “Lord, have mercy.”
You may notice that when the pastor leads your prayers, he holds up his hands like this. Empty. Begging. The Lord gives only into empty hands. Put down your bulletin and try it sometime (you know the words).
We come here to God’s altar with empty hands.
And the Lord fills them. He gives you the grace and mercy of Christ freely and abundantly. All your sins forgiven. An eternity of reclining at table with Him, clothed in the white robe of Christ’s righteousness, feasting on food better than any Michelin star restaurant in this world.
And the Lord not only provides you with spiritual blessings, but earthly treasures as well. You have nice homes (maybe even two), new cars and trucks, closets full of clothes and fridges full of food. You have savings and retirement accounts and you can afford a comfortable life for your kids.
How do you follow Jesus as rich folk? How do you ensure that what happened to the Rich Man in Jesus’ story doesn’t happen to you?
Take a look at Father Abraham. Abraham was wealthy. He was a rich man. But he still trusted in the Lord. Moses writes that Abraham believed God’s promises and it was counted to him as righteousness. Abraham was saved by faith.
Abraham believed that even though he and Sarah were old, that the Lord would provide them with more descendants than the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.
Abraham believed that even though he and Sarah were wandering nomads, that the Lord would provide their heirs with a bountiful land in which to live.
Abraham believed that through one of his descendants, the whole world would be blessed, that the Messiah would come as his Savior as well.
And so, how did Abraham use his wealth?
Abraham tithed. He returned a tenth, 10% of his possessions to the Lord.
Are you there yet? Are you okay with tipping your server 15, 20 percent and more, but you struggle to give the Lord half as much?
It’s not quite the same, I know. But are you as generous towards the Lord as you are with other people in your life? How does what you spend on entertainment, vacations, and other luxuries compare with what you give to the Lord?
Are you willing to give to the beggars in your life, to the Lazaruses who lay at your doorstep?
Are you willing to give to a beggar named Dr. Michael Paul, who has devoted his life to teaching and training pastors on the other side of the world in Taiwan?
Are you willing to give to a beggar named Vicar Blaise Longhurst, a California boy who’s about to spend a winter just outside of Fargo, North Dakota, because he is dedicated to being a pastor?
Abraham was generous with all that the Lord had given him, to the point of sacrificing his beloved son, trusting that the Lord would provide.
The Lord provided for Abraham. He provided the ram to take the place of Isaac, and He provided descendants and land as He had promised. He provided a Savior, Jesus Christ, to give us heavenly riches beyond imagination.
Like Lazarus, the Lord is your helper. Like Abraham, the Lord is your provider. Don’t be afraid to come to Him, begging with open hands, knowing and trusting that He will take care of you.
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