Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024
Gospel Reflection
The Rev. Rob Stevens
Luke 16:19–31
Jesus said, "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, `Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.' But Abraham said, `Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.' He said, `Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house-- for I have five brothers-- that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.' Abraham replied, `They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.' He said, `No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to him, `If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"
When I hear this story I’m often drawn to the phrase, “between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us” it reminds me of talks that I heard as young person about SIN. Sin is not something that we Episcopalians spend a lot of time on for some reason. However, I do think pondering Sin and what we mean when we talk about our sinfulness is important. As our bishop states regularly, “Our theology matters!”
Sin often gets reduced to bad stuff we do and perhaps that is accurate, but only to a point. I think that Sin is better understood as the chasm mentioned in the reading from Luke above. Sin is being separated from God, love and one another. Sin is the condition we find ourselves in when we deny our own humanity or the humanity of another. Our sinfulness some have said, is simply being human. We are born this way. However, that seems to me to be a bit of a cop-out. It lets us off the hook to blame it all on “Original Sin.” I agree, we all fall short from time to time, but I believe that we are made for goodness and love and that the chasm of sin can be vanquished, indeed has been vanquished by God’s love in and through us. The good news is that we are not like Lazarus in the story above…we can do something about the chasm of sin in our lives.
Examining our sinfulness is not about shaming ourselves or others, but about realigning our practice of life so our goodness and love are amplified. We will fall short, we will hurt others, we will be in Sin…AND God invites us to return to ourselves over and over. That’s the beauty of the gift of Forgiveness. This is the cycle that is a Life of Faith. May we have courage to examine our life, reset where needed, and love with boldness that reflects a God that never EVER gives up on us.