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Friends United Meeting |
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November 1999
The Rich Man and Lazarus
By Florence Kimball
Today, as I walked to a meeting here in our nation’s capital, I passed three beggars. Their silent pleas for alms disquieted me.
Begging is not unique to Washington, or to the U.S., or to our age. But seeing it at the gates of the magnificent buildings of our nation’s capital, at the gates of the world’s most powerful and affluent nation, lends a special starkness.
I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the problems of poverty. There are so many desperately poor people with a multitude of complex problems. As the FCNL lobbyist who works on domestic human needs issues, I work on behalf of legislation to assist the most vulnerable in our society. But the measures that FCNL and other human needs groups work for often seem dreadfully inadequate in the face of the massive human needs, both in the U.S. and abroad.
Beggary was well known in Jesus’ time. One of the stories I remember best is the parable Jesus told about the beggar Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31).
The rich man dressed in the finest clothes and dined on delicacies every day. Meanwhile, a poor man, Lazarus, lay at the gate of the rich man’s home. We are told that Lazarus would have been happy if only he could get the scraps from the rich man’s table. Not only was Lazarus hungry but his body was covered with sores. Eventually, both the rich man and Lazarus died. Lazarus was carried to the bosom of Abraham in heaven while the rich man ended up in hell where he suffered torments. When the rich man asked Abraham for a cool drink from Lazarus, Abraham gently refused. He reminded the rich man that, when both he and Lazarus were alive, all good things fell to the rich man and all the bad to Lazarus.
Why was the rich man condemned? Jesus does not say that he amassed his wealth dishonestly. Jesus does not say that the rich man gained his wealth by exploiting others. Jesus doesn’t even say that the rich man deliberately closed his eyes to the plight of Lazarus. Jesus says only that the rich man had great wealth and that he enjoyed his wealth while Lazarus suffered miserably outside his gate.
Jesus does not suggest that the rich man should have helped Lazarus because Lazarus was particularly worthy of assistance. Nor does Jesus suggest that the rich man should have helped Lazarus as a penance for having cheated or exploited others. Rather, Jesus presents a very stark story that suggests that the rich man ended up in hell because he failed to heed God’s call for social justice, proclaimed in the Torah and by the prophets. Jesus’ story suggests that what God finds objectionable is the profound disparity in wealth, represented by the rich man and Lazarus.
Meanwhile, here in Washington, wealth and power go about their business and beggars lie at the gates. Is that any concern of mine? I think that it is, for a couple of reasons.
First, poverty is so widespread and complex that it defies solution by individuals or private organizations working alone. Ensuring that people in the U.S. do not go hungry, naked, or homeless requires involvement of the federal and state governments.
Second, the federal government disburses more than a trillion dollars annually. My contribution to the federal budget is pretty meager. But when the contributions of millions of others like me are added together, the total is a substantial part of the federal budget. Together, we need to give voice to our concerns about how our money is spent. Current budget priorities that take from anti-poverty programs in order to give billions to the military and provide tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations only accentuate the wealth disparities in the U.S.
Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus comes back. It is easy to do nothing and just allow legislators to spend my money in ways that fail to help the most vulnerable and which increase the gap between the rich and poor. But if I fail to act, am I very different from the rich man? And if I am like the rich man, will I share his fate?
“Go from my sight to the eternal fire that is ready for the devil and his an-
gels. For when I was hungry you gave me nothing to eat, when thirsty nothing to drink; when I was a stranger you gave me no home; when naked you did not clothe me; when I was ill and in prison you did not come to my help... Anything you did not do for one of these, however humble, you did not do for me.” (Mt 25:41-46, New English Bible)
Florence Kimball is the Legislative Education Secretary for FCNL. She is a member of New Brunswick Monthly Meeting, New York Yearly Meeting.
Copyright (c) 1999 Friends United Meeting
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