Faith is finding Jesus in people
(republishing, copying, no restrictions)
By: Father Shay Cullen
The Gospel story as recounted by St. Luke (Ch.16:19-31) is one that rings true all the more in our modern society. The world's rich, especially the elite of society, have more wealth than ever before and yet there are more poor hungry diseased people than ever before too. It's not a coincidence, the rich are taking it from the poor and the story told by Jesus of Nazareth has an important lesson for us all. It is a powerful story and a challenge to our faith. Mr Rich dressed in the latest fashion and lived in luxury as many do today. Lazarus was a poor man covered in sores and could not walk with the hunger. He had to be carried to the door of the rich man's house in the hope of getting the left over scraps that fell from the well laden table.
Mr. Rich was so mean he wouldn't give the scraps to keep Lazarus alive. No one in the community had the compassion of the Good Samaritan to give food and clean the poor man's sores brought on by malnutrition. Today 840 million people are malnourished world-wide so the plight of Lazarus is nothing new. Consider this, 227 of the world's richest people have an income that equals the income earned by 2.7 billion of the world's poor. - 40% of all humans on earth. They earn about a dollar a day to feed an average family of four.
Only the dogs had pity on Lazarus and licked his sores to try and heal them. That's one up for faithful pets. But did Jesus go too far by implying that the dogs showed more love than the humans?
In the end Lazarus died of hunger and disease and Mr. Rich died perhaps from his excessive consumption of rich food and lazy lifestyle. Perhaps he felt too that his life was wasted and without purpose. His wealth and property brought him no happiness.
Anyway Mr. Rich died and was sent to hell because of one thing, his apathy -he just didn't care and share what he had. Lazarus went to a life of happiness beyond the grave.
Death comes to us all but the the poor sooner. As many as 6 million children younger than five (5) years old die every year because of hunger. 25,000 people die in grievous pain every day of hunger, that is 3.5 every second.
Yet the world has never produced as much food in all of history. A minority have much more than others and they aren't sharing. Imagine a mother with five kids and she has one small can of sardines and half a kilo of rice. That's poverty. A shelf of canned goods and a sack of rice, for her that's being rich.
Being a true Christian and not a lukewarm one calls for a spiritual awaking and to accept that the poor and the downtrodden have to be freed from the shackles of poverty and injustice and given the freedom and the means to be self-reliant and live in dignity.
The street protests in Rangoon being put down by violence and brutality by the Burmese military is abhorrent. They torture, maim and kill with impunity just as surely as Mr. Rich killed Lazarus with his apathy and selfishness. We too must ask if we do enough to reduce human suffering and stand for human rights.
This is what it means to be a mature Christian; to implement in action the word of Jesus, to love one another, to free the captives, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and believe that when we do it for the poor we do it to Jesus. He identified with them and he wants us to meet him when we help them.
Faith is not in a set of dogmas alone but what they represent the belief that Jesus is resurrected and alive and in people especially the poor and wants us to be one with him. He came to serve and to be served and that's a lesson we all have to learn and practice. -End-
