I ended up travelling to Louisville on a business trip this past week. While it didn't lend itself to getting any writing done, it did present several opportunities to apply last Sunday's passage. We were in Luke 16 again - this time looking at the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (see text below). There's a lot in here to talk about, but I'm going to focus on the man at the gate.
As our pastor was giving us insight into this passage, there was an attitude that struck me. The Rich Man passed by Lazarus day after day and simply ignored him. Plenty of well known researchers and even celebrities have run the experiment where they dress up like homeless people and sit on the sidewalk holding a sign. Every one of these studies I have read about result in the same reaction - "It was amazing how I simply became invisible to everyone passing by."
I can imagine that Lazarus felt the same way in this story - invisible. It was like he was just part of the landscaping at the Rich Man's gate; albeit an unattractive part. I'm guilty of the same behavior when I'm around the homeless and beggars (and others that I don't think about). Here's the thing though - it's intentional on my part to make them part of the landscaping. By ignoring their humanity and not recognizing their Creator, I can pass it off as someone else's problem.
I considered the multitude of problems in our culture and around the world. The fact is, I don't want to know about most of it. Seeing it is disturbing. Being disturbed creates compassion. Compassion becomes a desire to act. Staring at the size of the problem becomes overwhelming. Overwhelmed, I feel impotent to make any difference. Impotence leads to hopelessness and hopelessness to inaction. It becomes easier to let those issues become part of the landscaping.
Isn't there a reality that I can't do something about everything? Is it possible to do everything about something? I just don't have the resources. That's all true, but there's also a carefully crafted lie in there. The truth is God has given you and me talent and resources that do make a difference. I won't solve the world's problems on my own - that's not my job. Jesus is the Savior of the world, I'm just a tool available for His use when He needs me.
This past week, my Bride and I prayed that we would see the beggar at our gate. As we talked through it, we just weren't convinced of who or what that could be. We weren't used to looking for them. We asked for the ability to seem them along with the boldness and courage to act on it. Our prayers were answered in ways we didn't expect.
Remember the Parable of the Shrewd Manager? The takeaway was that we should use all of resources, from money to our intelligence and wisdom, to win others for the sake of spreading the Gospel. We're giving financially to the church and have a desire to be more generous as time goes on. Yet with the opportunities God presented us this week, it didn't cost us anything financially. What people were begging for was kindness to be shown, love to be extended, and to hear about what grace really means.
Sometimes the avenue to open someone's heart to the message of Jesus does have a financial cost. Other times, all they want is to live with the kind of peace and joy that only the Spirit living in us can offer. Still others just want to overcome the hurdle holding them back from a relationship with Christ or even their family. There are many more.
Regardless of what it looks like, ask God to open your eyes to the beggar at your gate. He doesn't ask to you tackle the entire world. What we need to do is be available and be seeking the part He is asking us to play. We can be confident He will give us the resources to handle it. Just keep the lines of communication open and remember it's not your will and effort making things happen. God isn't delegating this to you as a manager, He's working with you. While you're acting as His agent to help others, He's also refining and sanctifying you in the process.
Luke 16:19 - 31
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.[f] The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— 28 for I have five brothers[g]—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
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