THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS

Once a priest announced in the Church saying, “I have a hundred dollar preaching that will last only five minutes and a fifty dollar preaching that will last about forty minutes and a twenty-dollar preaching that will last about an hour, now let us take up the collection and see which one I am going to preach.

Once a fifty-dollar, a twenty-dollar and a luni were taking to each other. The fifty-dollar said, “My master is a great man. He takes me to movie place and big malls and I am so happy to go with him”. The twenty-dollar said, “My boss is also a good man, “He takes me to the city and big stores and I am so happy with him”. Then the luni said, “My master is a good man too… and I don’t understand him because he takes me only to church”.

1. From today’s gospel, we come to know three important things such as the blessing of the believer, the blessing of the unknown believer and what will happen to those who don’t share their spiritual gifts, knowledge and understanding.

2. The blessing of the believers:

The rich man in today’s gospel represents all the Pharisees, scribes and the chosen people. They were all given blessings upon blessings. Since God Himself chose them, everything was given to them. They enjoyed freedom and life; they enjoyed riches and happiness. Nothing was lacking in their life. They were blessed with everything. They experienced perfection and absolute happiness. They were given more of everything.

As we are chosen by God through His Son Jesus, we are also given special blessings to enjoy everything. Complete bliss and enlightenment is possible for us all in Jesus Christ our Lord. And Jesus Himself became the way, truth and the life for us. We all became children of God in Jesus.

3. The blessing of the unknown believer:

Lazarus in today’s gospel represents the gentiles or all unknown believers. Even though He didn’t know about the creator God or the God of Israel, he came to the rich man or the man who practices his faith, but he refused to share God’s blessings, love and kindness. But the man waited at the door longing to know about God but the believer gave nothing to him so God himself came down and blessed him abundantly. The unknown believer became so rich in faith and began to enjoy every spiritual gift but on the other hand the rich man lost everything and was disconnected from the love and kindness of God our father completely.

Conclusion:

Today’s gospel invites us to share our spiritual knowledge, wisdom and understanding; our spiritual blessings and gifts with those who are struggling to know the Father. It is our duty to give. As we give and share our spiritual gifts, they multiply as thirty, sixty and hundredfold. Yes, when we give our spiritual blessings, they will come back to us more and thus we will have more of everything. Amen.