Sermon
What is the correlation between driving habits and participation in behaviors that benefit the larger community? Hypothesis: People who allow others to merge are more likely to engage in social generosity. Wouldn't this be a great study?
This came to mind as I drove into the city the other day. Thinking I had missed the morning commute rush hour traffic, I quickly discovered that there is another rush hour with heavy traffic – the “I hope I've missed the morning rush hour” rush hour. There's also the 5:00 rush hour as people leave work; and the weekend after work rush hour that starts at 3:00. And the “I live in the neighborhood with a lot of schools” rush hour that begins around 2:00pm. The cars waiting for pick up are double parked in both directions on a narrow street – no way to get around, and no way to know that you're not just in a stop sign ahead line; the students exiting swarm; Think of the things we try to do around traffic patterns – all so that we don't have to run into people who use their driving to announce that the world is all about them.
“I'll only be here for a second,” say the double parkers. “I got here first say the merge deniers.” But when we remember that traffic flow works better when we pay attention to each other, we are putting our individualism aside for the sake of the whole. Thus, my hypothesis.
Jesus would have written a parable about this, I'm sure, if he had these circumstances in front of him. But he didn't. Jesus found other ways more appropriate to his own context to remind people to think of each other. The parable we read this morning is the third of three in a row that Jesus tells to a crowd of followers. All three were related to money somehow, but always at the same time more than just money. The first parable about two sons and their inheritance. The second from last week about a land owner and shrewd manager. And the third today, again beginning with “There was a rich man….”
In the verses just before our parable for today, the pharisees have heard Jesus' parable about the land owner and dishonest manager and have ridiculed Jesus. Jesus then tells another parable also about a rich man, but this time there is a lot more detail. The visual details are one thing: dressed in purple and fine linen, contrast with the poor man – who actually has a name, with a gritty description: covered in sores which the dogs lick. Not only more detail, but this parable isn't even set on earth in life, but is set after death. Sounding like a story from Beowolf or an opera about the underworld, this parable pictures these two men after death in reverse circumstances from when they were on earth. Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham being comforted by a Father of his faith. But the rich man being tormented in Hades calling out to Abraham for help. He doesn't even ask for Abraham to do anything himself, but “…send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.” I'm sorry says Abraham, no one can cross the chasm that is between these two places. Actually, Abraham doesn't say sorry. The father of the faith of the rich man reminds him of the way things were when they were alive and explains that things are as they should be. The rich man then asks Abraham to send Lazarus back to earth, to the man's brothers and warn them to change so that they don't suffer in the same way after they die. Abraham replies that the man's family already has what they need, the words and lives of Moses and the prophets. Oh, but if someone returns from the dead, surely that would be a stunning event that they would remember and change their ways. No, says Abraham, even if someone rises from the dead they would not listen.
There are two meanings in this parable. One is for the pharisees. If the rich man could not see what was right in front of him, a man with a name and a life, Lazarus poor and covered in sores, why should we believe that something extraordinary would teach them anything new? The society of the rich man has the faith that his community shares, has the words of Moses and the prophets, and is faced daily with an opportunity to care for the poor – not just in theory, not just with a donation to a large corporation somewhere far away – to care for the poor right under his nose. Not only do they have Moses and the prophets, but in this parable the pharisees are reminded that they can go even further back to the words of the father of their faith, Abraham. This whole parable was told as a response to the pharisees ridiculing Jesus' messages. In this parable Jesus contrasts the life one lives when we base our decisions on how we look to others instead of on how we are in our hearts. God knows, Jesus has said. And here in this parable Abraham reminds them that they already have all that they need.
The other meaning of this parable is for us. What does it mean for us that Jesus is the one telling this story that ends with 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' We are people who are part of a faith community birthed from the fact that someone indeed did rise from the dead.
It's typical for modern readers to put themselves into the scripture verses, and with parables to put ourselves into the characters presented. We always want to be the one in the story that did the right thing. Or the lesson is, do the right thing. Let the person who needs to merge, merge in front of you! Take care of each other, ok? How many ways do I need to tell you? While the pharisees needed a message like this parable reminding them to break with their ways of life that keep the poor poor and the rich rich; break with their ways of life that blind them to what is unjust right in front of them; And we do too! How many ways do we have of avoiding the responsibility that comes with having, because we're too tired or exhausted or blind or angry or fixated on ourselves only to make any sustainable change? I could expound on that.
But again, that gnat wouldn't leave me alone, and I couldn't stop thinking about those last words, “even if someone rises from the dead.” Wait, I thought. Someone did. That's the basis for what we believe. Reading this parable today, here, has taken these ancient words and brought them from their own context into ours and highlighted the question for us today. What does it mean in our context then, to hear the words “…neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”
Are we convinced? I received two emails this week mentioning a new Pew Research Center report about the future of Christianity in America. One from Sojourners, and one from Diana Butler Bass. First, here is a quote from the Sojourners magazine article:
“On Sept. 13, Pew Research Center released four hypothetical scenarios that model what the religious landscape of the United States might look like if current demographic trends continue. The four models projected that the U.S. population who identify as Christian would decrease from 64 percent in 2020 to between 35-54 in 2070.”
While these are not predictions, they do continue the previous trends of the the last 30 years.”
Second, here is a quote from Diana Butler Bass, referring to the same Pew study from this week: “Demographics are not destiny; trends are not predestination. Although Christianity probably will be a minority faith in a much more pluralistic nation in the next few decades, those of us who are Christians still have much work to do in advance of that huge, historic shift. Denial is a terrible strategy. Nostalgia is a dangerous choice. Letting the future take its own course is a kind of surrender of responsibility.
How Christians respond to both prophets and probabilities of the future is a big deal — not only for our children and grandchildren, but for American Christianity right now. "The choices that this generation makes impress themselves on those who will follow us.”
Thinking about ALL of Christianity in ALL of this country sounds daunting. But the question is the same regardless of the size of the community. If the decline of Christianity in America is a trend, can we expect any local congregation regardless of size, to have impact enough to change the trend?
Declining Christianity doesn't have to be a bad thing. Maybe what is declining is Christianity in America as we know it, and that could be a good thing. What if a stronger relevant Christianity develops in America? Like the Christianity that Jesus was describing in this parable. Folks responding to Sojourners' call for comments about the Pew study all mentioned the power that is inherent in American Christianity as it has been developed and “suggested that Christians who have been marginalized by white Christianity can teach the church how to live creatively without the power and privilege that come with majority status.”
People are looking for a place to be grounded in the midst of this world where all measure of topics are fraught with tension. Each week, our newsletter proclaims that Bethany is a place for the ungrounded to find a soft landing. Our welcoming statement says, “We don't yet know who you are, but we do know that you are a dearly beloved child of God, and you're already welcome here. We invite you, on your unique spiritual journey, to join us in the life and ministry at Bethany.”
Our faith has given us Abraham, and Moses and the prophets, and someone has risen from the dead – Jesus Christ.
Let's pray….