By Dn. John Manutes (November, 2006)
Lazarus the Poor Man
Do any of you remember the 1960’s TV show Lost in Space? Some of you may not remember it but it was one of my favorites as a kid. It was about a family and a robot who were marooned on a planet, and all the trials they faced. I remember especially the robot, whose duty was to protect everyone. When ever he detected danger he said “Warning, Warning!” Well I think today’s gospel is giving us such a warning. It says to me, “Warning, Warning”! And it is a warning against greed and covetousness. It is a warning against the accumulation of earthly treasure at the expense of the treasure of God.
One author I read said that covetousness for all practical purposes isn’t even considered a sin. If you break the sixth or eighth commandment, you are of course a criminal but if you break the tenth, you are only enterprising.
So what is wrong with accumulating as much “stuff” as we can, what is so wrong with living by the philosophy that the one who dies with the most toys wins! What’s wrong with that? We can seek to find the answer to that question by first looking at the Old Testament where we read in Ecclesiastes 5:10 “The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain.” The Bible is saying that people who love money are never satisfied; they always want more; they never have enough. And we all know that wealth does not buy happiness or contentment. And usually wealthy people can not even spend all the money they have. But there are plenty of people around who are willing to help them spend it, right? Ecclesiastes reads, “The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it.
Then there is the fact that riches can perish; they can be lost by misfortune or bad investment. The stock market may tank like it did a few years ago. So we spend time worrying about our money, if we will have enough; will we lose it and so forth. In the gospel Jesus says, “And can any of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your span of life? And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying.” (Lk 12:25) This is not to say we shouldn’t be prudent stewards of our money and possessions; we should just not focus on them as such; we should not let them control our lives and place them above the things of God. And in any case we all know that we can’t take it with us when us die.
Jesus makes that exact point when He says “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” And again in Matthew our Lord says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal”. And in the Gospel of John, Christ warns us “But you shouldn’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that I, the Son of Man, can give you. For God the Father has sent me for that very purpose.” (Jn 6:27)
St. Paul also warns against the evils of materialism or covetousness. He writes to Timothy saying “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (1 Tim). It is not money that is evil in and of itself, it is our love of money and the things money can buy and our lusting over them that destroys us.
So the Bible warns us very clearly both in the Old Testament and in the New. We should not focus on laying up treasure here on earth because the principle things in life are not the accumulation of possessions and wealth. On the other side of the coin, what are the reasons to lay up our treasure in Heaven and exactly how do we do that? Well if material things are insecure, perishable and don’t last the treasure we lay up in Heaven is very secure; in fact it is eternal. “…where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Mt 6:22). We have in Heaven an inheritance, which is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, and it is being kept and guarded for us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (cf 1 Pe 1:4). Jesus Christ died for us, so that we may gain an inheritance as the Father’s adaptive children to the fulfillment of His promise of everlasting life.
Christ tells us that our treasure is also where our heart will be. In our secret heart of hearts we find out where our true affections lay, what our true hopes are and what our real dreams are. We are warned today that if our treasure is of this earth, then our hearts can experience much disappointment. But if our treasure is of God, then our hearts will rejoice eternally in God and not suffer with weeping and gnashing of teeth. We know that whatever happens here in the present life will not devastate us because we have focused our lives on the Way of Christ. St. Paul wrote “But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. (Heb 10:32-34). Paul’s audience knew that there were better things, more perfect things, waiting for them.
So the warnings are clear; we cannot serve two masters; we cannot serve God and mammon because both cannot be pleased. Exodus 34:14 “for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”. So we must choose. Do we worship the One True God as Orthodox Christians or do we become idolaters of a false god? Ephesians 5:5 “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God”. And Colossians “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” We know of course what we should do. “Seek first the kingdom of God” it says in Matthew (Mt 6:33). Make the Kingdom of God our priority, which at the same time effectively eliminates mammon.
But the question remains how do we put God first? How does God take precedence over everything in our lives, especially in this culture which puts the love of self above anything else? It is of course Jesus who tells us the how. Many times Jesus connects laying up treasure in Heaven to giving to the poor. In Luke 12:32-33 Our Lords said to His disciples “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.” And to the rich ruler He said “”You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Lk 18:22,25).
St. Paul as well, again writing to Timothy “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. “(1 Tim 6:17-19). We give to the poor, in Love and we trust in God for all things. We do good and store our treasure by our works, by our sharing and by our giving.
Advent seems to me to be a particularly good time for us to refocus our lives on the “good” we can do both in terms of giving financially and giving of our time and talents. Advent reminds us not to get caught up in the materialism which drowns us at this time of the year. Advent can and should remind us that it was through Christ’s incarnation that we children of God and heirs with Christ in the coming resurrection. Advent should remind us that we are ransomed by His precious Blood and “not with perishable things such as gold and silver”. (1 Pet 1:18). We know of course that eternal life can not be purchased, but giving to the poor does help us, by God’s grace, to lay hold of eternal life, not as the boastful young man in Matthew, but in humility, even in secret and especially in love. “…when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” (Lk 14:13-14pp).
God does not call all of us to be monks or nuns or to live an ascetic life. He wants us to enjoy the good that comes from our labor. This is a gift from God. But to properly enjoy what God has allowed us to use requires a heart for giving, “you must support the weak” it says in Acts, and ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35b). Thus we can provide for our families and loved ones but also to others in need. We can really begin to lay up our treasure if we haven’t already begun to do so, at this blessed time of year, keeping today’s words of Christ in our mind and in our hearts so that we can begin to apply them to our lives. Our Lord is warning us, “Warning, Warning” so that we can turn from our way and live. So that we will be building our house upon the perfect foundation that is Jesus Christ, and when the temptations of materialism and covetousness start to come and beat upon our house, it will not fall. (Mt 7:25 cf). I will end with this last familiar, but thought provoking verse, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? (Mk 8:36).