Jesus, the Master Teacher
Stephen Terry
Commentary for the May 30, 2015
Sabbath School Lesson
“But woe to you who are rich, for you
have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you
will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to
you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated
the false prophets.” Luke 6:24-26, NIV
In our parable-filled
lesson this week, the author appears to have missed an interesting
juxtaposition between the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man[i]
and the Parable of The Good Samaritan.[ii]
Perhaps we should be studying these parables together. In many cases those who
are reading this quarterly are citizens of some of the wealthiest societies on
Earth. Yet in each of those societies we find multitudes that are poor, sick,
and wounded. We find victims of crime and the criminals who perpetrate them.
In the
United States, we find a country with one of the highest percentages of its
population in prison. In fact, we find that the prison industry, far from being
a public institution is in many states a profit-making enterprise where more
prisoners mean more profit. I cannot imagine how this would not be a
disincentive to setting prisoners free. The love of money as opposed to a love
for our fellow man certainly deserves study.
The Lazarus
parable is about a beggar who is diseased and begs for a handout at a rich man’s
door. While the passage does not tell us this literally, the implication is
that he did so unsuccessfully. Then when their lives came to an end, the tables
were turned with Lazarus receiving rich rewards and the rich man receiving only
torment. Realizing his mistake, the rich man asks that Lazarus be sent to warn
his brothers of their possible fate. However, he does not appear to realize
that in the person of Lazarus, Jesus appeared to him, and he did not show
compassion toward Him.[iii]
In that sense, One who had risen from the dead appeared to him without impact.
As Jesus shared in the parable, it was not because of the supernatural
visitation, but because they could not understand such a visitation due to
their neglect of the word of God.
Maybe, like
so many today, the rich man considered Lazarus one of the unworthy poor, a
slacker, leeching off of those who are actually contributing to society, a drag
on the economy. The reasons for not helping the poor are legion. These are just
a few: “We don’t want to enable the poor in their lifestyle choices.” “They
should learn to work for what they have, like I did.” “If he had properly
prepared for possible misfortune, he wouldn’t be in this fix.” The conundrum in
such attitudes is that were the poor as industrious and successful as the myth
purports they should be, then when would Jesus counsel to help them ever apply,
for wouldn’t their industriousness have prevented their poverty in the first
place? Perhaps it is their poverty that is meant to challenge our penuriousness
and not their worthiness.
If God pours
his blessings into this world like a heavenly stream of compassion, it would
logically follow that just as an earthly stream would not ask those who drank
from it about whether they deserved its water, so would be the case with that
heavenly torrent. The vilest criminal and the most holy saint may all enjoy
refreshment from the same fountain. Jesus assures us that God’s blessings are
just as impartial.[iv]
Should we then, as His children, be any different? Should we demand a certain
level of effort from the needy to qualify for help from our hand? Should we ask
them to sacrifice in order to be blessed? Through the prophet Hosea God
revealed that mercy and not sacrifice was His will.[v]
Maybe those who are like the rich man would desire mercy on the Day of Judgment.
However, the mercy that will be poured out on that day may be directly
proportional to the mercy we have shown others during our lives.
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant[vi]
speaks to that very point. He had a debt that was impossible to pay forgiven by
his lord. But instead of learning from that experience e to show mercy, he went
out and had someone who owed him a small debt cast into prison. Discovering
this, his lord had him cast into prison as well. Perhaps this is why we are
encouraged by Jesus to seek forgiveness from God as we are willing to forgive
others.[vii]
By repeating this in the Lord’s Prayer,[viii]
it was meant to drive home our need to place mercy above self-interest in this
life. What a difference that would have made for the rich man in the case of
Lazarus.
As I
indicated earlier, the Parable of the Good Samaritan adds still more depth of
understanding to this issue. It speaks directly to the worthiness of the
recipient of our largesse. Because of the hostility that existed between the
two nations of Samaria and Israel, neither would willingly speak kindly to the
other, let alone aid one another. But in spite of that, a Jew who had been
attacked by robbers and left for dead was helped, not by his own countrymen,
who avoided coming near, but by a reviled Samaritan. He cared for the man’s
wounds and then made sure of shelter and food for his recovery. This might
compare to a modern day Islamic terrorist doing the same for a wounded Jew. Is
it possible for us to exercise compassion without regard to the worthiness of
the recipient to receive or even expect it from us?
We see daily
on the news the horrors perpetrated around us, and our anger rises, and we and our
enemies seek one another’s heads in an ever rising spiral of violence. Fear of
what those enemies might do to us drives us to arm ourselves to the teeth,
spending trillions because of this fear, trillions that might have alleviated
great suffering in the world. Instead of killing one another, Jesus advised us
to be like the compassionate Samaritan and do likewise.[ix]
What kind of world would this be if we all went around inflicting compassion on
one another instead of rockets, bombs and bullets? I would love to have the
opportunity to find out.
Perhaps the
most important aspect about all of this is as I alluded to earlier. Are we able
to see Jesus in our fellow man? We may feel that we would surely have saved
Jesus from suffering on the cross if we could, but do we understand that we can
minister to Jesus’ suffering by alleviating the suffering of the many around us
who lack wealth, health or freedom?
In the
Parable of the Sheep and the Goats,[x]
Jesus enlarged on the words in chapter 58 of the book of Isaiah.[xi]
While the prophet called on God’s people to care for the needy and lift up
those who have fallen, Jesus revealed that doing so was an act performed toward
Him. This is revelatory of His understanding of the hearts of those who might
not care for the needy, but deceive themselves into thinking that they would
certainly care for Jesus if they met Him. The reality is that we are meeting
Jesus every day in those created by God to be our fellow travelers on this
bright, blue sphere hurtling around the sun that blesses our planet with
warmth.
How sad that we too often bring death and
destruction to those around us instead of the compassion Jesus spoke of. Could
it be that this is the death that Adam and Eve were told would come as a result
of noshing on the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil?[xii]
Whenever it might have occurred, at some point, we switched from speaking in
terms of “ours” to speaking instead of “mine.”
An
illustration of how fundamental a difference this is between those who have a
relationship with the compassionate Jesus and those still struggling to
understand that relationship is found in the very early church. Once those
early followers of the Way received the Holy Spirit, they were motivated in the
unusual direction of sacrificing material wealth to make sure the needs of all
were met.[xiii]
In capitalist countries, this may sound like anathema to the guiding principles
of Capitalism. Such thinking comes closer to Socialism perhaps. But the concept
as practiced in the early church predated any such labels. Some elements of
this were even advanced by Moses during the Exodus.[xiv]
But if it represented a revival of the nature man was created with, it may predate
every other economic system and theory.
For better
or for worse, because of the inherent selfishness we all struggle with, it has
never been implemented on a global or even national basis. Perhaps the only way
to realize such a society is to have it imposed from without. Jesus has
promised to return and bring changes. Those unable to set aside selfishness may
find themselves outside of that new world. Those who will be found there may be
the very ones demonstrating compassion and grace to those around them today.
There are many like Lazarus in our world, each one an opportunity to minister
to Jesus. Let’s pray that there may also be many like the Good Samaritan, eager
to show mercy and compassion without regard to the worthiness of the recipient.
