Thursday of the Second Week of Lent

In Jesus' parable, Dives – pronounced Die-vees, a name given him by tradition – finds himself in Hell but is having a hard time coming to terms with it. He cannot make the connection between his life style and his punishment. But we too might ask what he did wrong. Was he a mob kingpin, a dishonest contractor, a cheating lawyer, or a crooked politician? As Jesus tells the story his only guilt was being rich and doing nothing for Lazarus.

The story begins with Dives appeal to Father Abraham to send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and "give me a drink." Christians remember that if you give a cup of cold water to someone you will receive the reward of Jesus. But Lazarus will not be sent.

It’s too dangerous. Dives would require Lazarus to risk the fires of Hell to give him a drop of water. In fact he seems to regard Lazarus, whom he always ignored, as his personal servant. He might be saying, “Send that boy….” 

Abraham replies with an explanation. First he points out how reasonable this new arrangement is. You enjoyed the good life and Lazarus suffered a miserable life; so now Lazarus enjoys consolation and you are in misery. What could be more reasonable?

 “Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours.’

So where did the chasm come from?

In this world, geography is a given. It’s just there. We might assume the ethereal geography of Heaven and Hell is also a given. But as our world grows smaller with rapid transportation and communication, we realize that gaps can be closed, even the gap between the rich and the poor. But Dives never made the slightest effort to close the gap, and now it is

“…established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from you side to ours.”

The poor cannot become rich; the rich refused to be poor. There are insurmountable barriers, treacherous rivers, impassable canyons and explosive minefields between here and there.

This parable has obvious social implications. There was no “middle class” during Jesus time, and there might not always be one. Maintaining a middle class is like flying. It doesn’t come naturally. It takes enormous commitment, energy, wisdom and integrity on the part of millions of people. As we face a world where billions of people live in or aspire to the middle class, this flying circus will require far more integrity, wisdom, energy and commitment.

The United States has long regarded itself as the home of middle class principles – freedom, equality, diversity, opportunity, upward mobility, education, progress. It has been our mission and destiny to bring these privileges to the world. But the task gets increasingly more difficult.

We know we cannot withdraw to Dives house and shut the door on Lazarus. Very few can squeeze into the house of the super-rich, and we loath poverty.

And so we pray for our nation and the world during this critical time.