"Don't Be That Guy"

 

Luke 16:19-31

September 28, 2025

 

"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.

And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,

who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.

The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.

In Hades, where he was being tormented, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side.

He called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.'

But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus in like manner evil things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.

Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.'

He said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house--

for I have five brothers--that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.'

Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.'

He said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'

He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"

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            Some passages from the Bible are hard to preach on because they are complicated.  This one is hard to preach on because it’s straightforward and – to add to that – Jesus says at the end of the parable that a lot of people aren’t going to take it to heart anyway.

            In the parable, Lazarus says to Abraham,

“'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house--

for I have five brothers--that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.'

Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.'

He said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'

He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"

By the way, there are two Lazaruses (Lazari?) in the New Testament.  One of them was Jesus’ friend, whom he raises from the dead.  The other is the man in this parable, the only parable where anyone is given a name.  (I once heard a sermon where the preacher observed that “Lazarus” is the Greek version of  the Hebrew “Eleazar”, which means “God is my help”.) 

And, of course, there is one other person in all of this who was telling the story and who himself would rise from the dead, and he is the one who is telling us, his sisters and brothers, “Don’t be like Lazarus!”  Anything anyone else adds to that is just commentary.  The message itself is not to ignore the person in need who is lying right there on your doorstep.

Of course, we’ve already heard it from the Old Testament – the Law and the Prophets.  Deuteronomy 24:17-21 says,

“You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice; you shall not take a widow’s garment in pledge. Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.

 When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings.  When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.

When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.  Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this.”

When people failed to do things like this, the prophets had a few things to say.  Amos, for instance, was especially upset about people who could sit back (like Lazarus and his brothers in the parable) and forget or ignore the fact that their own people had been carried off into slavery.

“Woe to those who are at ease in Zion and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria.

Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and lounge on their couches and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the stall,

who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David improvise on instruments of music,

who drink wine from bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile, and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away.” [Amos 6:1a, 4-7]

How much clearer can that be?

            No, it is not possible to do something about every single injustice or every single need in the world.  It is not possible even within our own families or the circle of our closest friends to hold every hardship, illness, or heartache at bay.  That can hurt.  That should hurt, which is part of what Jesus is getting at in this story.  He layers on the details so that we see things from the perspective of the person whose experience we want to hold at arm’s length, in this case

“a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.”  [Luke 16:20]

I had a beagle named Rosie.  One time I had a really bad cold that had taken everything out of me, and I laid down on the floor to watch TV.  She came over and laid down beside me.  I fell asleep there on the floor and only woke up hours and hours later, and there she was, wide awake and facing the door to make sure no predator or danger would sneak up on me while I slept.  Lazarus was being cared for not even by a pet but by sympathetic animals who saw him and offered him comfort even when they didn’t understand the whole situation.  Meanwhile the party went on on the other side of the gate.

            Don’t be that guy inside, Jesus teaches.  It’s better to be a dog on the street who has a heart than a human being who has closed their heart to the people they see every day and even (as the rich man did) know them by name.

            And, to complicate the story in a way, maybe someone like that has closed themself off for reasons that no one ever knows.  Maybe they need some sort of compassion, too.  It’s not the Bible, but it’s a good story – remember in A Christmas Carol, that starts with Marley rising from the grave to warn Scrooge not to be such a Scrooge, how everyone is ready to write the old grouch off except for two people?  One is Bob Cratchit and the other is Scrooge’s nephew Fred, who insists on inviting his uncle to Christmas dinner every year even though he knows he’s going to say, “No.”  He couldn’t force help on him, especially when life had led him to insist he didn’t need it.  But he could and did let him know the door was open when he was ready. It’s to those two men’s households that Scrooge goes when he sees the light, and there is nobody happier to see him.  Who is the rich man and who is the poor man?  We don’t always know.  We’re probably all a little bit of each.

            What we do know, however, is another incident in Jesus’ ministry that Luke tells us about:

“An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’  He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.’  And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’” [Luke 10:25-28]