The Rev’d
Stephen E. Stults
St. Paul’s Anglican Church
St. Paul’s Anglican Church
June 3, 2018
In our reading for
today, we see two strikingly different themes: Love and Judgment. The Epistle from 1 St. John speaks of the
essential attribute of God: Love. St.
John tells us: God is love. He loves us so much that he gave Jesus to be the
propitiation for our sins. What is
propitiation? It is the act of winning over, placating, or appeasing. In Christian theology, it is “that by which God is rendered
propitious, i.e., by which it becomes consistent with his character and
government to pardon and bless the sinner.”[i] John makes it very clear that Love is what God is
about. It is His intrinsic characteristic.
In the gospel from
St. Luke, we read of the theme of judgment.
We hear the familiar story of Lazarus, who was a beggar “laid” at the
gate of a rich man’s house. His health
was not good, because he did not sit at the gates, but was laid there. In fact, the Greek word is to “throw or
discard.”[ii]
He was full of sores, indicating malnutrition and a lack of personal
hygiene. He was miserable. Hungry as well, the beggar only wanted to be
fed from the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. This is notable, because in the ancient near
East, the wealthy would wipe their hands with pieces of bread, like napkins,
and then discard them under the table or throw them to dogs. This is what the poor beggar wanted.
Moreover, hungry, mongrel dogs licked his running sores, hoping perhaps even to
devour him.[iii]
In time, the starving
beggar died. He is carried by angels to
Abraham’s bosom, where he is comforted and eased. There has been much debate as
to what “Abraham’s Bosom” means.
Although that might be of great interest, that is not the focus of our
discussion today. Suffice it to say that the beggar, tormented in life, is now
comforted to the infinite degree in Heaven.
Note also, the rich
man died as well, but he discovers he has arrived in Hell. Immediately, he is in torment.
The contrast couldn’t
be greater. There is bliss to the beggar, and torment to the former rich
man. One commentator says, “the poor man
got rich, and the rich man got poor.”[iv]
How true. The beggar, unattended by men during life, is
now attended by angels in a blessed state.
The rich man, used to attention by men, is now subject to the attention
of devils, and is in a wretched, tormented state. [v]
These two scenes
stand in complete juxtaposition. Our
immediate lesson is that our earthly actions have consequences. The rich man
ignored the beggar deposited on his doorstep.
He was a lover of luxury and wealth, with no regard for others’
sufferings. His complete self-interest
so occupied him that he was blinded to all else, other people, and most
importantly, his relationship with God.
It wasn’t his wealth that was his sin, but his complete consumption by
it. When one blots God completely out of
one’s life, the result is willful separation from Him, now and forever. The
beggar, although distressed in life, may have had a deeper spiritual life than
the rich man. No doubt, in his agony and
deprivation, he cried out to God many times.
The question remains,
how does the love of God, mentioned in the Epistle from 1 John, and judgment,
mentioned in the Gospel selection from Luke, have any connection? If God is love, why does suffering, like the
beggar’s, happen? How could judgment be
linked to love? While one could argue that the rich man, in his blatant
disregard for others, deserved his fate, how could a loving God impose such
suffering?
Let us remember the
state of our world as it is. Since the
downfall of our first parents, we live in a fallen world. It is cursed because
of Adam’s sin. Thus, suffering
abounds. We must kill to eat. The animal kingdom is ruled by survival of
the fittest. Bad things happen to good people; in fact, bad things happen to
all people, sooner or later. Natural disasters happen, for no apparent reason. It seems unjust, and perhaps it is. At times,
life isn’t fair. Thus, the poor beggar
suffered in this life, unjustly and cruelly. He died and was forgotten to man.
He was, however, not
forgotten by God. God is a lover and creator of all things. He is absolute truth and absolute love, which
means that He is a lover of all virtues. Chief among these is justice, which
means that things will be set right, sometime, in God’s time. If God is love,
from St. John, we know that He loves justice.
This means that all situations will be corrected, and consequences for
all actions imposed. Abraham tells the rich man, who even in Hell thinks he is
superior to the beggar, that his situation is just. “Send Lazarus” he cries to Abraham. In life,
he received the best, and ignored the rest. Now, he is in agony, while Lazarus
is comforted.
God’s justice may be
one of His highest forms of love. It
requires that debts be paid, and actions be accounted. Things must be set right. Inequity and
evil will not go unrequited forever. God’s complete Holiness and absolute
Truthfulness demand no less.
This was once a hard
concept for me. How could a loving God
separate those from Him to perish everlastingly? How could He show such
disregard for His Creatures? The answer
is just the opposite. Jesus Christ paid
our debts. He provides that God be
propitiated for our actions. He is the complete expression of God’s Love and
justice. Justly, God himself bore the
price that only God himself could pay.
We are unjust to Him
when we reject this great, awesome love. When we live in the sin of rebellion,
it is us who reject Him, not the reverse.
Yet, when we acknowledge our sin and wretchedness before Him, He
lovingly grants forgiveness for one reason: the propitiation of Jesus. Even the rich man, had he repented before his
death, could have secured forgiveness.
It is not sin by itself, that separates us from God, forever. It is unrepented sin that causes the
complete break between man and His Creator.
To heal that rift, we
have our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is the propitiation for our
sins. AMEN.
1 John 4:18 18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath
torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
[i] https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/propitiation/
[ii] https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/CONF-RC08-10/the-rich-man-and-lazarus-2008-resolved-conference
[iii]
ibid
[iv]
Ibid
[v]
CONF-RCOB, op.cit.
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