In God We Trust

It is a season of difficult text.  After last week's text and sermon on the dishonest manager, this week we have the parable of the rich man and Lazarus from Luke 16:19-31.  I talk about the difficulty at the beginning of the sermon.  


One thing that is not mentioned in this written text is that I gave everyone a dollar, to prove that "In God We Trust" is written on it.  They were able to keep it as a momento, save it, put it in the collection plate, give it away, spend it.  The mood at Bethlehem was pretty lively yesterday, so I had some peanut gallery comments and I didn't quite explain the dollar as much as I would have liked, so most people put it in the collection plate.    Now onto the sermon.


Enjoy (and sorry no dollar for you)

Often when people first read this parable, they are quick to point out that it must mean that if you are rich today on earth then you will end up in hell and if you are poor on earth than you will end up in heaven. But I wonder if that is really what this parable is telling us.

If the rich are going to end up in hell, then why are we here in church right now? How many of you can say that you have more than you need? How many of you can say that you do not need to beg for crumbs to fall from someone else’s table in order to eat? How many of you have adequate enough healthcare that you do not have open sores on your body? How many of you are only ever licked by dogs when you want them to or at least by dogs that are pets and not wild animals? How many of you have more than one set of clothes? How many of you feast on a regular basis and that you are more likely to go hungry because you are dieting than because you are not able to afford food?

We are the rich and if we want to take this parable at face value, that the rich will end up in hell and the poor will end up in heaven, then why bother with faith. Why trust in God if we are just going to go to hell anyway?

But this parable is saying more than that.

Look at verses 23 and 24 again. “In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up 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.” What strikes you about those verses?

Do you notice that this rich man does not talk to Lazarus directly? Do you notice that the rich man is not asking Lazarus to help him? Instead he is asking Abraham to send Lazarus to him like a servant. Even is death, the rich man is not treating Lazarus like a fellow human. He is treating Lazarus like a slave.

Lazarus laid at the rich man’s gate, covered in sores, begging for food and meanwhile inside his home the rich man had ample food and clothing to spare. I have to wonder if the rich man ever gave Lazarus any of his extra food or clothing or if he just stepped over him as he walked in and out of his home.

Maybe the parable isn’t telling us that the poor are going straight to heaven and the rich are going to straight to hell but that wealth can insulate us from the needs of those around us. When we are wealthy it can sometimes be easier to tune out the commercials to give money to orphans in Africa. Or ignore pleas to send relief to Haiti. Or advert our eyes from the panhandler on the street or the poor man with sores who lays at our front gate.

Money often gets in the way of us seeing and relating to people as fellow children of God. How often have you come out of a store and lied to the person who asking for donations saying that you either already gave or that you don’t have cash on you. How often have you adverted your eyes from homeless person on the street?

It is my money, I earned it, why should they ask for it? If they want money they should get a job! Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Work hard and you will get ahead. America is the land of opportunity, go make yourself an opportunity! God helps those who help themselves.

Those are all phrases that we have heard or said when it comes to giving to the poor. But they don’t treat the other as children of God. Those phrases treat others as commodities, as workers, but not as children, beloved children of God. Those phrases put our trust in money, that money will get you ahead, and not in God’s love, grace and will which is give abundantly to us. Money gets in the way of us seeing others for who they truly are. And money gets in the way of how we relate to many things. We often treat those with money better than those without. Congregations, including Bethlehem, often worry about finances more than they worry about doing ministry. Money is one of the biggest arguments among married couples and is often cited as a reason for a divorce, more than affairs, health difficulties, communication issues, and changes in priority due to career or children. Money changes the way we related to things and to people.

But there is another phrase, one that is often not heard of when it comes to giving to the poor. A phrase that we often do not even think about when it comes to money, yet it is printed on every coin and bill of U.S. currency. In God We Trust. Four words that if we truly think about, can change the way we relate to money and therefore the way money makes us relate to others.

Those four words can make us change how we relate to money. Those four words can make us relate to others around. “In God we trust” has become politicize in our culture, a cry for people to put God back in politics. But I’m not asking that you think of that phrase like that. Reclaim “In God we trust.” Allow it to wash over you, absorb you. Allow yourself to think about how your spending is trusting in God every time you take out your wallet, every time you swipe your credit card or get cash out of the ATM. Allow yourself to think about how you trust in God every time you acquire money, every time you deposit a paycheck, put in a time card, sell an item or apply for a job. Allow yourself to think about how your giving is trusting in God, every time you donate money to charity, every time you donate an item to the food bank, every time you touch the offering plate. Allow yourself to think about how you trust in God.

In God we trust. In God, we trust our selves, our lives, our salvation. In God, we trust our families, our friends, our very beings.
In God, we trust that we will not end up being Lazarus begging for food.
In God, we trust that we are not going straight to hell.
In God, we trust that we will use our money wisely.
In God, we trust that we will have compassion for those in need.
In God, we trust that we will be vulnerable to those around us.
In God, we trust that we will see God’s faces in those in our midst.
In God, we trust that we will be able to remember that everyone is a child of God, even the poor, the weak, the disenfranchised.
In God, we trust that we are saved by God’s grace through our faith.
In God, we trust that our hardships will be temporary.
In God, we trust that our love will be unending.
In God, we trust that our faith will be growing.
In God, we trust that our lives will be filled with God’s mercy.
In God, we trust.