19th Sunday after Pentecost C 2016
- The readings today are a warning about seeking wealth at all costs: Amos denounced social injustice among the Israelites. The parable of the poor man Lazarus is a warning that not caring for the poor will have consequences in the next life. Finally, the first letter to Timothy reminds us that the love of money is the root of all evils.
- Amos was a prophet 7 and 1/2 centuries BC.
- I mentioned before that the 2 main messages of the prophets were condemnation of idolatry and of social injustice. Some prophets focused on idolatry, others on injustice.
- Amos denounced the social injustice. The passage we red today attacks rich who exploit the poor and live in luxury. The day of reckoning is coming, the kingdom of Israel will be defeated by the Assyrians and the rich and powerful are about to be captured and taken into exile.
- Originally the land of Israel was divided among the 12 tribes and all families got a plot of land. However, since the area is prone to droughts, s farming is risky. When crops failed farmers got into debt and, if they could not repay their loans, they lost their lands.
- According to the Book of Deuteronomy, every 7 years, on the sabbatical year, confiscated land was supposed to be returned to the original owners. But rich people were able to influence the king and change the rules. As a results, ownership of the land became concentrated in the hands of a few wealthy families. The situation was further exacerbated by the common belief that wealth was a sign of God’s blessing and poverty a sign of God’s punishment.
- The words of Amos we read this morning must be viewed against this background: he denounced the luxurious life style of the rich of both the kingdom of Israel, whose capital was Samaria, and the kingdom of Judah, whose capital was Jerusalem, built on the hill of Zion.
- Amos’ message was blunt and unequivocal: stop exploiting the poor and living in luxury, or God will punish you. They did not listen to Amos and eventually the Assyrians defeated the kingdom of Israel and the Babylonians defeated the kingdom of Judah. The elites of both kingdoms were taken into exile.
- The same condemnation of those who live in luxury and are indifferent to the plight of the poor continues in the Gospel of Luke. In it Jesus tells the story of Lazarus.
- Please don’t confuse this Lazarus with the brother of Mary and Martha who had died and had been raised from the dead by Jesus. This is a different person. Lazarus must have been a common name.
- This is a parable, a story Jesus used to make a point. In this parable a rich man lived in luxury and feasted every day, while Lazarus, a poor, sick and starving man ate the crumbs falling from the rich man’s table.
- After both died, the poor man was taken up to heaven with Abraham, while the rich went to hell.
- Jesus used this parable to denounce the rich who exploit the poor even though they have been warned by “Moses and the prophets” not to enrich themselves by stealing from the poor.
- Justice and charity are mandated in the Bible. The wealthy have heard the commandment “love your neighbor as yourself” but they chose to ignore it.
- They think only about enjoying this life, and don’t worry about the eternal life. They would not change their way of life even if someone. Like Lazarus, returned from the dead to warn them again
- The parable of Lazarus goes hand in hand with Jesus’ teaching about the last judgment. He will say, “I was hungry, thirsty, poor, a stranger in need… Did you help me?” We will answer,” Lord, when did we ever see you hunggry, thirsthy, poor or a stranger in need and ignored you?” He will reply, “ When you ignored the least of my prothers and sisters you ignored me.”
- Is our society today much different from the times of Amos or from the times of Jesus? In some ways yes, but in other ways no. Much remains the same.
- I first came to this country 50 years ago today: September 24, 1966. I was a seminary students and lived in Ohio and in Michigan. One of the things that impressed most about America was the middle class. I saw factory workers with good paying jobs, who owned their homes, had nice cars, were able to send their kids to college. Their kids got a good education, were able to get professional jobs and moved up on the social scale. That was the American dream.
- How things have changed in 50 years! Many of those manufacturing jobs that enabled people with a high school education to be in the middle class have gone overseas. Now a high school education does not get you anywhere in the job market. You need and MBA to get jobs that used to go to bright high school graduates.
- When I was going to school, scholarships were readily available to anyone willing to study. I kwon that more kids are going to college today than 50 years ago. But I also know that the cost of college and graduate school has skyrocketed, and scholarships have dwindled. To go to college and graduate school, young men and women today must take out huge student loans.
- I don’t have children, so this is not a problem that affects me personally, but these young people who attend colleges and universities today will graduate loaded with debt, even hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans. They will never be able to pay them off while starting a family and buying a house. Jobs don’t pay that much.
- Student loans in the US amount to $1.26 trillion. More than 43 million people in the US owe so much money for student loans that they will be paying for the rest of their lives. We are creating a new class of slaves. Note that by law, businesses unable to pay loans, can declare bankruptcy. But student loans are the exception. No one can declare bankruptcy on student loans. The law does not allow that.
- Our representatives in Congress passed laws that enable the rich to declare bankruptcy and walk away still rich, while forbidding the poor to play by the same rules. Worldwide, 1% of the population now owns 50% of the wealth, and their share keeps going up.
- Social inequality is as big a problem today as it was at the time of Amos and at the time of Jesus. The system is rigged. The rich control Congress and our tax laws are full of loopholes favoring the rich and burdening the poor.
- The warnings from Amos and from Jesus are still as relevant for our world today as they were for the ancient world.
- Poverty, and the exploitation of the poor in this country and around the world continues under our eyes. I talked about student loans, because I was recently listening to a student who was planning to take our a huge student loan to attend graduate school. But there are people all around us, who can barely make ends meet.
- The sin of the rich man in the parable of Lazarus was not that he was guilty of stealing. The Gospel doesn't’ say that he committed crimes to enrich himself. He was guilty of indifference. He knew Lazarus, he knew that he was sick and starving, but he was indifferent to his needs and suffering.
- When we see poverty, need, inequality, mistreatment of some people in our society and remain indifferent, we are the rich man who ignored Lazarus, and run the same risks.
- We have the Bible, we have the church. If we ignore what they tell us, we would not believe even if a dead man came back from the dead to warn us: love your neighbor as yourself, or else be prepared to face the consequences.
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