26th Sunday: Arrogance, Pride and Indifference

 
Jesus does not attack prudence, hard work, industry, thrift, wealth and good sense. He does attack everything that buffers us from the life of suffering lived by others; arrogance, pride and indifference. The only gate in heaven is that which keeps out Hell. Today’s gospel is about what life is like after you die. Long story short: if you don’tlove who God loves today (read the poor and suffering) you will not be part of paradise where they are comforted by God.  Lazarus, loved by Abraham, is comforted in death. The rich man, who did not love Lazurus during his life, is not comforted by his ancestor Abraham in the next. God cannot redeem what is not there in our life.
 
In the Magnificat, which is located in Chapter 2 of Luke, Jesus’ mother says,

His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him. He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” Lk. 1:50-55

The story of Dives and Lazarus is merely an illustration of the constant theme of Luke. What does the world to come look like? It looks like a redeemed version of the life we live today.

The Afterlife: Heaven, Hell, Gehenna, Paradise
The afterlife presented in the scriptures is complicated by a variety of names used in the scriptures and our tradition.

• Gehenna: In the New Testament. Jesus talks about ‘Hades’ in Luke, but in Matthew and Mark he uses the word Gehenna.  This is all about geography. Jerusalem is surrounded by three valleys; two of which, the ‘Kidron Valley’ and on the other side the ‘(Ge)Hinnom Valley” figure in the New Testament. The Kidron Valley is where Jesus and his disciples passed through the night of the Last Supper, singing psalms. He was arrested on the other side in the Garden of Gethsemane. The “Gehenna Valley” is on the other side of the city. That is where trash was burned and, in First Temple times, idols were worshipped. It is an accursed place.  Gehenna is where idols are worshipped and trash is burned.
• Hades: If you remember the Athanasian Creed, the earliest versions say that Jesus descended into “Hades.” The name "Hades" refers to the god of the underworld in Greek mythology. Hades is the Greek equivalent, more or less, of the Hebrew Sheol. (Eccl 9:10; Ps 89:48 LXX) Hades did not mean that Jesus descended into the place of eternal punishment, but that he descended among the dead. In New Testament times, the Greek idea of Hades was a place of the dead. Jesus, however, used ‘Hades’ in Luke’s Gospel as the place of punishment.  Luke 10:15 (^“And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.”) So Hades is a word whose usage must be judged in context. Hades is used in this meaning in today’s story as encompassing both Lazarus and the rich man. By the way, the Latin word for ‘rich man’ is dives, which is why this story is often told as the story of Lazarus and Dives. It is like saying something like the story of Lazarus and Richey Rich. The concept of Hades leaves room for both Hell and Purgatory in Dante's Divine Comedy (12th - 13th Century).
• Paradise: This term, 'Paradise,' appears in the Old Testament after the return from Babylon in the Sixth Century. (Before that only Sheol was used) It occurs in Song of Songs 4:13, Ecclesiastes 2:5 and Nehemiah 2:8. It originally referred to a walled garden, like a royal park. It was a place of comfort and delight. (In Revelation, the walled garden is the New Jerusalem a walled city descending down from heaven. Rev. 21:2) In the Gospel of Luke 23:43, Jesus, while dying on the cross, told the ‘good thief’ that “today you will be with me in paradise.
• Hell: In English translations Hades is often called Hell. The modern English word comes from the Germanic language describing the afterlife. Hel is the Nordic goddess of the underworld and figures in various myths dealing with Odin and Hel. It was something like the original Greek meaning for Hades. It could mean the “underworld,” the entrance to which was guarded by Hel, the goddess. The entrance to Hades was guarded by Cerebus, a vicious three headed dog.  Hell, possibly because of its Germanic mythic origins, came to mean a place of eternal punishment in Christian usage. That is essentially how the Lord uses Hades in today's gospel. 
• Heaven: In the New Testament, Matthew refers to the Kingdom of Heaven; see, Mt. 3:2, followed by 29 other references in Matthew. Mark and Luke prefer to use 'the Kingdom of God.' Lk. 9:2, Mk. 1:15. Both references refer to the same reality. St. Paul refers to being snatched up to the third heaven.

“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know--God knows.” 2 Cor. 12:2. 

The seven heavens are mentioned in ancient Mesopotamia religion and are, in Greco-Roman cosmology, the realms inhabited by the seven classical planets. (Mercury, Venus, Moon, Sun, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter.) The Empyrean was where Divinity dwelt and the stars were holes through which the light of the Empyrean shined sending messages to humanity. Thus the ‘science’ of astrology. Dante, in his Divine Comedy, travels down through Hell, up through Purgatory and the various heavenly spheres to union with God in the Empyrean. Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and Newton unseated this view of the universe.
 
The story of Dives and Lazarus: Sins of omission versus commission
What is of ultimate importance in life is attending to relationship with God and one another. Dives,  a rich man, (Greek plousios; Latin dives) (16:1) is dressed in luxury, wearing “purple” (an expensive color worn by royalty) (Prov 31:22; Dan 5:7) Dives was a gluttonous man who “feasted sumptuously every day” (cf. James 5:5) but was not an idolator, adulterer, thief, murderer that are all sins of commission. Dives’ sin is the sin of omission. Apparently it is not enough to say, “I haven’t murdered anyone!” It doesn’t get you very far.  The poor man “Lazarus” whose name means “God has helped.”  (Greek form of ’Eleazar’, ; Exod 6:23) is sick, covered with “sores” (perhaps a leper) and is starving. (cf. Luke 15:16, same expr.) Dives didn’t bother to help, ever.
 
Each died and was gathered into the afterlife. Lazarus is taken by angels to Abraham’s bosom [i], which is the realm of the righteous dead [ii]. The rich man is in Hades, clearly a place of punishment in this context. St. Jerome interpreted this story as the rich man, dressed in purple splendor is accused of a sin of omission. He is not accused of being greedy or of carrying off the property of another, sins of commission. He sinned not by doing something prohibited, but by failing to do something that is required to be a human being in relationship to others. He is guilty of arrogance and indifference by not addressing the suffering of Lazarus lying outside his gate. Jerome commented,

“I did not notice him. He was in a corner. I could not see him. No one announced him to me.” He lay at the gate. You saw him every time you went out and every time you came in. (Jerome, On St. Luke on Lazarus and Dives, trans. M. L. Ewald, p. 201)

Dives punishment is self-imposed. Even in death, he cannot acknowledge Lazarus; speaking only to Abraham to order Lazarus to care for him. In life, Dives did not listen to Moses and the prophets. In death, he is not listened to by Abraham.
 
If you didn’t build it here, it will not be in the world to come
Paradise, Hades, Gehenna, Heaven, Purgatory and Hell are a few words to describe what Jesus illustrates in his parables. If you don’t build your relationship with God and others here, it will not be part of your reality in the world to come.  Taking this to heart, the early Christians took care of the poor very much to heart. In the Letter of James, 

“For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and say to the poor man, ‘You stand there,’ or ‘Sit here at my footstool.’ Have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?” James 2:2-4

Four centuries later, Julian the Apostate, a Roman emperor who tried to restore paganism, tried to encourage pagan priests to provide for the poor as did early Christians. He wrote a letter to the Governor of Galatia which said in part,

“Erect many hostels, one in each city, in order that strangers may enjoy my kindness, not only those of our own faith but also of others whosoever is in want of money. I have just been devising a plan by which you will be able to get supplies. For I have ordered that every year throughout all Galatia 30,000 modii of grain and 60,000 pints of wine shall be provided. The fifth part of these I order to be expended on the poor who serve the priests, and the rest must be distributed from me to strangers and beggars. For it is disgraceful when no Jew is a beggar and the impious Galileans [the name given by Julian to Christians] support our poor in addition to their own; everyone is able to see that our coreligionists are in want of aid from us.” [iii]

Julian was not successful, but Christianity was very successful in establishing monasteries and hospitals that cared for the poor. After the Reformation (16th Century) northern Europeans began to transfer this duty to the state.  We have inherited the state obligation to care for the poor. Many of the needs of the poor outstrip our capacity to help effectively. State funding now is directed to social ministries through various non-governmental organizations including Catholic Community Services in our own Diocese.

Yet, care for the poor is not something that we can off load to the state. We each have an obligation to love who God loves because that love transforms us. If we don’t have love of the poor and suffering in this life, it will not be part of reality in the world to come.  Listen to Moses and the Prophets. The first reading from Amos 6:1, 4-7 expresses the same truth as Jesus, who teaches in the moral prophetic tradition. Amos castigated the slothful rich: “those who are at ease in Zion” (6:1; i.e., slothful) who “lie upon beds of ivory” and “stretch themselves upon their couches” (6:4). They entertain themselves by singing “idle songs” and they “drink wine in bowls” (6:5) They are indifferent to the poor and the ruin of the Tribe of Joseph (Ephraim)” (6:6) Jesus does not attack wealth, but pride, arrogance and indifference. Jesus teaches that we cannot share heaven or paradise with people whose existence we refuse to acknowledge. If we don't build the relationship in this world, it will not be in our reality in the world to come, regardless of the name of the place!