Covered in Coffee Cups: Lazarus at Our Gate Today

Introduction

Good ole’ Luke is talking about money again.

Scholars say that Luke talks about money, economic justice, and possession at least once every seven verses.

Indeed, Luke frames wealth as a spiritual marker in our faith journey.

In this parable, Jesus challenges us to be attentive to the vulnerable and those suffering.

Paul provides pastoral guidance to Timothy and the community in Ephesus on how we, as God’s people, relate to money, possessions, and one another.

John Wesley urges us to see wealth as a trust from God, meant to bless others, especially the poor. For him, stewardship was inseparable from discipleship.

Together, Luke, Paul, and Wesley encourage us to examine our relationship with others...

Where is there invisible suffering in our world?

Perhaps it’s the suffering of children mining cobalt or rare earth minerals, hidden behind the smartphones and batteries we depend on?

What about the suffering of garment workers…

…many exploited children and women,

…invisible behind the labels we wear on our backs.

We like to think of these invisible people as people beyond our borders...

But think about those fruits and vegetables you pick up each week.

Spending thirteen years in rural Medina, are the invisible people the farmworkers who pick our vegetables?

…often unpaid and exposed to unsafe conditions?

And here in Syracuse, I was just reading about a case of human trafficking through a rideshare incident...

We cannot ignore the invisible suffering of those trapped in human trafficking...

...women, men, and children exploited in silence,

…hidden in plain sight in our neighborhoods...

There are times when we are blind to the needs of others. In those moments, Christ splashes us awake, just as the rich man longed for a drop of water, so that we might finally see.

The question today is, how do we wake up to invisible suffering and respond with urgent love?

See the Invisible Suffering

To wake up is to see the invisible suffering.

You don’t have to look far to picture these gleaming luxury apartment buildings that cost an arm and a leg.

Glass windows… high-end finishes… rooftop patios...

Just outside its doors, tucked in the alley…

...someone is huddled against the wall on a piece of cardboard.

Every evening, the residents step past their grocery bags or takeout containers...

...their earbuds in, their eyes fixed on their phones… They don’t spit at him. They don’t curse him. They simply don’t see him.

That is Lazarus at the gate.

In Jesus’ parable, he was covered in sores; today, he might be covered in coffee cups discarded on the sidewalk. Invisible. Unnoticed.

The text today is a powerful one, dripping with irony.

The rich man, who never spared Lazarus a crumb...

...is suddenly the one begging for mercy...

Yet… even in his torment...

...he is still blind to Lazarus...

The rich man doesn’t have the humility to ask Lazarus in the afterlife for a drop of water...

...no, the rich man asks Abraham to command Lazarus to give him a drop of water...

The rich man simply doesn’t get it...

The parable tells us that the rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his siblings...

Abraham has to remind him that God has already spoken through Moses and the prophets.

In other words, the issue is not a lack of evidence...

...but a lack of response...

We know a little something of a lack of response by rich men in our day...

We know a little something of the rich corporations violating laws and dumping waste in our waterways, because they have the money to pay the fines...

We know a little something about the political elite neglecting the needs of others to build the profits of their donors.

We know a little something of the rich man in our day...

So much so… we might become a little numb to the push-out news alerts on our phones...

To wake up is to see the invisible suffering by resisting the numbness.

We cannot refuse the habit of walking past those who are invisible...

Right here at University, Joyce saw the need for the unhoused to have a place to use a restroom when public places are closed on Sunday.

...did she grow numb to the fact that people were using a dumpster?

...no. We opened the doors of our church and invited people in, and gave them a sense of dignity.

To wake up is to see the invisible suffering by meeting the gaze of the one in front of you.

Friends, we are inundated by distractions from corporate greed on our phones and in our ear buds…

Stop for a moment and recognize the people around you, acknowledging that they are made in the image of God.

To wake up is to see the invisible suffering.

Relate to Others

As we awaken to that invisible suffering around us...

As we lift up our eyes from our cell phones and remove those earbuds...

We begin to recognize the beautiful imagery of God reflected in those around us...

To wake up is to change how we relate to others.

Paul reminds Timothy and us that when money becomes the measure of our lives, we risk plunging ourselves and others into ruin.

The damage is not only to those who chase after riches but also to those crushed under the weight of someone else’s pursuit.

We see it when systems and tax codes are designed to benefit the wealthy but leave the poor further behind.

We see it when workers are disposable but profits are untouchable.

Paul clarifies that holy living is not just about private piety but about love of neighbor.

To pursue wealth at the expense of others is not only greed...

...it is a failure of love.

Some orient their lives around what is temporary...

...money, possessions, and status.

...but Paul calls us to orient our lives around what is ultimate...

...the God who gives life and calls us into community.

When we embrace this new orientation, we are freed to see money not as an idol to serve...

...but as a tool to serve others.

We are empowered to make active and courageous choices that affirm life...

...our own and the lives of those around us...

To relate to others in Christ is to cross the gates that divide us...

...to resist systems of oppression that devalue human dignity...

...to live as if every neighbor bears the image of God.

Serve with Urgent Love

To wake up to the invisible suffering is to...

...see the invisible suffering around us...

...and to relate to others...

But how do we respond with urgent love?

To respond with urgent love...

...is to serve with urgent love...

Paul commands Timothy...

“Grab hold of eternal life!

you were called to it,

and you made a good confession of it in the presence of many witnesses.”

Eternal life...

We often think of eternal life as something that happens when we die.

However, Christian theologian Karl Barth would argue that eternity is here and now!

Barth argues that eternal life is not something we look forward to, but it has arrived because Christ has arrived and brought eternity into our midst.

In Wesley’s New Birth sermon, he preached:

“From the moment we are justified,

we are born again;

in that instant we experience a change in our soul,

whereby the love of God is shed abroad in our heart,

and we are enabled to rejoice

in the hope of the glory of God.”

As Methodists, we believe that being perfected in Christ begins with our new birth.

The notion that the kin-dom of God begins now, breaking into our life when we experience that inward change of heart by the Spirit....

..it’s that moment when God’s perfect love begins to rule our hearts...

...breaking the power of sin and freeing us to live fully for God and others...

…it’s that moment when our eyes are opened to see Lazarus at the gate...

...and we cannot walk past as though nothing has changed.

It’s that moment when we realize that the love of God is inseparable from the love of our neighbor.

...and we begin to live as if every person bears God’s image.

...friends, it’s that moment…

...when the Spirit fills us with love, serving others is no longer a burden...

...but our greatest joy.

Friends… to serve with urgent love is not to wait it out the season…

We are called to act as powerful witnesses of our faith...

...in this very present moment...

...to feed the hungry...

...to clothe the naked...

...to welcome the immigrant...

...to protect our black and brown siblings' voting rights...

...to stand with our trans siblings whose voices are being silenced...

To respond with urgent love...

...is to serve with urgent love...

Kerygmatic Fulfillment

There are times when we are blind to the needs of others. In those moments, Christ splashes us awake, just as the rich man longed for a drop of water, so that we might finally see.

Friends… the good news is that Christ has already crossed the gate for us.

Where we are blind, Christ sees us.

Where we are ignored, Christ lifts us up.

Where sin held us captive, Christ broke its power with love stronger than death.

On the cross and in the resurrection, Jesus identified with Lazarus...

...despised...

...rejected...

...left outside the city gate...

...all so that we might be welcomed inside the household of God.

...and it was an oppressive, rich imperial government that neglected our Savior.

But we, too, friends will survive this day...

…because the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is alive in us.

The kin-dom of God is breaking in here and now...

…in Syracuse...

...in our neighborhoods...

...in this very sanctuary...

We have sat with the question: how do we wake up to invisible suffering and respond with urgent love?

To wake up is to see the invisible suffering...

To wake up is to relate to others...

To respond with urgent love is to serve with urgent love...

We are called to form disciples of Jesus Christ who, empowered by the Holy Spirit, love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously in local communities and worldwide connections.

We love boldly by seeing the suffering of the unhoused, looking for places to relieve themselves...

We serve joyfully by opening our doors and inviting all to the table...

We lead courageously by...

...lifting our eyes from our cell phones to notice...

...by taking the earbuds out to listen deeply...

...by using our voice to advocate alongside those invisible to the powerful...

We do this because Christ first loved us, and that love will not let us go.

Christ, who opened his eyes to see us now, opens our eyes to see the world with compassion.

Christ, who welcomed us now and sends us to welcome others.

Christ, who gave his life, now gives us joy in serving our neighbors.

Christ is alive in you.

The Spirit is alive in us.

Together, the people of God, we are sent to live the life that really is life.

In the name of our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.