The Great Chasm

In today’s Gospel from Luke we hear Jesus say, “Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours.”  I always found these to be quite interesting words, especially, “a great chasm is established between us.” 

In the Gospel reading this chasm is described in terms of distance between that of the righteous and that of damned.  In particular in this story it is between that of the poor man Lazarus and the rich man.  The distance, however, is not just in terms of space between them but also in manner of life.

St. Paul exhorts Timothy on this manner of life when he says, “But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith.”  These virtues are at the heart of being a Christian.  The rich man abandoned these virtues, especially the greatest one, love!

Aristotle defined 4 kinds of people, from worst to best, and he labeled them as the tyrant, the incontinent man, the continent man, and the virtuous man.  The tyrant was the man who gave in completely to vice and his passions.  The incontinent man was the man who struggled to live with virtue and often enough falls into vice.  The continent man has many virtues but on occasion will fall into vice.  Finally the virtuous man has achieved all the virtues and either never gives in to vice or if so it would be very rare.  You can see there is a great distance between the tyrant and the virtuous man.  The distance between them rests in manner of which they live.

Ask yourself, “Where do I fall on the scale?”  Am I closer to the virtuous man or Lord forbid, the tyrant?  It is a good exercise for us.  Being a good Christian is not just about lip service, but actually doing and living the faith.  Here is what the Lord says about lip service, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Rather, who is it that enters the kingdom of heaven? Jesus answers,  “the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”  And what is the will of the Father, the answer is found in Matthew 25, “‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’   And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Jesus does not equate virtue with belief only, rather to be righteous one must as St. Paul exhorted us today, to be devout, to have faith, to love, to be patient and gentle, this is the heart of the Christian, if we do all in our power and again as St. Paul says, “Compete well for the Faith,” then yes we will become Aristotle’s virtuous man.  More importantly we will become like the poor man Lazarus, who was taken by angels to the bosom of Abraham and not the tyrant who was taken to torment.  So as you see the chasm is not just about space as in measuring distance, but in measuring righteousness vs. evil.  God bless you, Fr. John

Money Left, God Right, Which Way Will You Choose?

Jesus’ words, “You cannot serve both God and mammon,” has much deeper meaning than just money.  Often times it is translated, “You cannot serve both God and money.”  That is true but it is only one component of what Jesus meant in the entirety of its meaning.

The Gospel deals with the dishonest servant and dishonest wealth.  It goes on to conclude that as Christians we need to be shrewd and prudent in our dealings with the world but more importantly that we always remain virtuous in everything we do and that we also do not become slaves of the world.

Becoming slaves to the world involves the love of money, no question about that, but it also means to lose perspective and that when we do we become slaves of the world, we retreat into ourselves in a very selfish way.  Listen again to the words from the Prophet Amos, “Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land!  “When will the new moon be over,” you ask, “that we may sell our grain, and the Sabbath, that we may display the wheat?  We will diminish the ephah, add to the shekel, and fix our scales for cheating!”  To fix our scales for cheating, cheating against whom and to what purpose?  The cheating is against our neighbor, the poor, the oppressed, the maligned, the marginalized, those who cannot stand up for themselves and the purpose is to be rich, powerful, and full of prestige.

It’s interesting that Amos uses the term, “fix our scales.”  Scales as you know have to do with measuring things out, in this case money but it also has to do with justice, i.e. the scales of justice.  When we hear today’s readings and listen to them, I have to ask myself, “am I always the person that balances the scales fairly?”  Have I ever tipped the scales in my favor through cheating someone else?  It’s interesting that when we hear the readings is how do we process them in our conscience.  Do we always align ourselves with Jesus and somehow always interpret him to be speaking about someone else, i.e. I would never be that mean or sinful.  What if I am the person that Amos is talking about, maybe not in the same degree, but even a little?  Doesn’t Jesus say he who is untrustworthy of little things is untrustworthy in great matters as well?

Today’s Gospel lesson and readings are challenging.  Jesus wants us to tip the scales of justice evenly.  Once we start to tip them in our favor we become those people who love mammon more than God.  We become lovers of the world in the things that are passing, power, prestige, wealth, none of which brings true happiness.  So my good Christian brothers and sisters when dealing with the world remember your scales and to keep them even, do so with prudence, wisdom and most of all with compassion for your neighbors.  God bless you, Fr. John