In the Gospel Reading, Jesus tells a parable about a man who goes to hell. (Traditionally, the man is called ‘Dives’, because ‘dives’ means ‘rich man’.) In the parable, Dives is beautifully dressed and eats very well. At his door is a beggar, Lazarus, who is clothed in sores and very hungry.
If the point of the parable is to give us a warning about a sin that can send a person to hell, the parable ought to highlight that sin. But notice that the parable doesn’t actually tell us whether Lazarus gets any food from Dives. Notice too that if not feeding the hungry is Dives’s sin, then the parable could stop near its beginning. But it doesn’t. It goes on for a good while.
In hell, Dives notices Lazarus comforted in the bosom of Abraham, and he says to Abraham: send Lazarus to bring me a little water.
Here Dives is talking to Abraham, not to Lazarus; and he is asking Abraham to command Lazarus. He wants Abraham to make Lazarus leave the comfort of Abraham’s bosom, find his way into the flames of hell, and bring a bit of water to Dives, who will be thirsty again almost immediately. Clearly, Dives thinks no trouble for Lazarus is too much if it brings a little something for Dives.
When Abraham won’t agree to this request of Dives’s, Dives makes another one. He asks Abraham to send Lazarus to Dives’ brothers, to warn them. Dives still is talking only to Abraham. He spares a thought for Lazarus only when he is figuring out how to make use of him. If not for bringing water to hell, then why not for bringing messages to earth?
And now we can see the sin of Dives, can’t we? Lazarus is a man just like Dives, but Dives can’t see it. Dives doesn’t talk to Lazarus, because he doesn’t see Lazarus as a person in his own right. Insofar as he thinks of Lazarus at all, it is only to calculate how Lazarus could be used to benefit himself.
It wouldn’t matter if he had fed Lazarus when they were both living, if he had fed him in this.
Art by Martin Erspamer, OSB
from Religious Clip Art for the Liturgical Year (A, B, and
C). This art may be reproduced only by parishes who purchase the
collection in book or CD-ROM form. For more information go http://www.ltp.org