Dialogue across difference... or a chasm

The students and young adults with whom I work are frustrated sometimes with what they describe as "how an Episcopal priest answers questions." You ask an Episcopal priest a theological question and then you pull the string on their back and get one of any number of consistent answers:

"Well it's really very complicated"

"Thats a pretty big question"

"I'm not sure we have time to answer that today"

"Well what do YOUuuuu think"

Often, when you've come from a different church tradition to the Episcopal church, you are accustomed to straight answers, direct answers, and sometimes answers that cut clear and clean across your own personal preferences or beliefs.

I think we do this in part because we want to be a different Kind Of Church than the churches where the pastor tells you what to believe or punishes you for not believing in lock-step with the rest of the church. I think we do it sometimes so that we don't risk offending the sensibilities or beliefs of people in our congregation, or because we want to hold a wide breadth of beliefs in a congregation in tension. Sometimes I think we do it just for the sake of acknowledging uncertainty- there is so much about scripture that is vague and big and contradictory with itself and we wouldn't deign to take a hard line stance on something that we simply do not know for sure.

But, every once in a while, there is a gospel reading that pre-empts the priest and is pretty darn hard to preach both sides about. In the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, God sure takes a side, doesn't He?

This story is of a nameless rich man who stepped over the beggar, Lazarus, every day in his doorway, this beggar Lazarus who is not even shown to be begging, but who was pitied even by the dogs, but not by the rich man. And when they both die, this rich man and Lazarus, Lazarus is taken away to, well, The Good Place and the rich man to The Bad Place

And Abraham says to him "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and",, well,,, you are not. Parables are sometimes kinda foggy (what do you mean a lilly wears clothes, what do you mean a sheep gets lost, what do you mean a fig tree doesn't bear fruit and what's that got to do with me--) but this is one of the clearest ones, and it rings in agreement with so many other instances of scripture. The rich versus the poor is a story repeated over and over throughout the Gospels, and it is rarely, if ever, vague.

From Mary's Magnificat,

"He has filled the hungry with good things / but has sent the rich away empty." Luke 1:53

From Jesus quoting the scroll of Isaiah,

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor." Luke 4:18

From Matthew:

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24

From the Beatitudes

"Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

...But woe to you who are rich,

for you have already received your comfort." Luke 6:20, 24

From his encounter with the rich young ruler:

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:21-24

Jesus talked a lot about money, and even more than money he talked about the dynamics of wealth and power and authority. In the same way that Jesus gave example after example of how God stands with the poor and how God chooses the poor, Jesus shows again and again that the where there are rich and poor, he chooses the poor, where there are rulers and their subject, he topples thrones, where there are powerful and where there are meek, he openly challenges the authority of those in charge. God chooses.

Where there are poor, God is with them. Where there are the poor in spirit, God's heart breaks with them. Where there are the hungry, the lowly, the meek, the sick, the downtrodden, the oppressed, God is standing with them and calling out- somebody help them!

It can be tempting to say, "well I am hale and hearty and all my bills are paid but God is standing with me too!!!" To be clear, no matter who you are, you are loved, you are worthy, your worth in God's eyes has never been called into question. But if our bills are paid, if our rent is paid, if we've got food in the cabinet, and even a little extra money to spend, our job is maybe not to say "well God stands with me just as much as God stands with the poor" but maybe to figure out who God is standing in defense of, and go over and stand with God in defense of them too.

This Gospel story is really tough because it shows God taking a clear stand, and clear stands feel harder and harder to take these days. We live in a time where, more than ever, we- as a society- just do not agree on right and wrong. And it's not only that we disagree about what is good and what is bad, but that they very information about what is happening in the world around us is unevenly distributed, shaped by social media algorithms and what news channel you watch, where evidence of why I am good and they are bad is being shown to me, and evidence of why they are good and I am bad is being shown to them. And it can be veryyyy tempting to just throw in the towel, to give up on public discourse, to allow our values to fade into a lukewarm moral relativity.

We are seeing evil things being called good and we are seeing good things called evil and it can be soooo tempting to say, "well, that is a really complicated situation" or "hmm there is a lot of nuance there, huh" or "gosh I'm not really sure we have to get into that big question right now" but I guess I say all this to say not that ohh you better watch out or you're going to The Bad Place. Rather, I say all this to say that we do not have to always nuance ourselves to Hades and back, or give caveat after caveat in hopes of softening the blow. There are things that are just, simply, clearly true. There are things that are just simply, clearly wrong. God chooses sides. There is a way that God calls us to live, and there is a way of living that God warns us against. And sometimes it is not that complicated, actually.

Where people are being hurt, it's wrong.

Where people are being dehumanized, it's wrong.

Where people are rejoicing over suffering they've caused, it's wrong.

Where suffering go unremitted by people who could fix it, it's wrong.

Where wealth is lorded over the poor, it's wrong.

Where the powerful gloat over the powerless, it's wrong.

It is hard work living in a world where there is so much suffering caused for so many reasons, most which seem shaped like greed or wrath or envy, so much suffering that is gloated over and called justice. Part of what it means to be a Christian is to allow your heart to break according to the suffering of others,

and more than anything I just do not want you to learn to doubt your broken heart. The things that you see that seem evil, might just be evil. The suffering that seems unjustifiable, might simply really be unjustified. The equivocations that seem cowardly might be not to be complicated or strategic, they might just be cowardice.

More than anything I do not want you to doubt the clarity of the Gospel. Sometimes God takes a big bold clear stand, and in a world so full of smoke and mirrors, what a relief it is when God does. Amen.