A sermon on Luke 16:19-31: The story of Lazarus and Dives

Fr. Mike Paraniuk
HCP columnist

A man stood before God the Father on the Day of Judgment. The scale of His good deeds and bad deeds weighed exactly the same. He needed one more good deed to tip the scale of good deeds in his favor so he could enter Heaven. 

God said to him from His Mercy: "Go and see if anyone will give you one good deed by which I will admit you to Paradise." 

The man searched diligently to see if he could find anyone willing to give him one of their good deeds. Whenever he asked to have one of their good deeds, everyone refused. They said, "I fear that my scale of good deeds will be lighter. I need it more than you." 

He despaired of finding one more good deed that would open Paradise for him. 

One day he meet a man who asked, "What do you seek?" 

He replied, "One good deed. I have passed people who have a thousand good deeds, but they have not given me any." 

The other man replied, "I only have a few good deeds on my record of good deeds. But they are not the most important. I need only one good deed that will get me to Paradise. I believe in Jesus. I give you Jesus as a gift from me to you." 

Joyfully, the man sets off to see God. The man said to God, "Such a wonderful thing happened. Another man gave me the one good deed I need to enter Heaven. Have faith in Jesus. He said that's the only good deed I need."

God was pleased. He summoned the two men to appear before His throne. God declared, "Faith in Jesus is all you need. Take your brother by the hand and enter Paradise together."

Faith in Jesus will transform your whole life. How you live your faith now will have eternal consequences in the life to come. St. Augustine made a profound statement when he wrote, “God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us.” 

God wants you to cooperate with Him on your journey home to Paradise. The Bible says clearly, "Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called." (1 Timothy 6:12.) 

The Greek word for "compete" is an athletic term that means "strive for the prize." We have one important task to do on our return journey back to God: to learn to love God by loving one another. Your every act of love here on earth brings you closer to the eternal life Jesus gifted to you from His Cross. 

This is the tragedy of the rich man, Dives. He never learned how to love. He ignored this poor, wretched man Lazarus, who walked by his gate every day with the hope of receiving a little piece of bread. The amount of food that fell under the rich man's table would have been enough to feed Lazarus for a day. The rich man made no effort to love nor to help Lazarus. I find it interesting that in all the stories told by Jesus this poor man is the only one given a name. The name Lazarus means "God has helped." 

There are so many people beaten down by life. God calls you to lift up the sorrowful. You compete well for the faith when you give them comfort. I am in awe when I minister at Children's Hospital because I see God helping the many sick children through the love poured forth from those who work there. The sacrificial love of parents for their children reveals the sacrificial Love of God.

Years ago the first-ever transplant of a part of a mother's liver to her baby daughter happened at Children's. I was called to give mom Anointing of the Sick and pray over her baby before surgery. I remember mom saying, "I would give my baby girl my whole liver if she needed it to live, even if it meant I would die." 

Mom took her baby's hand and put it into hers. She said, "And if the transplant fails, we'll go see Jesus together."  

The poet William Blake wrote, "We are put on earth a little space...that we may learn to bear the beams of love." 

May the beam of love burn brightly from the goodness of your heart as it did for that mother. Happily, both mom and baby lived to love again. Blessings...Fr. Mike.