“Lazarus and the Rich Man”Main point: Save yourself from hell. Love your neighbor.BLESSING THE CHILDRENSERMONFor the time being, I'm going to put the issue of hell and eternal torment on the back burner. If this is something you have questions about, I suggest a book for you by C.S. Lewis entitled, The Great Divorce. Or you can chat me up at another time.Instead, our story references the premacy of Moses and the prophets, so I would like to begin with the closing remarks from the last of the books of Moses - the book of Deuteronomy. This reading, in many ways, is a summation of the Torah (the Law) and the invitation God gives to all people to live a righteous life. This theme is carried throughout the rest of the Bible and is present in this parable told by Jesus. Let's see if we can make the link together.Deuteronomy 30:11ff11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase..17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed.There is a path that leads to life and there is a path that leads to death. We are invited to participate in the path of life, or in the path unto death. The rich man, blinded by his wealth and love for extravagance, ignored his neighbor Lazarus and chose through the course of his life to ignore the path of life. By choosing his blessing in the life he lived on earth, he forsook his blessing in the hereafter.Lazarus, on the other hand, lived a life in abject poverty. Because of his circumstances in this life, he was rewarded with an abundant life in the hereafter.Earlier in Luke's gospel he gives a list of Beatitudes from Jesus' Sermon on the Plain.Luke 6:20ffLooking at his disciples, he said:“Blessed are you who are poor,    for yours is the kingdom of God. (Sounds a lot like Lasarus)21 Blessed are you who hunger now,    for you will be satisfied. (Sounds a lot like Lasarus)Blessed are you who weep now,    for you will laugh. (Sounds a lot like Lasarus)22 Blessed are you when people hate you,    when they exclude you and insult you    and reject your name as evil,        because of the Son of Man.23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. (Sounds a lot like Lasarus)24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. (Sounds a lot like the rich man)25 Woe to you who are well fed now,  for you will go hungry. (Sounds a lot like the rich man)Woe to you who laugh now,  for you will mourn and weep.26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets. (Sounds a lot like the rich man)

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