Recall last Sunday how Jesus,
in Luke chapter 16, warned us that you cannot serve two masters, both God and
money. Today’s gospel continues with Jesus warning of the dangers of wealth and
its misuse and where we could end up if we are not wise and prudent about how
we use it.
In the early years of Jewish
belief ideas of what was the make up of the afterlife is just developing. It
was believed that all souls went to the same place called Sheol, the realm of
the dead, where the good, the bad, those in-between all went to the same place.
By the time of Christ, the idea had developed. Now within Sheol there is a separate
place called Hades, the place of the damned. This is how Jesus uses the
expression Hades – a place opposite to heaven, a place of anguish and flames –
a place where the wicked go.
Now even though there is a
great chasm separating these two opposite realms those in Hades can see those
in heaven which only adds to their suffering seeing what they have lost. So why
is the rich man in hates? What does Jesus parable say about him; does it say he
is an idolater, no; does it say he breaks
the Sabbath, no; does it say he stole from anyone, no; does it say he was a
liar or and adulterer or a murderer, no none of these things commandments. All
it says that he lived a life of luxury and gluttony, causing him to fail the
second of Jesus’ two greatest commandments failing to love his neighbour who was
languishing right there on his doorstep. He is in Hates for sins of omission. By
this parable Jesus is warning of the great danger wealth poses, how it can lead
to the sin of pride, a turning in on one’s self and leading to all manner of
sins.
It well might be that we could be failing to realize there are two categories of sins, sins of commission and
sins of omission, what we fail to do. Some may think that because they believe
that God exists, that they attend church and that they have not killed anyone
that that is all there is to it. I’m in – think again.
Let us revisit Matthew 25, I
quoted last Sunday: Then he will say to those at his left hand,
"You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
People today often talk about their "bucket list" all those things they want to experience, see and do before they die. A lot of work goes into planning and achieving the bucket list. Perhaps it would be well for us to spend less time on our bucket list and more time on our "to do" list, all those things yet to be done for which we will be held accountable on that day reckoning that surely is to come.
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