Sermon for the First Sunday after Trinity
Sermon for the First Sunday after Trinity based on Luke 16:19-31
Dear ones whom God helps: Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Does Jesus know everyone? No, He does not. He says, “I know my own, and my own know me.” (Jn 10:14) To the five foolish virgins He says, “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.” (Mt. 25:12) To the false teachers who will say to Jesus on the Last Day “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” Jesus will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Mt. 7:22-23)
We are thus immediately provided a hint when we hear our two main characters introduced as a rich man and Lazarus. There is some unnamed, unknown, rich man and then there is Lazarus, who is known by God and named by God. Lazarus means “one whom God helps.” Since Jesus knows His own and His own know Him, we can see that Jesus does not know the rich man just as the rich man does not know Jesus, but Jesus knows Lazarus and Lazarus knows Jesus.
How is it that Lazarus knows Jesus while the rich man does not? It is because Lazarus listened to Moses and the Prophets while the rich man did not. Oh, the rich man knew of Moses and the Prophets. He had been dragged to church before. He had heard the Bible read before. He had a Bible sitting on a shelf somewhere collecting dust. He had heard of Jesus, the Savior of the world. The rich man knew of Jesus, but did not know Jesus, just as Jesus knew of the rich man, but did not know the rich man.
When Abraham tells the rich man that the way to know Jesus and be known by Him is Moses and the Prophets, the rich man scoffs at the idea. The rich man suggests a miracle would be more effective than the Word of God at saving sinners. If Lazarus were to come back from the dead, then his brothers would believe. Abraham tells him, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”
If someone will not listen to the Word of God, a miracle will mean nothing to him. Plus, there are all kinds of claims concerning all kinds of miracles all the time, from miraculous healings to Jesus’ face appearing on a piece of toast to a candle melting to look like Mary. These “miracles” shouldn’t mean anything to anyone whether they listen to Moses and the Prophets or not. Even if you witness a genuine miracle, what does it mean? That you witnessed something supernatural that you cannot explain? That won’t get you into heaven.
The only way to receive eternal life is to know Jesus and be known by Him. The only way to know Jesus is through His Word. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.” (Mt. 4:4 citing Dt. 8:3)
Thus we suddenly see how poor the so-called rich man was during his life. He was eating sumptuously, but he was not feasting on the bread of heaven that gives eternal life, so he was starving himself to death. Purple and fine linen are rags compared to the robe of Christ’s righteousness that covers all sin. The unnamed man lived in a gated mansion on earth, but in reality he was homeless, lying outside the gate of the kingdom of heaven, struck from head to toe with the disease of sin, all the while ignoring the only solution to his spiritual poverty.
Lazarus on the other hand had all the riches the unnamed man did not have. Content with crumbs from the rich man’s table, Lazarus feasted sumptuously on the bread of heaven that gives eternal life. Content with rags as his only visible clothing, He wore the robe of Christ’s righteousness that covered all of his sin. Outside the gates of the earthly mansion, He had the gates of heaven open for him and a place prepared for him at the side of Abraham.
Abraham said to the man who had had earthly riches, “Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.” Yet this does not mean that the man went to hell because he received good things on earth, just as Lazarus did not go to heaven because he faced bad things in his earthly life. There will be men in heaven who were rich on earth just as there will be men in hell who were poor on earth.
After all, Abraham, the other man mentioned by name who was known by God and called a friend of God (2 Chr. 20:7 cited Jas 2:23), was in his lifetime one of the richest men on earth.
The problem with the rich man was that he received earthly good things instead of spiritually good things. The rich man’s god was his belly. He lived for himself. He lived for pleasure. He lived for partying and feasting sumpuously. He thought that everything that his flesh wants and desires is the greatest good. He loved himself so much that he had no love for God and no love for Lazarus lying at his gate.
The rich man thus ignored Moses and the Prophets. He knew about Moses and the Prophets but he did not take pleasure in hearing them. He’d rather host another party than listen to them.
Since he did not listen to Moses and the Prophets, he did not listen to their warnings about the idolatry of living for yourself. Since he did not listen to Moses and the Prophets, he did not listen to God’s command to love your neighbor as yourself. Since he did not listen to Moses and the Prophets, he did not listen to the promises about the coming Savior who would bear our griefs and carry our sorrows, be wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities like a lamb led to the slaughter.
Lazarus listened to Moses and the Prophets, so he knew his loving Savior. He knew that he was accounted righteous, not because of what he suffered in his life, but because of what his Savior suffered for him bearing his sins. He knew that he was rich in what truly mattered. He wore the robe of Christ’s righteousness and ate the bread of heaven. He treasured the Word of God, held it sacred, and gladly heard and learned it.
Dear ones whom God helps, listen to Moses and the Prophets whether you are rich or poor, sick or well. Hear from the holy Scriptures about your Savior who has suffered and died for you to earn for you the riches of heaven – the true riches that moth and rust will not destroy and thieves cannot break in and steal (Mt. 6:19-20).
Hearing about the true riches you have in Jesus loosens your grip on the treasures of earth so that if you are rich in earthly goods, you will lovingly help the poor man at your gate, and if you are poor, you will be content with what God has given you and not covet what the rich have.
Having true riches in heaven takes away our anxiety about earthly cares. God knows what you need, so seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you (Mt. 6:33).
You know Jesus from His Word. Does Jesus know you? You tell me. Does He who claimed you as His own in the waters of holy Baptism know you? Does He who put His name on you and forgave you all your sins know you? Does He know you, He who has gathered you here today to once again hear His Word and receive with your mouth His body and blood for the forgiveness of all your sin?
God says, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands (Is. 49:15-16).
Even your sins do not make God forget you, because He forgives you your sins and it is not you, but your sins, that He remembers no more (Heb. 8:12 citing Jer. 31:34).
Jesus knows you and you know Jesus. You hear His voice and follow Him. And no one is able to snatch you out of His hand (Jn 10:4,28). Amen.
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.