This Sunday’s Gospel seems pretty harsh to those who are rich. But if you dig into it, its not really about being rich that will send you to hell. Its the indifference to those around you that is damning.
What I learnt as the homilist broke this sermon down academically was several intriguing pieces:
Firstly, the name Lazarus is a given name and surname. It is derived from the Hebrew אלעזר, Elʿāzār (Eleazar) meaning “God has helped”. And its representative of all those who seek help in the Lord – the poor, the sick, the outcast and suffering .
Secondly, Lazarus was the only given name of a character in all of Jesus’ parables. In the numeorus stories he told, he never gave them names. Hence this is a significant revelation of sorts.
Thirdly, the homilist challenged us to think about the five brothers who need to be sent a sign. They did not heed Moses, they did not heed the Prophets, and they likely would not heed someone coming back from the dead. We might be one of them! There is also a foretelling of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
So the real question to us is – Will God know our name when the time comes for us to account for our lives? Or will we be the nameless one?
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