“THE CHASM IS
ONLY BREACHED BY CHRIST ‘THE’ ANGEL”
Saint Luke 16.
19-31
1st Sunday after Trinity: 22 June Anno +
Domini 2014
Fr Jay Watson
SSP
In The + Name of
Jesus
The chasm is only breached by Christ THE
Angel.
“O Lord I have
trusted in Thy mercy.” But do you? Or do you put your hope in family and friends?
Do you rely on your talents and monetary resources? And, what do
you do with all your money?
“Blessed
is he that considereth the poor.” But do you? Do you care only for your “five brothers” because they are just
like you? What about that smelly, “different”
character lying about?
The two tables of Gods Law are clear: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his
brother, he is a liar…this commandment have we from him…that he who loveth God
love his brother also.” Uh-oh!
The writer Dorothy Parker, with her usual
acerbic wit once said: “if you want to
know what God thinks of money, just look at the people He gave it to.” But
that’s only half the equation. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of
God. Mammon is dangerous. After the
forbidden fruit no one touches fallen creation without sin—without sinful
omissions and commissions. The Lord is clear: “let not the rich man glory in his riches” and again “the love of money is the root of all evil.”[1Tim.6.10]
The
love of wealth means God is not loved.
So
yes, OBEY the Ten Commandments perfectly! But you don’t; not any better than
the “rich man” and not any better
than Lazarus. This is not a parable about your obedience. This is not Christ
motivating you to make the right choices. This is God’s word to you about being
chosen! “Because through the weakness of
our mortal nature we can do no good thing…grant us the help of Thy grace.”
Everything is hidden under the Cross. “Be merciful unto me, O God, for my soul
trusteth in Thee, yea, in the shadow of Thy wings, will I make my refuge, until
these calamities be overpast.” [Ps. 57.1]
Thus did Lazarus trust, by faith, and thus he was carried home. You too,
by Grace, have this faith in the outstretched arms, wings, of your Crucified Savior. He saves! The chasm is only
breached by Christ THE Angel!
Love God. Love your neighbor. The “rich man,” Lazarus, and we don’t. Jesus
does! The reason the man of wealth did not love Lazarus, which means help, not have “romantic feelings,” is that he did not love God. To love God is to “fear, love, and trust in God above all
things.” Not loving God is to despise God’s Word. The man did not believe
in Moses and the Prophets. The Hebrew Scriptures overflow with the Love of God
in Christ Jesus…for God is love!
The “rich man” clothed himself in fine
flaxen linen of purple. Jesus let Himself be covered in red and Divine purple blood at the hand of Romans. Jesus let
Himself be clothed in a burial shroud by Nicodemus.
He dined sumptuously. Jesus hungered for
Righteousness, your reconciliation, and “thirsted”
on the Tree.
Lazarus was a beggar. The Reformer says we
are all beggars simply trusting in God’s mercy. The “rich man” is not named for Christ did not “know” him but the street
urchin is Lazarus, for like you, his name was written in the “Book of Life” which is Jesus own Body.
Lazarus was full of sores, ulcerated wounds says Saint Luke the blessed
physician. Christ allowed even more severe lacerations to be inflicted on His
precious Flesh!
The “rich
man” gorged on himself which is what unbelief does…turning the rejecting
heart to cancerous cannibalism. Lazarus longed to be fed with even crumbs (like
the Syro-Phoenician woman). The Lord Who fasted 40 days for all of you
Lazaruses rescued the beggar. “How long
wilt Thou forget me, O Lord? How long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me.” He
doesn’t hide. We just can’t see him for the film on our eyes. “I Am The Lord which execute loving kindness
in the earth; for in these things I delight.”
Jesus carried Lazarus to Abraham’s bosom by
the angels. The cry of faith for mercy is your cry “Kyrie Elieson.” It is
answered. Jesus even had had mercy on the “rich
man” “you have Moses and the
Prophets” but the man rejected Grace. Jesus Who Himself was heralded by the
Angels at Nativity, ministered by the Angels in the desert, and strengthened by
the Angels in Gethsemane, sends His New Testament angels to all beggars by His
Ministers of Mercy. They are but hands and voices to deliver Him. The chasm is
only breached by Christ THE Angel.
Our angels administer and steward Jesus’
means of Grace. The angel, Satan, betrayed God, but The Real Angel of The
Trinity, The ANGEL OF THE LORD, Christ Jesus, redeemed the fall. Only Jesus
fulfilled the Law with His sacrificial Love. Love on the Cross is the
fulfillment of the Law.
There was a certain “rich man” but it wasn’t the man who ended up in hades. “Behold the man,” the God/Man on the
Cross in all His riches and tender mercies. Hidden in His Body + and Baptized;
hidden in His Blood and feasting on Life, you join Brother Lazarus in
confessing “O Lord, I have trusted in Thy
mercy.”
The chasm is breached by Christ THE Angel
and you are carried home.
In The Name of
The Father and of +The Son and of The Holy Ghost
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