Experiencing the Good

“Abraham replied,
'My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad;
but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.’”

Luke 16:25

Last Sunday we heard the parable of the dishonest steward who was asked to prepare an account of his stewardship and acted prudently to ensure that life after being dismissed from his master would not be as difficult by being “generous” to his master’s debtors. Jesus also told His disciples that no servant can serve two masters and that we cannot serve both “God and mammon,” encouraging us to set our eyes on what is above. This Sunday we read the story between the rich man and poor Lazarus.

When both Lazarus and the rich man dies, there is a dialog between Abraham and the rich man. The rich man is being tormented while Lazarus is being comforted. Abraham told the rich man to remember the good things he has received in his life and see how he is being tormented now and vice versa for Lazarus. Is Abraham saying that if we live comfortably in this life we will suffer in the next? No. Not if we live with our eyes set on God.

It is not the fact that because the rich man enjoyed great wealth and treasure while he was alive that he is being tormented in the life that is to come. He is experiencing pain and torment because of the decisions he made while he was alive. There is nothing wrong with being rich. In fact, God wants us to enjoy the gifts of this world as they were intended and to be fully alive, but not to the neglect of others. This brings us back to last week’s readings. We must be good stewards. If God blesses us with great treasure, should we not use it wisely, sharing them with those who are less fortunate? God wants us to experience the good of this life, but not only that, He also wants us to experience the good of the life to come. The Good News is that we can have both! But how we experience the good in this life will affect how we may come to experience the good of the next.

Will we experience the good in this life while sharing it with others or will we choose to experience it selfishly? Let us remember that whatever good we may come to experience in this life is a gift, and gifts are meant to be given. May we give thanks to God for the good we have received in this life, and may we ask for the grace to use it wisely.

Stewards of the One Master

“No servant can serve two masters.
He will either hate one and love the other,
or be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve both God and mammon."

Luke 16:13

We are all stewards of everything that is around us. In being stewards we have to remember and understand then, that everything around us and in our possession is really not our own, but rather a gift, a gift that has been given to us to care for, appreciate, and love. All is gift, and we must use them as they are intended to be so by their Creator. When we are all responsible stewards, I believe, we get a glimpse of what heaven may look like — everything in harmony, everyone knowing they all belong to the one body, and everyone knowing they are held by the infinite, unconditional love of God, Our Father.

In our modern world we inadvertently and inevitably become servants of many masters, usually ourselves being among them. When we put our own interests and pride above all things, we become servants to ourselves. When we allow our ambitions to dictate our lives, we become servants to them. When we attach ourselves to others in an unhealthy way we become servants of another who is unable to give us what we truly desire, ultimately leading us only to sorrow and disappointment. Perhaps in all of this we really are trying to search for freedom. When we realize we really need only be the servant of one Master, not only will we have all that we need, but we will also live in the freest way there is, a freedom that is not of this temporal, passing world, but a freedom that can never be taken a way, a freedom that comes from God.

Brothers and sisters, as Christ told His disciples, no one person can serve two masters, we must make a decision. When we are tempted to choose the other master because of what he may be able to give us — pleasure, wealth, power, let us remember that it is only temporary. But, when we choose the One Master, all that our hearts truly desire will be fulfilled for we will be given true pleasure, true wealth, true power, true peace, true joy, and true love. When we choose to become the steward of the One Master, we will have God Himself.

Letting Yourself Be Found

“While he was still a long way off,
his father caught sight of him,
and was filled with compassion.
He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.”

Luke 15:20

The succession of the three parables of lost and found in the Gospel of Luke is something that has always fascinated me. A lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son, or really, two lost sons. In all three parables there is always the one who seeks and the one who/that is sought or found. In the first two parables, the sheep and the coin were lost and the one seeking stopped everything he/she was doing to find them to the point where someone might even describe them as foolish. Why would any sane person leave 99 sheep to go and find just one that got away? It does not make sense, but it does not have to. Perhaps because to this person, it was not the number of sheep that was important, but rather that all of his sheep was together. Just as with the sheep, God will always seek us out, but will we let ourselves be found?

Sometimes we do not even know that we are lost, and so naturally we will not allow ourselves to be found because we are not lost! It is in this state that we unknowingly stray away from God. We become so caught up with the world around us, being so busy and occupied with whatever it is that fills our time, that we fail to see how far away we have actually drifted, how lost we have really become. But luckily there is Someone who is constantly looking from afar, sending signs and signals to help us see the light in front of us, and ready to embrace us when we finally are ready to be found.

There will be times in our lives when we find ourselves in places where we do not find much peace or joy. Times when we feel lost, times when we feel we do not belong, and times when we feel we want to hide and be away from the world. We feel lost, a sense of not belonging, and the desire to hide because deep down we really want to be found, seen, and known. We feel these things because we were created out of love, created in, out of, and for relationality. We were made to be found. We were made to be known. But sin causes us to run away and to hide ourselves. Sin brings us to where we really do not want to be, and that is where God comes to find us. He comes to find us in the darkest of places and in the messiest of situations. God is the seeker who leaves the 99 to find us. He is the person who will turn His house upside down to find us. And, He is the Father who patiently waits for us from afar so that when He see us He can run to embrace us and welcome us.

Brothers and sisters, let us allow ourselves to be found because that is what our hearts truly desire: to be known and to be seen just as we are. We want someone to see us, to know us, and to love us. And the good news it that God already does.