A sermon based on Luke 16:19-31, Rev. Dr. Jon Diefenthaler, Sr Pastor Emeritus, Our Savior Lutheran Church.
While wealth and poverty have been present in every age, the gap between these two groups of people seems to have widened in recent years. One percent of us are millionaires and billionaires. But at the same time, an increasing number of us, who are fully employed or retired, are finding ourselves more hard pressed to make ends meet. In our land of plenty, moreover,hunger and homelessness have not gone away.
This same disparity is one that Jesus addressed in Luke 16:19-31. His parable of “The Rich Man and Poor Lazarus” clearly states that to ignore it is not God-pleasing, and that to continue to do so has eternal consequences.
When it comes to possible solutions, there is little point in getting into heated political discussions with one another. According to the parable that is the Gospel text for this Sunday, all we really have to do is heed what Abraham belatedly told the rich man on the other side of this life.We have “Moses and the prophets” in the Scriptures which we believe are the word of God. Better yet, we have Jesus and the difference he can make in the attitudes and actions of any of his followers.
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