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Sunday, April 30, 2000 I know what you’re thinking: “How is Mike going to make this story meaningful to a group of Unitarian Universalists?” Well, in true Unitarian Universalist style, I’m going to reinterpret this passage beyond recognition.
Let me make one thing clear: As an old Universalist minister once told me, “There ain’t no hell.”
How can I be so sure? To answer that question, I need to explain a bit about the history of hell.
The ancient Hebrews didn’t believe in a place of literal punishment for all eternity. They believed God punished all sins in this life, and when one died, he or she descended into Sheol, a shadowy netherworld beneath the earth. They had no well-defined concept of the afterlife until after they came into contact with the Zoroastrian religion of the ancient Persians in the 4th century BCE. From the Zoroastrians, they borrowed the idea of a place of literal fiery punishment after death. They believed it was located below a flat earth. Christianity, which in the beginning existed as a faction within Judaism, in turn took on the idea of hell.
Also, the notion of sending someone to a place of eternal punishment doesn’t make any sense. If there were some redemptive motive, or if one were sent there for a limited term, it might be more reasonable. But I can’t imagine any mortal man being able to commit a sin so vile that it called for everlasting damnation. To take a worst-case example: Even if Hitler spent a million years in hell for every life he took, he would eventually get out. But the view of conservative Christianity is that we deserve punishment for all time for the sin of not being able to believe certain doctrines.
I don’t know about you, but I did not deliberately choose to disbelieve a literal interpretation of the Christian Holy Scriptures, or the idea that Christ died for my sins. My religious quest has brought me to a point where I cannot believe those doctrines. Am I to be damned for all eternity for something I cannot do? Am I to be condemned to hell for using my God-given intelligence?
So the whole notion of hell is based on belief in a flat earth and the idea that one can commit some act so horrible that it deserves eternal punishment. These ideas are unreasonable and cruel, and I reject them.
As an adult, my religious journey has led me to believe there is wisdom in all religions. I firmly believe our church should remain true to its principle of a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. We should learn from all world religions, including Christianity. We should not allow our church to degenerate to a point where only one voice is heard. Before I go any further, I should tell you that Unitarian Universalism is not my religion. Seeking wisdom and knowledge is my religion, and I’m willing to be taught from whoever is willing to teach me. Wisdom is universal, and we dare not wear theological blinders to the beauty and truth in all faiths of the world, including the many Christian denominations.
Either we can learn from all the world’s great faiths, or from none of them. We seemingly have no problem hearing sermons on Buddhism and other Eastern faiths, but get nervous when Jesus or the Bible is mentioned. Yet from a humanistic, rationalistic point of view, Buddhism makes no more sense than Christianity. I no more believe in karma than I believe in original sin. I no more believe in reincarnation than I believe in heaven and hell. Yet all faiths, interpreted for modern times, can teach us without converting us.
I have found three rules that are extremely useful in the study of religion:
That being said, why should Unitarian Universalists study stories like this? As I see it, there are three main reasons:
Now, let us examine this biblical passage.
There is a rich man who feasts every day. Outside the gate of his house is a beggar named Lazarus. The rich man must see Lazarus every time he enters or leaves his home, yet does nothing to alleviate his suffering. Eventually, the rich man dies and descends into hell, while Lazarus dies and is taken to a favored place in heaven, sitting at the right hand of Abraham (Abraham’s bosom, as the King James Version calls it).
What can this story teach us in modern times? Christians have condemned the rich man for callously ignoring the plight of Lazarus as he lay at the rich man’s gate. One of the things that my study of religion has taught me is that human societies face the same problems and issues, century after century. The Bible again and again pronounces curses on those who are indifferent to the plight of the poor and needy. Many in our society live in ease, while a few minutes away there are people living under bridges or in homeless shelters. Are the rich in our society any better than the rich man in Jesus’ story?
I believe Unitarian Universalists are better than that. In the four years that I’ve belonged to this church, I’ve been impressed with our concern for social justice and compassion, both locally and worldwide. We donate to the food pantry on a regular basis. We work to overcome racism and other forms of prejudice. We also have the opportunity to make generous financial commitments to the work of our church.
The first point I want to make out of this story is: the rich man wanted for nothing. Yet he callously ignored Lazarus, who sat at his gate and was seen by the rich man innumerable times. How insensitive the rich man was! How could he have passed by the poor man time after time and done nothing to help? Yet here we sit, our material needs met, when just a few minutes away people live in a mission or on the street. How can we possibly ignore their needs?
If we ignore the Bible’s warning and take care of our own needs, ignoring the suffering of others, we can descend, not into a literal place of torment, but a hell of our own making, the consequences of our misdeeds. If we fail to help those in need, there may be no one to help us when we are in need. This story can speak to us of priorities. If we wear the latest styles and drive new cars while our church struggles to pay its bills, we fall into the same trap as the rich man. And where would we go if First Unitarian Church weren’t here? I put my money where my mouth is. This year I’ve chosen to increase my pledge by 1/3, because I believe in the work of the church and in the spirit of rational religion.
As I see it, our duty is to present to the world an alternative to religious conservatism. People don’t have to be frightened of the wrath of an angry God or the threat of eternal hellfire to perform good works. We can inspire people to do good because it brings them joy and satisfaction. We can work to leave the world a better place than we found it, with no thought of eternal reward. (Although the idea of floating on a cloud for all eternity sounds a bit boring to me!)
There’s a second, much more powerful lesson that can be gleaned from this story. The reality, of course, is that death may come at any moment. When the rich man died and went to hell, he certainly had regrets about the way he had lived his life! What can this teach us? In his wonderful book, Awakening the Buddha Within, (which I purchased at last year’s Prairie Star District Conference) Lama Surya Das writes:
“We’re all going to die one day. But who among us really believes it? It’s such an obvious fact; why do we pretend it’s never going to happen to us? Buddha called death and impermanence the most important teaching. He said, ‘Just as the elephant’s footprint is the biggest footprint on the jungle floor, death is the greatest teacher…. Yama Raja---the Lord of Death---is my teacher. Death drove me to seek the deathless, to seek liberation from the bonds of birth and death.’
“Think about that: the Buddha said death---not some human teacher---was his primary guru. He said we should all keep the reality of death in the forefront of our consciousness so we can better prioritize our daily activities and thus better direct our attention to that which is most significant and meaningful….
“What does it profit us to kill time just to get by while we wait for the weekend or the next summer vacation and consequently overlook the miracle of the present moment? Tibetan teachings say that an inner clear light dawns at the moment of death, and if we are not present and aware, we will miss the moment. But the clear light actually dawns every moment, and if we’re not careful, we miss it all the time. Life is a miracle to be celebrated, not something to be escaped from or avoided.”
The beauty of sunrise, the music of songbirds, the embrace of a friend----these are only a few examples of the little miracles that occur around us each and every day.
If this were the last day you had to live, what have you wished to do that you haven’t done? Why aren’t you doing it? I, for one, do not believe in life after death, and if I am to do any good it must be here and now. Even if there is some sort of afterlife, there will never be a second chance to do the good deeds that life presents us with every day.
In closing, let me say that I don’t care what religion people are, or whether they have a religion. I don’t care what God people worship, or whether they worship a god at all, as long as they treat others with love and compassion. Those are not merely Christian values. They are human values. May we Unitarian Universalists let our light shine as a testimony to the power of reason and tolerance, may we never blindly pass by those who are in need, and may our lives be a witness to our powerful and liberal faith.
THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS LUKE 16:19-31 FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH 30 APRIL 2000
Good morning. My name is Roger Miller and I'm a relative newcomer to First Unitarian. As I have attended church here with my wife Evie, the things I have learned about Unitarian Universalism lead me to believe that perhaps I was a latent UU all my life. Theologically, it feels as if I have come home.
And it's good to be speaking again in front of people. I have missed that. See, I used to be a minister for 25 years. Then I got a message from God and left the ministry to become a car salesman. It's a nice gig. I can spend holidays with my family, I get the freedom of choosing whether or not to come to church and nobody has ever called me out of bed at 2:00 a.m. to rush down and sell them a car.
During my time in the ministry, I received two invaluable things which help me even to this day: Training in the historical-critical method of Bible study, wherein one avoids having to move the words and ideas of scripture around to accommodate all its literal contradictions, and an appreciation of the difference between the religion of Jesus and the religion about Jesus.
The religion about Jesus seems to be the most widely practiced through the centuries. Promulgated by Peter, Paul, John and the leaders of the early church, the religion about Jesus is the religion of dogma, rules and creeds. It is the basis for the religion that has instilled fear, guilt and emotional and spiritual trauma in many, many people. It is one of the world's religions that have been used as a rationale for the very loss of life. It is also the religion that has worked to build schools and hospitals, to relieve suffering, pain and hunger and to take the lead in many humanitarian efforts all over the globe down through the past twenty centuries. When we speak of the religion about Jesus, we must be careful, especially those of us who are "recovering Christians," to try and practice thinking that is balanced.
The religion of Jesus is a much more difficult thing. The religion of Jesus is a religion that has its’ root clear back to the time when the writers of scripture report that God called Abraham, then known as Abram, and said pack up your stuff and sell the house, you will go to a place I will show you…. And Abram said nothing more than…”okay.” And later, when God called Abraham and said, “Take your only son Isaac whom you love up on yonder mountain and make of him a sacrifice to me….” And Abraham responded simply by saying, “Okay.” And starting up the mountain, to carry out the instruction. That’s where the roots of the religion of Jesus lie.
But what of the religion of Jesus? What is it? It’s a religion that is subversive, sneaking up on one’s complacency and turning all our beliefs and assumptions around and saying,” you think the world is like this? Well, this is really the way of the world at its best: Love your enemies; Turn the other cheek; if your oppressor forces you to go a mile, go with him a second mile. Forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven, in other words, continuously and endlessly. If you’re going to pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who stand and make a big show of their religion. Instead, find a secret quiet place and pray simply. You have heard it said, Do not murder…but I tell you, if you are even so much as angry with a brother or sister, you are liable to a judgment from a higher power.” This is the kind of stuff from which the religion of Jesus is made. It’s a sort of stuff that was so subversive and so difficult to practice that the writer of the gospel of John reports that some of Jesus’ followers came to him at one point in his ministry and said to him, your teachings are too hard for us…. We can’t take it…. We quit…” The religion of Jesus, at one point, caused Jesus’ own mother and brothers to travel to where he was teaching, prepared to take him home and do with him what anyone of that day would do with a relative to had taken leave of his senses…
The story of the rich man and Lazarus is a perfect example of the religion of Jesus. Lest we get caught up in the minutiae of the story, let us PLEASE remember that it was intended to be a parable, a story, a piece of fiction to illustrate and important point. Let’s look at the big picture. There is a rich man, whose name is not important. In Jesus’ time, conventional wisdom was that if you were godly, you would also be rich. Not unlike some interpretations of Christianity, the religion about Jesus, today. He had rich clothing, ate good food and had enough money so that he could afford, according to the story, bread every day to use as we would use paper napkins, today. Apparently, this rich man would wipe the hands and face, according to the custom of the time, with this bread and just toss it out the window. What happened to it after that, he didn’t care…. And that was his mistake. Outside his window lived a sick, poor, hungry person named Lazarus, who would take those hunks of bread and use them for his sustenance. Jesus’ story goes on and he says that both guys die. One goes to the bosom of Abraham, in other words, a place of reward, while the other one ends up in another place, across a deep, long, unbridgeable chasm. But here’s the kicker of the story: the one who winds up in the bosom of Abraham is the one who is least expected, Lazarus, the poor sick, hungry guy, while the rich man winds up in a place, so goes the story, of torment. Why? Because he was rich? No! Because he treated Lazarus like a piece of scenery! He ignored the plight of the poor suffering hungry man and went about his other business as if he owned both the present and his future as well. But the listeners of this story, the Pharisees, were given the message that the religion of Jesus was not about rules and laws and showy rituals that looked good and extended a holy impression. Rather, true spirituality arises out of a genuine concern for those who do not have what we do materially, emotionally, or spiritually…. I believe that Jesus would be less concerned about not wearing make-up or not going to movies or not dancing or reading books that someone has declared to be banned…than he would be concerned about reaching out in every way to help those who are poor…those who are grieving…those who are hungry…those who are in prison and the families of the victims of those prisoners’ crimes….And if you’re like I am, deeply respectful of the religion of Jesus, and you think maybe Jesus had some ideas that sound Unitarian and Universalist, then you might be challenged and measured by a much more stringent standard than just making a nice little church program each Sunday morning. Do we have concern for the poor? Do we really care about people who are sick and hungry and nasty to our sensibilities? Can we find love in our hearts for the people who are unlovely and unlovable? See, the religion of Jesus is a tough gig to practice. And if we try to live out the principles of Unitarian Universalism—belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every person…Justice equality and compassion in human relations. Acceptance of one another and an encouragement to grow spiritually…free and responsible search for truth and meaning…the right of conscience and the use of what we know that the democratic process…the goal of world peace and justice for everyone…and above all, respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we all are a part….if we really believe this stuff enough to try to put it into practice, then the religion we practice may be closer to the religion of Jesus than we think.
Can we handle it? END
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