September 28, 2025 "The Life That Really Is Life"

16th Sunday after Pentecost

Amos 6:1a, 4-7

Psalm 146

1 Timothy 6:6-19

Luke 16:19-31

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

 grace and peace to you

from the one who calls us to the life that really is life. Amen

Over and over

 our lessons for today

 emphasize the message

 that we are to place our hope in God

 and anything else,

 particularly wealth,

will let us down.

This message is present in Jesus’ story

 about the rich man and Lazarus,

often Jesus’ stories are confusing

but this one is pretty clear.

There are two characters,

the rich man who has everything in life

and a poor man named Lazarus

 who in life longed for even a crumb from the rich man’s table.

Both men die,

 Lazarus is taken by angels to Abraham

while the rich man is tormented in hades

 and as he’s being tormented

 he looks up and sees Abraham,

 his ancestor, the original ancestor

and he calls to him

“Father Abraham have mercy”

he longs for even a drip of water to cool his tongue,

“send Lazarus” he says.

And Abraham replies,

 “that’s not going to happen,

what you did in life determined your location for eternity

 and there’s no going back.”

So the rich man says

 “well at least can you send a message

 to my brothers who are still living before it’s too late?”

 and Abraham replies

  “they have Moses and the prophets for that”,

 but the rich man insists that they will really change their ways

 if they see someone from the dead

and here’s the punch line,

as much as we might want to focus on this vision of the afterlife

which sounds much more Greek than Hebrew

it is really a literary device to set up the punch line

 Abraham, in the voice of Jesus who is telling the story,

 says  “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”

I sense a little Jesus snark here,

 Jesus, who knows that he will rise from the dead,

also knows that not everyone will believe him,

 especially those who are comfortable in this life 

“Woe to those who are at ease in Zion,

 and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria”

 the prophet Amos cries out in our first lesson

those that lounge around eating and drinking,

 singing idle songs, anointing themselves with oil,

 but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph,

 they will be the first ones taken into exile

 when the Assyrians come conquering.

 And while it seems at first

 that Amos is railing against the riches,

the real reason the people he’s addressing

will be taken into exile first

is because they are neglecting the troubles of the nation,

 these are the leaders

 and instead of taking care of all the people

 they focus on their own comforts

comforts that as we heard last week come at the expense of the poor

 through dishonest business practices and unjust labor

 but as long as the leaders are comfortable,

 nothing else matters

to the point where it will become their ruin.

“Put not your trust in rulers”

the psalmist proclaims

“in mortals in whom there is no help.

When they breathe their last, they return to earth,

 and in that day their thoughts perish.” 

and here we start getting to the crux of the matter,

 human rulers and rules and resources will pass away,

but then the psalmist sings “Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help,

  whose hope is in the Lord their God

and goes on to explain all the reasons to trust God:

God created the heavens and the earth

God keeps promises forever

God gives justice, food, freedom, healing to those who need it

God cares for the stranger and the abandoned

God is forever

God is the one in whom we should place our hope,

and when we do,

the concerns of God become our concerns,

justice, food, freedom, healing,

 care for the stranger and the abandoned,

our perspective shifts

 and when our perspective shifts,

so do our priorities,

now because we’re human,

sometimes it’s easier to do it backwards,

 to start living out the priorities of God

 before we fully trust that they will lead to life

and through the grace of God

 when we experience what it means to live as God intends,

we experience the life that really is life

and our hearts our changed.

This is what the author of 1 Timothy is prescribing

 for “those who in the present age are rich”

when he says “They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.”

The author has already acknowledged

 that the love of money leads people astray,

 it does so by promising security,

 a promise it cannot keep

but there is another promise out there

 the promise from God of eternal life,

 a promise which Christ has already kept

 and offers us as a gift,

it is ours

so why not hold these resources loosely?

 Put them to work in the present for the good of all

share them,

use them to live the life that really is life.

And what is the life that really is life?

 I think Dan Erlander paints the picture,

well draws it actually,

 at the end of his book “A Place For You: My Communion Book”

( it’s the book I use to teach first communion class and which you just heard part of for children’s time)

 The book traces all the ways Jesus welcomed people and showed God’s love,

 culminating with the Lord’s Supper,

and then shows the effect that the gift of the Lord’s supper

 particularly as a gift of love and inclusion

has on the community

 and he ends speaking directly to us:

“After the meal Jesus will go with you. He will help you to love all people, even when it is hard…With Jesus and your church family you will dream of a day when Jesus will gather all living beings together, creatures that fly in the air, swim in the water, walk on the earth, and crawl underground. This joyful gathering will include people of every kind, both happy people and crabby people (who will no longer be crabby). All will be safe; all will have food; all will have a home; all will worship God; and all will know that God loves everybody” (pg 16).

That friends, is the life that really is life,

the community of creation coming together in the love of God.

That is what we seek when we come to church

 and participate in community,

 that is what Jesus sends us out to work toward

with whatever resources we have,

 whether it is wealth by the standards of the world

or simply ourselves.

God has blessed us,

With ourselves, our time, our talents, our treasure

 All the resources we need to care for our common ministry,

 and now God sends us out,

to use the gifts of God,

to work for justice, feed the hungry,

 free the captive, heal the sick,

care for the stranger and the abandoned,

to gather all in a community joined together in the love of God,

to live the life that really is life. Amen