Maybe the Dogs Ate Him

At a recent Free Store conversation we talked about Jesus' parable in Luke 16, "A Rich Man Dressed in Purple."  The story is basically about a filthy rich dude that lives in the lap of luxury every day of his life.  However, right outside his very ornate gate is an extremely poor man that longs to just eat the crumbs that fall from the rich man's lavish table.  Eventually the poor man dies as does the rich guy.  In the afterlife the rich man ends up roasting in the fire of Hades while the no longer poor dude is resting blissfully in the lap of Abraham.  The rich guy asks Abraham to send the poor man to dip his finger in water and alleviate his agony but Abraham says in effect, "You had your heaven on earth and this guy his hell.  And just like there was in life a gate there is now a great chasm that prevents those who are comfortable from alleviating the misery of those in hell."

We started the conversation by talking about the two main characters in the story; the rich man and Lazarus.  Jack thought the rich guy must have been very wealthy and might have been royalty because he was described as wearing the color purple which Jack said is a "mark of royalty."  Someone said that clothing is as much about showing our status and class position in society as it is about looking good.  Someone made us laugh when they mentioned "Free Store Fashion" and said that "you can look good in free stuff."  Although the rich man  had a pretty cushy life Sheila wondered if he had any "good good friends."  As we turned our attention to the poor man George said that he was "definitely down and out" which for some reason made us laugh.  The story says that the poor guy was sick and that the dogs would come and lick the open sores which we found pretty disgusting.  Although George mentioned that some people think that "a dog lickin a wound can heal it."

At this point we talked a little about the significance that in the story the poor man is laying at the gate of the rich man's house.  George said that a gate "mark's where your property is."  Someone else said that a gate is as much about access as it is about keeping people out.  Jack said it is about access but "only if you have the proper key."  We thought it was tragic that the rich guy never went through that gate to make a connection with his down and out neighbor.  Instead he turned a blind eye to the misery that existed at his very own door step.

As we started to talk about the shift in the story when the two men died Jack wondered why it says the rich man was buried but it doesn't mention a burial for Lazarus.  Sheila made us laugh when she said, "Maybe the dogs ate him" which we found funny in a twisted sort of way.  Someone said that it was interesting that the man whose life on earth had been hell was in heaven while the man whose life on earth had been heaven was in hell.  At this our new friend David said "Preach it" which made us laugh.  The story really just reverses the situation of the two men and extends it into the afterlife in an imaginative way.  Someone thought it was ironic that the rich guy would expect someone to have mercy on him in his misery even though in life he never lifted a finger to help his down and out neighbor.  Someone thought that maybe there would be no hell (on either side of death) if people would just look out for each other.

As the conversation moved to a close George told us about a black man that used to come by his house when he was a kid and would ask for food and water.  George said that his mom would always give the man something.  When he asked her why she said, "Son, it could be Jesus Christ."  At this the question came up about why rich people weren't more generous.  We laughed when Jack told us about some very wealthy friends that he knows and how he likes the way they live and the way he lives when he is with them.  He went on to say that people that have a lot "tend to be very self satisfied" and think that they have earned everything they have.  Our friend Andrew said, "We have to look at what we have now.  We have to accept the cards that we've been dealt and we need to be thankful for the little that we do have."  At this I told the group about a man I knew when I was a pastor in Tunkhannock, PA.  The guy sold his small business and bought a motorcycle and van and used to just travel around the country making friends wherever he went.  He used to tell me, "Man, you own too much stuff to be free."  As we laughed about this Jack told us about his friends that own an expensive home in Monroe that they can't sell even though they have dropped the price several times over the last few years.  Apparently money creates as many problems that vex as it provides comforts that soothe.