Homily

Today is the Sunday of the poor Lazarus, who, covered with sores, lay at the gate of the rich man and was eager to eat what fell from the table. In the final greeting at a funeral service, we pray for the deceased, wishing him to be able to "enjoy the eternal rest in heaven with Lazarus who was poor on earth." Today the Gospel wants us to meet the poor Lazaruses, and teaches us to be moved by their sores, and to be scandalized by hunger. Let us see their presence so that Lazarus will welcome us in heaven and will intercede for us. "I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me to drink." Jesus does not want men and women to be forgetful and careless, as the prophet Amos says, "They waste their lives and think that all are like them." Being forgetful, one accepts a world of sufferings and builds an abyss of love impossible to fill. The opposite of a careless and superficial heart is not an agitated or heroic one; rather it is a good and human heart.
"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day." This man without a name is not described as a wasteful person, or as someone who exploits his servants. He is just one of many, and he acts in the same way as everyone else in his condition. He lives in his riches without any concern for others. The problem comes only later in the story, "And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table." The evangelist gives us the man’s name, in this case, Lazarus, and points out the difference between his situation and that of the rich man. This scene, which leaves no middle ground between the life based on consumption it depicts on one side, and the darkest misery it shows on the other, was not considered an injustice by the theology of the scribes. And thus it was easy to appeal to the doctrine of almsgiving to calm consciences. In short, at that time, just as today, it was easy to find reasons to keep everything the same and not change even a blatant injustice like the one described by the Gospel. After the deaths of the two men, a totally different scene opens. Now it is clear what God’s thought and judgment is. The rich man and Lazarus are both "sons of Abraham" but only Lazarus sits with him at the heavenly table. The rich man is not welcomed into the eternal dwelling places and falls into the place of torment.
If the rich man had helped Lazarus, the latter would have welcomed him in heaven. But it is only now that he understands the truth about life, and now it is too late. The rich man implicitly admits the inevitability of his sad condition, just as previously he had tranquilly accepted his thoughtlessness and his purple and fine linen. He does not even ask to change places, he just wants a little relief: all he needs is a finger dipped in water to touch his tongue. But this is impossible: not even God can cross the abyss that people build around themselves. Nonetheless, in this world abysses are still dug between one person and another, between one nation and another, between one ethnicity and another, and, on a world-wide scale, between rich countries and poor countries. Lazarus is the homeless person at our side, the foreigner, the oppressed ethnicity, the people that are abused and exploited. And yet the parable makes extremely clear God’s predilection for Lazarus and for those who, in every age and in every part of the world, live as he did.
The rich and the poor die, and the world is turned upside down. As in the beatitudes: blessed now are the poor, while the rich remain alone with their wealth which does not warm them, nor satisfy them but rather torments them. The world is turned around and Lazarus is with Abraham, in his womb. The rich man is without anyone to welcome him, with no consolation. He was filled and now is hungry; he was laughing and now is crying. The torments of the rich of which the Gospel speaks are not a threat. Jesus does not scare people, rather he reassures them. But the Lord explains how life is in reality. He reveals to the rich that it is not in wealth that we can find joy or a future. He explains that without others, one remains alone and builds hell for oneself. What to do, then? Is there hope for the rich? Can the rich change? This question is of great concern for Jesus. He will say that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus loved that rich man and yet he was not loved. What to do, then? We need to fill many gaps of ignorance, of distance, of missing words, of hands that do not stretch and of consolation that is denied. Let us fill these gaps as the dishonest manager did by investing in mercy. Let us fill these gaps as the Good Samaritan did by loving a stranger with compassion and making a neighbour of him. Describing Abraham’s answer to the rich, Jesus seems to insist in saying that we do not need wonders in order to change our hearts and to fill those gaps. The Gospel that opens the hearts of men and women and makes them human and close to others is sufficient.