Getting real

 Scripture: Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15 and Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16  •  Amos 6:1a, 4-7 and Psalm 146  •  1 Timothy 6:6-19  •  Luke 16:19-31

This Sunday's lesson follows Jesus' teaching concerning serving wealth and serving God, and gives us his  story of the rich man, unnamed and living behind the gate, who dies and goes to his eternal torment, having failed to see Lazarus in his poverty and unhealthy squalor.  One the one hand, reading this along with the words of the prophet Amos, and the appointed Psalms, this is another indictment of the distance and problems we have when we foster the widening chasm between the "haves and the have nots."

But, as in all of Jesus' parables, there is so much more. The rich man is unnamed, while Lazarus has a name. The rich man has buffered himself from noticing Lazarus and his condition. Don't we do the same as we bury ourselves in our cellphones, social media, and become engulfed in the world created by talking heads with all their theories and opinions on everything, some creating fantasies and conspiracies that defy reality and even common sense? 

Jesus is telling us to get real. To see as God sees. To truly "take hold of the life that really is  life." Do yourself a favor and read the words of Paul to Timothy in the link above,  and Joslyn Ogden Schaefer's "Real Life." And take hold of the fulfillment of  the life that really is life.