The church that rejects Lazarus rejects Jesus

Biblical reflections by Father James Martin SJ* published on the Jesuit Outreach website (United States) on 24 September 2022, freely translated by Giacomo Tessaro

Some of us may be perplexed by the traditional name for this oft-called parable “The parable of Lazarus and the rich man” (Luke 16:19-31). “Epulone” it is a word that comes from Latin “epŭlum”, namely "banquet". It's a way of saying “Lazarus and the rich glutton”.

When we hear the name instead LazarusLet's prick up our ears. This is in fact the only parable in the Gospels in which someone is given a name (in all the other parables we find “a guy”, “a woman”, “a father”), and it is the name of the man whom Jesus raises from the dead in the Gospel of John, his greatest miracle.

Many scholars believe that Luke probably knew the tradition of Lazarus being resurrected in the village of Bethany, widespread in the Johannine community, and that he incorporated it into his account. I mean that perhaps Luke did not know that masterpiece which is John's account of the resurrection of Lazarus, but perhaps he had known the episode in other ways.

So why didn't Luke and the other Synoptics include the story in their Gospels? Especially because they already had stories of Jesus bringing someone back from the dead: for example, that of the son of the widow of Nain and that of Jairus' daughter. Furthermore, their Gospels are mostly set in the north, in Galilee, not in the south, in Judea, where Lazarus lived.

The connection with today's parable is however fascinating. After all, it speaks of the possibility of returning from the dead, in this case to warn against selfishness, against greed, against carelessness. Jesus tells us the story of two men: one rich and one poor. The rich man lives on "sumptuous" banquets (it is easy to imagine him throwing parties every day), while the poor man, probably disabled, stands at his door waiting for some food; perhaps he tried to enter, but was kicked out.

In New York, where i live, it is certainly not difficult to imagine such A scene. i see this parable Every day. when i go shopping, i always see two or three men in a condition similar to that of Lazarus.

Then, as often happens in the Gospels, God reverses the situation: now it is the rich man who lives in torment for his sins. Surprisingly, he begs Lazarus, the poor man, to relieve his thirst by dipping his finger in a pool of water. Even in hell the rich man continues to treat the poor man like a servant! Then he begs “father Abraham” to ask Lazarus to go and warn his brothers to treat the poor with dignity.

The crux of this parable is rejection. Jesus tells it to condemn some religious leaders of his time who rejected the marginalized, just as the rich man rejects Lazarus. Those who reject the marginalized, Jesus tells us, will be rejected not only by the people, but also by God. In the end, some of those religious leaders will reject Jesus; so here is the obvious connection between rejecting the marginalized and rejecting Jesus.

Unlike many parables and images in the Gospels (the mustard seed becoming a tree, the shepherd losing a sheep, the vine and the branches), this story, for most of us, requires little explanation. There are poor people who are outside our doors: it is easy to understand what Jesus wants to tell us, and there is certainly no need to underline it.

But then, thinking about it, we can ask ourselves: who are the marginalized in today's society? Who are the rejected? For me, it's easy to understand: it's the poor, the refugees, the homeless. Today we celebrate the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, and Lazarus is on our borders, in a refugee camp. The marginalized of the Church, however, are above all (not only) LGBTQ people.

Jesus wants us to understand that we should pay particular attention to the needs of those who, like Lazarus, stand at the gates of our society and our Church, and also at our gates, in a literal and metaphorical sense, waiting for a little comfort. If we don't do it, in the not too distant future we will be the ones looking for a little comfort at some door.

* The American Jesuit James Martin is a columnist for the Catholic weekly America and author of the book"A bridge to build. A new relationship between the Church and LGBT people"(Publisher Marcianum, 2018). Father Jamesbrought a contribution to the reception of LGBT people in the Catholic ChurchAt the World Meeting of Catholic Families in Dublin eHe brought his reflectionAlso at the 5th Forum of Italian LGBT Christians (Albano Laziale, 5-7 October 2018).