Insights

Rev Gav

What kind of priests should we be?

Luke 16.19-31

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 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; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.

In Hades, where he was being tormented, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.’

But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus in like manner evil things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’

He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house — for I have five brothers — that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’

Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’

He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”

Reflect

Before I begin, let me assure you that this story has nothing to do with ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’ and no inferences can be made from this story about the nature of Heaven or Hades. For an Insight and Podcast on ‘hell’ please go here!

The gospels are full of all kinds of references and deeper meanings, along with all manner of signs and pointers, that would have meant something to the intended readership. Take, for example, the name ‘Lazarus’. You may remember that Lazarus was raised from the dead — the seventh and final sign in John’s gospel. What you may not know is that Lazarus is the Greek version of the name Eleazar which literally means ‘God has helped’ but significantly, the name was associated with a High Priest in the Bible. In other words the name Lazarus is connected, biblically, to the priesthood however, at the time of Jesus, there was another biblical connection with the name ‘Lazarus’ and one associated with Abraham.

Abraham had a son called Isaac, and when Abraham was old he asked a servant to go and find a wife for him. Tradition has it that, although the servant remains nameless in the book of Genesis, you guessed it, this servant was called ‘Lazarus’. In today’s Bible passage, despite Jesus never naming the characters in his parables, we encounter a character called Lazarus and one closely associated with Abraham — surely this is too much of a coincidence? So what does it mean?

In the story we have two representations of ‘priests’ — one who is rich, living a life of splendour and extravagance, and one who is associated with being a lowly ‘servant’ and with the poor and oppressed. The priests of the day, of whom Jesus was speaking, claimed to have security as ‘children of Abraham’ therefore, as we follow the parable of these two priests, which kind of priest curried favour with God? Perhaps it is not such a veiled message after all!

The story of the rich man and Lazarus — or the story of the ‘two priests’ — has contemporary significance. Priests are God’s representatives at both a local and national level, and in a sense, all who follow Christ are priests because we all represent God to the world. The question is, what kind of ‘priests’ are we called to be?

In our culture there are those who claim to speak for all Christians — who represent Christianity on a world stage — and we must hold up the gospel of Jesus Christ as a mirror to them, a gospel where, as Rev Simon Cross puts it, ‘the poor, the disabled, the excluded, and the foreign are closest to the heart of the divine,’ and, ‘true priesthood is about embodying mercy, justice, and solidarity beyond borders.’

Right now, us Christians have prominent ‘priests’ who have aligned themselves with nationalism resulting in what is dubbed ‘Christian Nationalism’. Now, I love our mixed heritages be they, for example, Anglo-Saxon or African, but nationalism, despite claiming to defend heritage, preserves a narrow form of heritage, typically at the exclusion of those who do not adhere to its cultural, ethnic, or political vision. The key word here is exclusion, and exclusion (being the opposite of inclusion) is diametrically opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the parable told by Jesus, it was too late for the rich man, and instead of begging for himself, he begged on behalf of his brothers. The reply of Abraham was that because they had not been convinced to be the right kind of priests by Moses and the Prophets, neither would they be convinced if someone was raised from the dead (and we all know who was raised from the dead).

As with all parables, the listeners were encouraged to identify themselves in the story, and in this case they (and we) are the brothers. Jesus used a tongue-in-cheek kind of reverse psychology in the hope that even if we were not convinced by Moses and Prophets we would be convinced by someone being raised from the dead. The question to us is, are we convinced that the way of Jesus is the way of inclusion and love — to welcome the poor, marginalised, oppressed, and downtrodden?

Right now, as Helen and I seek God’s leading, as well as providing an online space for all, we are slowly manoeuvring FAB Church to be able to support local expressions. These local FAB churches would be lay led and lightweight — no buildings, no committees, no fundraising, and no pastor. We will provide daily devotions, a weekly talk (like this one), worship music videos, and liturgies, as well as providing online pastoral support for lay leaders and any guests or members. It is a different model of church, but we sense God leading us in this direction. All this is to be the inclusive church God has called us to be.

Amen.