WANNA BE A BILLIONAIRE?

A Sermon on Luke 16:19-31

Money, money, money. Today’s Gospel is yet again another parable seemingly about money.

Funny enough, throughout my week of sermon prep I’ve had this song stuck in my head. It was popular a few weeks back and is called “Billionaire” by Travis McCoy. The chorus goes:

“I wanna be a billionaire, so…bad. Buy all the things I never had. I wanna be on the cover of Forbes magazine, smiling next to Oprah and the Queen”

Grant it, the tune is pretty catchy; but, the song drove me crazy! I felt like every time I got in the car it was playing on the radio. And as I went to change the channel, I’d think to myself “See! This is everything that’s wrong with the world & the rising generations! Everyone’s obsessed with money, being famous and rich!”

Clearly this desire for monetary success is something that has been ingrained in humanity from Biblical times to today. We as humans—Americans in particular— feed into this temptation of always wanting more. Culturally and socially, we have developed our own gates, or chasm, between the rich and the poor, the famous in the lime light and those unseen and unheard.

In part there was truth in my outburst of frustration, saying that the Billionaire song was an example of what’s wrong with the world and how we’re obsessed with being rich.

But as a youth pointed out to me in the High School class last Sunday, I stand corrected about this particular song, “Billionaire”. The song actually is not about being greedy and wanting a lot of fame and fortune. See, I got hung up on the catchy chorus. I heard only the superficial and did not take the time to listen to the whole message. As it turns out, the lyrics are . . . I don’t want to say profound that’s not quite the right word, but lyrics—the less catchy more rap like verses of the song are all about giving money away. About wanting to be like Oprah, making people’s dreams come true, about wanting to be like Angelina and Brad, by adopting children to give them a better life. About giving away cars and throwing up money in the air, making sure that everyone had enough. & my favorite line:

“not a single tummy around me would know what hungry was”

the lyrics continue with:

“Eating good sleeping soundly
I know we all have a similar dream
Go in your pocket pull out your wallet
And put it in the air and sing”

At first glance this song appeared to be all about money and greed, but after going deeper and paying attention to the lyrics I found the song to be about one’s dream of helping others.

Same goes for today’s parable. At first glance (especially since Scripture said Jesus was talking to “lovers of money”) the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus appears to be all about money. A simple parable that brings conviction for change to the rich, and comfort of justice to the poor.

But, if we take a closer look and go deeper into the parable, we will notice that these verse don’t actually mention money. The whole scenario revolves around food. The rich man had an abundance of food and feasted sumptuously daily, while Lazarus having nothing went hungry and presumably starved to death.

Today’s parable is not about money, but about abundance and attitude. Same goes for that song, “Billionaire.” The underlying message was not about hording a lot of money and becoming famous. Rather, the song writer was wishing for abundance with a right attitude. An attitude that acknowledged the humanity and dignity in the other—spurring a strong desire to help those in need and make the world a better place.

In contrast, the Rich man not only already had an abundance, but he had an awful attitude!

Let’s revisit the parable: We basically have 3 scenes.

1st Scene: You’ve got the description of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man is feasting in the comfort of his home. He has a greedy attitude just hording his abundance to himself, and guarded from the outsiders—the “other”—by a gate surrounding his house. Lazarus, a poor man—hungry and covered in sores—sitting outside the man’s gate. The gate creates a physical divide between both the man and Lazarus, and the worlds in which they live.

This divide still exists today. By in large the rich hang out with the rich, the middle class with the middle class, and the poor with the poor. We create visible and invisible lines or barriers between differing socioeconomic statuses. These barriers—known and unknown, realized and unrealized—prevent us from truly seeing the “other”, and thus hinder our ability to recognize and acknowledge the humanity, dignity, and divine within one another—within the “other”.

2nd Scene:Eventually both the man and Lazarus die, they journey to different places, and roles are reversed. Lazarus now receives comfort while the rich man yearns and begs for Lazarus’ soothing help.

Notice, amongst this role reversal, there are two things that stays the same:

First, the barrier, what was a gate, now called a chasm remains between them. That man made, culturally created divide between the rich and the poor continues and is accentuated. Second, the rich man keeps his awful attitude! Even in death the man hasn’t a clue and still does not get it right. He is still unable to see the humanity, dignity, and divine within Lazarus. Instead he sees Lazarus as one of lower status who is to serve him. More on this later.

3rd Scene: This is by far the longest scene, where all the good stuff happens, and where you and I come in to the story. This is where the man sees Abraham and Lazarus, and calls to Abraham for him to beckon Lazarus to provide relief of the man’s burning agony. The man doesn’t even acknowledge Lazarus directly. No verbal exchange is made between the two throughout the entirety of this parable. They lived and died in co-existing with one another, yet remaining in separate worlds.

After the man’s request for relief is denied, he attempts another angle. “Please, Abraham, at the very least send Lazarus as a messenger to my family—to warn my five brothers.” Miraculously the man thinks of someone other than himself, but he still does not getting it! He continues to sees himself as one of privilege and Lazarus as a servant, one to be his personal messenger.

Abraham again denies the man’s request, and says, “they have Moses and the Prophets, they should listen to them.” The man cries out again, “No! If only someone were to rise from the dead to warn them, then they will repent!” Abraham claims that if they do not listen to the prophets neither will they listen to one who even rises from the dead.

Now I said, that this 3rd scene is the part where we come in,
so who are we in the parable?
We are the five brothers!

Not the rich to be condemned, nor the poor to be comforted, but the five brothers; those still living who have the chance to change and live right—live in accordance with Scripture and the prophets, live in accordance with how Jesus Christ our Lord, the one risen from the dead, taught us to live.

We have the advantage here-- to learn from this parable, to receive the warning. We are the ones who can choose to recognize our own abundance. We all have areas of abundance in our lives. Whether it is food, time, clothes, resources, compassion, or skill. God has given each and every one of us an abundance of gifts and grace.

We are the ones who can choose to see the need in which only we can fill. We all have Lazarus’ in our lives. We all have barriers in our lives; but together we can begin to build bridges across those chasms.

We are the ones who still have the opportunity to choose whether we horde our gifts for ourselves as the rich man did, or to share our abundance with a right attitude as the song writer proclaimed. So I ask:

What is your abundance?
Who is your Lazarus?
and How with a right attitude, can you use your abundance for God’s glory?

Amen.