PaddlingPadre

This Sunday we continue reading from the prophet Amos, who, if you remember, was sent to preach in the northern kingdom of Israel, which had, following Solomon’s death, entered into rebellion against the sons of David in Jerusalem, and had in fact achieved for itself by this time significant wealth and power, even outshining the kingdom of Judah in the south.

This prosperity, though, was attained without faithfulness to God. For Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom, despite having been chosen by God to rule the ten northern tribes, had set up idols at Dan and at Bethel, thereby turning his back on God, fearful as he was that his subjects would become disloyal to him if they continued to travel south to Jerusalem to worship. And so by this sin, Jeroboam had set the pattern for Israel that it would continue to follow down through the generations: he trusted in his own strength rather than God’s, he was ruled by his own political machinations and calculus rather than by faithfulness, and, in general, privileged what was worldly over what was spiritual. Such was the sin of Jeroboam, by which he made Israel to sin.

Given, then, the sinfulness into which Israel was led, it was perhaps rather baffling that this kingdom, in the days of Amos, seemed to be enjoying great prosperity. Lying upon their beds of ivory, stretched comfortably on their couches, eating lambs from the flock and calves from the stall, drinking wine from their bowls and anointing themselves with the best oils, with seemingly nothing to trouble them, even as they worshiped golden bulls! Of them the psalmist may well have been speaking when he lamented: and they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High? Such are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.

But against their ease and their prosperity, God sends Amos with a warning: Woe to the complacent in Zion! For their prosperity, if they do not repent and join it with righteousness and faithfulness, will be turned to mourning and lamentation, their wanton revelry done away with. For God would raise up Assyria against Israel, and, destroying Samaria, lead the ten northern tribes away into exile, from which they would not return, thereby fulfilling the rest of the psalm: Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!

Such was the end of the northern kingdom, a destruction which they prepared for themselves even in the full bloom of their prosperity, as Amos tried to warn them. For what good is prosperity, if it not be prosperity in what truly matters? Such prosperity is merely apparent – ultimately it would have been better for the Israelites to be poor and faithful than to be rich and ruined, deceived as they were by the illusion that such wealth was sufficient in itself.

It is a similar lesson that our Lord is driving at with the parable. For the rich man, foolishly, does not mark the danger of his wealth, he does not guard his heart against its corrupting influence, and so, like Jeroboam and all of Israel, he trusts in his wealth rather than in righteousness. For a time, this does not seem to harm him, for like Israel in the days of Amos, he does not seem to suffer for his arrogance, as he continues to dress well and to eat sumptuously. And yet, for all his prosperity, and no matter how many times he steps over Lazarus as he passes in and out of his door, he is not troubled to show this poor beggar even the least compassion – as less than a dog does the rich man regard him, and indeed it is only from the dogs that Lazarus receives any form of comfort.

But then, upon his death, how merely apparent are all his wealth and prosperity shown to be! For it is not merely the case that he could not take his purple garments and fine linen and sumptuous meals with him to the grave, but there he is also made to face the torments that are the just recompense of his cruelty and self-obsession! And Lazarus, for his part, is revealed to the rich man to have been righteous, to be worthy of sitting at the very bosom of Abraham, this same man who was, in the rich man’s estimation, not even worthy of the scraps that fell from his table! How dramatically are our Lord’s words fulfilled, that the last shall be first and the first shall be last!

For truly, it was the rich man, in spite of appearances, who was truly poor and truly to be pitied, for he lived a life of sin, and pursuing worldly living neglected what really mattered. This brings to mind yet another psalm: Do not fret because of the wicked, do not be envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb. For I have seen the wicked oppressing, and towering like a cedar of Lebanon. Again I passed by, and they were no more; though I sought them, they could not be found.

The warning in all of this for us, I think, is simple to state yet perhaps more difficult to live out, namely: do not let your hearts be overcome by the allure of riches and worldly living, lest, like the rich man, you discover to your ruin that your reward has been in this mortal life! For easily are we ensnared by such things, and, indeed, worldly living is perhaps the default to which we sink, especially in our American culture, if we do not actively work against it with the help of God’s grace. To this end the Church recommends to us many spiritual practices, not least of which are fasting and especially almsgiving, which is to be undertaken not merely out of the practical needs to keep the lights on and to support the various ministries of our parish, but because it is spiritually good for you to surrender to God a portion of what has been entrusted to you, precisely so that worldly concerns do not overcome you.

But if we are not to live for worldly ends, if the goal of the Christian is not chiefly to prosper in this life, then what is to be our target in the day to day? It is the same goal of which St. Paul reminded Timothy: But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called when you made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses. It is these virtues that make for true riches, for true happiness and prosperity, and indeed no amount of money, however great, would suffice to purchase such treasures, and yet they lie in reach of even the most poor and downtrodden! So seek these things, which are the only things really worth seeking, for then you will be just and blameless before God, standing without reproach at the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ.