TGBC: damnable

The Good Book Club
Wednesday, March 14. 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 looked up 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, father, I beg you 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 goes to them from the dead, 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.” ’

THOUGHTS FOR WEDNESDAY. The Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man reminds me of scenes early in Steven Spielberg’s film Empire of the Sun. It begins with choirboys practicing in an obviously Church of England parish boys choir. The church is in pre-WW2 Shanghai, where wealthy foreigners, here notably British, live in high privilege, in an exclusive luxury residential area, walled and gated mansions, over Chinese natives who live in unspeakably destitute poverty and whom the British and other foreigners hold in contempt. Jamie the rich boy is fascinated by the thronging masses of Chinese around him. In one scene, as his parents’ elegant, chauffeured Packard limousine is driven out the gates of their mansion, Jamie stares transfixed at the impoverished “chinaman” beggar who is always crouching just outside the walled gate watching, waiting, hoping for some charity, some act of kindness, mercy, compassion, pity, that we never see; no evidence that such ever happens. Even the Chinese household servants, butler, maids, chauffeur, seem part of the foreigners’ social, colonialist infrastructure; though one wonders uneasily about their hatreds.

Luke’s parable sounds fearsomely like Jesus with his preference for the poor. However, the concluding paragraph and sentence that reads “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead” is sufficiently post-Easter to separate it from Jesus’ own words before it.

I have no comment except to observe that, like the parable’s rich man, we really do not give a damn. May God in heaven have mercy upon our souls. From the Ash Wednesday litany of penitence,

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and
strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We
have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us.
We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved
your Holy Spirit.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the
pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation
of other people,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those
more fortunate than ourselves,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and
our dishonesty in daily life and work,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to
commend the faith that is in us,
We confess to you, Lord.

Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done:
for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our
indifference to injustice and cruelty,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our
neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those
who differ from us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of
concern for those who come after us,
Accept our repentance, Lord. 


Lord, have mercy. Our repentance is a lie, our remorse a damnable sham. Lord, have mercy.