“Neither Will They Be Persuaded Though One Rise From The Dead”
22nd Sunday after Pentecost / Lazarus Sunday
Galatians 6:11-18; Luke 16:19-31
The Gospel parable of Jesus Christ about the rich man and the poor man Lazarus moved and influenced Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) so much that, having already held three doctorates (in philosophy, theology, and musicology), being the rector of the Faculty of Theology in Strasbourg and having other honorable duties, he resigned from all his posts in 1905 and entered a 6-year medical course as a simple student.
He believed that he and many other people live like the rich man in the Gospel story, enjoying all the benefits of culture and civilization, and that black Africans in Africa live like the gospel's Lazarus, "who lay at his gate, covered with sores" (Luke 16:20), fed only by the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table.
Such a situation in the world did not allow A. Schweizer to live a culturally profitable life in the midst of a refined environment in Europe and enjoying all the benefits of civilization. Because of that, he considered it necessary to acquire a profession, qualifications, with which he would be most useful to the disadvantaged, colonially exploited and oppressed people.
After obtaining a medical degree and becoming a skilled surgeon, while his wife had meanwhile obtained her qualifications as a nurse, Albert Schweitzer and his wife traveled to French Equatorial Africa in 1913 and founded a hospital in the jungle, on the banks of the Ogowe River. It was a place where the natives could not find medical care until then and where there were many patients with leprosy and other serious diseases.
Schweitzer did not want to treat the needy where he could make money, but where no one wanted to go to help those neglected and unfortunate, sick people - those Lazaruses of The Gospel. All his life since then, with the exception of some trips to lecture and to raise funds for the maintenance and development of the hospital, he continued working in the same African country. There he ended his earthly life. He can be considered a modern saint, who devoted almost his entire conscious life to showing mercy and love for the weak and infirm, having devoted all his strength and talents in the name of that love of Christ.
Let us compare, in the light of Christ's parable of the rich man and Lazarus, as well as in the light of Dr. Schweizer's work, the state of medical care in Canada, particularly in Ontario. Toronto and the larger cities of southern Ontario are full of doctors, dentists, and specialists in various fields of medical treatment. They compete with each other here for there are too many of them, but in northern Ontario, especially in smaller towns, there is a shortage of doctors, and entire large neighbourhoods are left without qualified medical care.
Also, students from other less developed countries (Jamaica, India, Pakistan, and other Asian countries) come to Canada to study medicine, obtain their qualifications, and then, instead of returning to their countries where their qualifications are most needed, many of them stay here in Canada, where there are already enough doctors. They remain here because of a higher standard of living and greater earnings.
Something similar happens in other professions as well: teachers, engineers, and other specialists stay here instead of going back to their countries and contributing to the development of their homeland or furthering education among their people. Such educated individuals do not want to help their neighbours; instead, like the rich man in the parable, they only want to take advantage of society to have a comfortable personal life.
Let us turn our attention to that rich man from the Gospel parable; when he was in hell after death, he asked that a messenger be sent to his brothers (“for I have five brothers”) to warn them that hell truly exists, so that they would change their lives and not also end up in the "place of torment" (Luke 16:28).
In reply, the rich man was told:
“They have Moses and the prophets,”
that is, they the Laws of God, The Holy Scriptures.
The Holy Scriptures indicate how people should live in earthly life, how they should unite with their Creator God, how they should live according to the Commandments and instructions of God, how they should treat their neighbours with mercy so as to be worthy of union with God in eternity. Thus, these people are given every opportunity to work out their salvation, and if they refuse to do so in their earthly life, they must know that they are dooming themselves to perdition.
But the rich man says that this is not enough:
“No....but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.”
And he was told:
“If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.”
(Luke 16:30-31).
And we know that it really happened this way: When Jesus resurrected Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, the Jewish “chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also” (John 12:10).
When Jesus Christ himself rose from the dead on the third day, those who sought the truth believed in Him, and those who sought means to continue ruling over their people, those who sought the benefits of earthly life, and not the truth, did not believe. They did not believe in the resurrected Son of God, not just in some messenger.
God will no longer send the resurrected from the dead - the resurrected Jesus Christ was the ultimate proof. God will no longer send his Son to the sacrifice of suffering and crucifixion.
That son, the Lord Jesus Christ, will come a second time, but not for renewed suffering and crucifixion, but to “judge the living and the dead” (Matthew 25:31-46). God gave people the New Testament, gave the Gospel, gave new Commandments of Christ's love. God founded the Church of Salvation, God commanded baptism "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit", indicated and gave people all the means of life and salvation.
And, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16)
The rich man was condemned to hell not because he possessed great wealth, but because he was indifferent to his neighbour, because he did not believe God, did not accept the Commandments and instructions of God for life on earth.
Amen.
Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko
Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.
