Wait, there is a test today?
Who do you see around you in need that you aren't helping out?
One of the oh-so-special parts about teaching middle schoolers is the constant gaslighting you receive, especially on test day or when a major assignment is due. Students will tell you right to your face that they had NO CLUE a test was coming despite the fact that you told them in approximately four million ways.
Even just yesterday, I had a rough draft of an essay due in class, which the students knew about for a week and had been diligently preparing for week by week. I just needed them to show me a rough copy. A parent reached out and claimed that their child didn’t know it was due and hadn’t heard anything about it, wanting some clarification. I noted all the times and ways I had communicated it and my specific instructions. Others in the class realized this and had turned it in, but this student apparently missed all the signs.
Even when I put a due date on our weekly calendar, even when I verbally tell them, even when I put a reminder on the board at the end of class, even when I message their parents, even when they’ve gotten into a rhythm to expect a test or assignment due on a certain day—some of my students still have the AUDACITY to tell me on the due date that this is the first they are hearing of it. Never knew about it. News to them!
Worse yet—oh, this is painful to hear as a teacher—sometimes my students will take a look at a test we’ve been preparing for weeks and then tell me they weren’t taught ANY OF THIS despite me literally building assignments around the test or vice versa, often reusing the same exact questions, and specifically highlighting for weeks all the knowledge they’d need for the exam. Again: the AUDACITY of these children…
I imagine Jesus had similar experiences, especially with teachers of the law who should have known better. People are constantly coming to him surprised, like about the coming of the Messiah, the Messiah’s mission of healing and peace, or the fact that the Messiah would need to die. Over and over, people would be shocked that Jesus would do or say certain things even when there’s a trail of evidence. Scripture and Jesus’ words would be witnesses—yet even Jesus’ disciples would act as if it’s brand new information.
On one occasion, Jesus tells a story—we don’t know the exact prompting for this one—about a man who acted quite surprised about where he ended up, despite the warnings. He acted as if there weren’t any signs to point him or his family in the right direction. This man clearly saw someone in dire straights though the knowledge didn’t seem to stir him to action. This parable that Jesus tells helps us remember the importance of opening our eyes to those in need around us—because one day it’s too late.
In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus tells the story we’ve dubbed the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. The story opens in verses 19 to 21 with a very dramatic contrast.
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.”
We have a rich man who’s living large and a poor man who lives right outside, who is sick and disgusting. There’s already a chasm between their two lives.
But the text continues with the catalyst for action in verses 22-26 and describes another kind of chasm:
“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’” But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’”
Jesus paints a picture of a great reversal. So much of Jesus’ ministry is about turning everything upside down. Oh, you thought Jesus was going to come in, sword-swinging? Nope—he’s a peaceful king, not of a geopolitical kingdom but a heavenly one. Oh, you thought humility was dishonorable and embarrassing and unworthy of respectable citizens? Nope—blessed are the meek, they will inherit the earth from the proud and boastful and so-called “respectable” folks. Oh, you thought riches were a sign of God’s favor and poverty is a result of a person’s sin? Nope—Jesus shows that our material lives don’t mimic our internal lives as the rich man is sent to torment and the poor man is honored.
The rich man, apparently, struggles to shake old habits. He still views Lazarus as a servant who should come and help him. He probably can’t stand that their fortunes are flipped! But what strikes me the most, what really sticks out, is that the unnamed rich man knew the name of Lazarus. Somehow, he was made aware of this beggar. While he lived large in luxury, the rich man was completely conscious of someone with no roof over his head, suffering with sores, just outside the gate.
He saw him. And chose to do nothing.
Though it’s no excuse, it is human nature to ignore what’s right in front of us. Especially when it’s unpleasant. Painful. Awkward. My students can be told in a myriad of ways about an upcoming exam and yet it goes in one ear and out the other. They saw but they didn’t see. They heard but they didn’t hear. They knew but they didn’t know. In much more significant cases, we easily fall into the same trap. We pass by the panhandler avoiding eye contact. We know our coworker really wants to get something off his chest so we make sure not to walk past his desk. We complain about “Christian persecution” in America when there are real cases of disadvantaged communities in this country who are losing access to essential rights and resources. We observe disasters and crises on the news and then continue on with our day, not even offering up a prayer.
We see. And choose to do nothing.
The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus continues in Luke 16:27-31:
“He [Abraham] answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ ‘Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘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, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
It's Test Day and the rich man claims to have “not known about it!” The AUDACITY! He makes an excuse for his brothers too. Even as he accepts his own fate, he has this idea that his family needs more warnings, more announcements, some kind of grand “heads up.” But Abraham points out that they got their warnings. They were told to care for the needy. Plenty of times. Proverbs 9:17; Isaiah 58:10; Psalm 82:3-4—that’s just a few passages about this!
They saw these Scriptures. And choose to do nothing.
I don’t want to find myself in the afterlife making excuses. Because there aren’t any. We have not just the signposts that say "serve those in trouble," but also clear evidence all around us of real people in trouble, who we often purposefully choose to ignore.
The reason I’ve been reflecting on the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is that I just wrote a science fiction version of the story for a book anthology to which I was invited to contribute. As a storyteller, I am trained to focus on character development, and I prefer to have a happy ending where the character both learns something and gets to save the day, maybe get the girl too! But retelling this parable left me with an awkward dilemma: the rich man learns, but it’s too late for him to put that knowledge into action. This isn’t a Christmas Carol where he wakes up and is a changed man. The rich man is already dead.
Jesus isn’t sugarcoating this for us. When we die, there don’t seem to be second chances. We get one shot at this life, and we can choose either to live for ourselves or to help others. Whether or not this parable portrays what Heaven and Hell are actually like, it’s clear their imagery is meant to steer us toward a righteous path on earth, one where we open our eyes to those in need around us.
We must see. And choose to do something.
Question of the Week
Leave your answer in the comment section below or reply to this email.
Who in need are you ignoring who you will make a better effort to help?
My “Goings On”
Working on Super Jake book 3!
Winding down the school year
I see you,
Jake Doberenz
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I would like some more information on the science fiction anthology. I've been reading science fiction anthologies for 30 years, unfortunately they've all become increasingly focused on LGBT etc. agenda topics, so it will be refreshing to read some great SF short stories that are not!