Now there was a rich man, and he 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. The two men die, and their situations are reversed in the afterlife. Lazarus is comforted while the rich man suffers and is separated from Lazarus by an impassable chasm.
Luke doesn't say the rich man did anything cruel. He just feasted while ignoring the poor man at his gate. Indifference is the sin. The chasm that opens up is the consequence of a lifetime of non-relationship. The rich man could see Lazarus every day and chose not to engage. The parable is devastating because there's no redemption offered. The chasm can't be crossed. The rich man had his chance to build relationship with Lazarus, to share his abundance, to acknowledge the poor man's humanity. He didn't. And now it's too late. I think about the poor people I see and ignore daily. What chasm am I creating through my indifference?
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