Homily for Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C, 25th September, 2022.

 Readings: Amos 6:1.4-7; Ps.146; 1Tim.6:11-16; Luke 16:19-31

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

DO NOT BE GUILTY OF THE SIN OF OMISSION BY NEGLECTING THE POOR LAZARUS AROUND YOU

There is no doubt that the things of this passing world is so beautiful and captivating and God has made it so. For whatever we have in this world is a blessing from God, who wishes to bless us so that through us others will be blessed. But this is not often the disposition of most of us. This is obvious when we reflect on the relationship between the rich and the poor in our society today. Where the poor are neglected and treated as if they are less humans. 

This ugly attitude needs to change when we recall the famous parable of the Lord Jesus in our Gospel passage today, about Lazarus the poor man and a rich man whose doorstep Lazarus often dwelled, hoping for the rich man to give him even the scraps of bread and food that fell from his table, but he was often neglected.

 Here, we heard how the poor Lazarus ended up in Paradise, in the presence of God in heaven with Abraham, enjoying the fullness of God’s inheritance and grace, no longer suffering the pains and torments that he had once endured while he was still alive in the world. Meanwhile, we heard how the rich man descended into the depths of hell, suffering in agony for eternity, without any hope of escape, and even when he begged Abraham to send Lazarus for help, it was impossible for that to happen. 

But what was the offense of this rich man? Is it because he was rich? No, his sin is that of omission, which is the sin of neglecting his neighbour Lazarus when he was obviously in the position to help and provide for him through the excess material goods and providence that God has blessed him with. A sin of omission as we know  is a sin committed by willingly not performing a certain action. For he neglected the commandments of God who has called us to love our neighbours and help the needy. Thus, he has to face the consequences of his sin of neglecting his neighbour who was in need of his help.

This rich man’s name is not known, so one can say that he represents anonymously all the wealthy persons in the societies who have failed to use their resources to help the poor. While the poor man as we heard has a name. He is a specific person for Jesus, who calls him very appropriately “Lazarus,” the Greek form of the Hebrew name “Eleazar,” which means “God has helped.” For Lazarus represents every person who is in need or who suffers unjustly.

It is this unjust action of the rich towards the poor that prophet Amos is addressing in our first reading today. He condemned the oppression of the poor, as well as the judicial system that denied them any hope of obtaining justice. So he had to threaten the rich with divine judgement when he said: Woe to those who  lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the midst of the stall. They shall be the first to go into exile.  

Hence, Amos in this passage addressed the issues of social injustice in the societies. Social injustice as we know refers to how unjust actions are being done in a society. This can occur in situations where the people are treated unfairly, out of greediness, selfishness, corruption, wickedness and discrimination at different level such as age, class, ethnicity, and orientation. These ugly attitudes have a way of separating us from God. So we have to ensure that we are not part of these ugly ways of life.

Little wonder, St Paul in our second reading today says: As a man dedicated to God, you must aim to be saintly and religious, filled with faith and love, patient and gentle. Fight the good fight of the faith and win for yourself the eternal life to which you were called when you made your profession and spoke up for the truth in front of many witnesses. We  must learn to stand up against any form of injustice, intimidation and oppression of anyone. For there are positive or negative, immediate or  later consequences for all our actions just like the case of Lazarus and the rich man.

Dear friends, the example of the parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus, calls our attention to the fact that we are going to be judged not based on what God has blessed us with but, what we have done with what God has given us. So it is important to remind ourselves today that we must also not be ignorant of the poor Lazaruses around us. Those who are less fortunate than we are, should not be neglected, especially those who work for us, our house helps, our poor security personnels, our poor neighbours, and those we encounter everyday in need of our help. 

Remember, no one is too poor that he has nothing to give, even the poor Lazarus offered his sores to dogs who came to lick it. And no one is so rich that he needs nothing, but, the sin of the rich man was the sin of omission, this should not be our lot as we ask God for grace not to neglect the poor Lazarus around us. For we are one in the love of Christ. If we die with him, we will rise up to life.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, you are the source of all that we have. As we listen to your words today, grant us we pray, the grace to be conscious of the poor around us and ensure we help them in their struggles. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Wishing you God’s favour and blessings. Happy Sunday.