Proper 21 – Year C
- charleseverson
- Sep 28, 2025
- 4 min read
1 Tim. 6:6-19, Luke 16:19-31 The Rev’d Charles Everson Church of the Atonement September 28, 2025
Throughout its over 2,000 year history, the Church has often been very
concerned about how its members behave in the bedroom. That’s an
understatement, of course. Far more often, in the Scriptures anyway, do
we hear concern about how Christians should approach their relationship
with material possessions.
“Money is the root of all evil”. Sounds like what we heard in our second
reading today, right? Not quite. “The love of money is the root of all
evil?” Still not right. The text actually says, “For the love of money
is a root of all kinds of evil.” There are plenty of roots of evil out
there, and it isn’t money itself that is problematic. Evils abound from
loving money. [1] Paul is urging Timothy to be content, to pursue
godliness, and beware of things that may stand in the way of that goal,
whether it be money or sex or something else.
While 1 Timothy 6:10 is perhaps one of the most misquoted passages of
scripture, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus is misrepresented
frequently as well. It is often said that the rich man was the villain
in this story simply for being rich. This isn’t actually true.
In this story, the rich man dresses and feasts lavishly while a poor
hungry man is suffering horribly at the gate of his home. Lazarus, the
poor man, is sick and hungry and hopes to catch scraps of food fallen
from the rich man’s table. Both men die as we all do, no matter our
station in life. As St. Paul said, “we brought nothing into the world,
so that we can take nothing out of it.”[2] The poor man died and was
carried away by the angels to be with Abraham in heaven. The rich man
also died and was buried, unlike the poor man, as he had the means to
pay for a proper burial. The rich man is damned, apparently for letting
Lazarus starve.
Neither of these passages is saying that being rich means you’ll go to
hell. In fact, in the epistle reading this is explicit. Paul says, “As
for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be
haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather
on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They
are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share,
thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the
future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life."
One can approach the parable of Lazarus and the rich man in a number of
ways. When there are two competing characters in a biblical story like
this, I tend to ask myself which one I identify with the most. That
said, I don’t have to give you pages of statistics to back up the claim
that the United States is the wealthiest country on the planet. And
within our own borders, the top 1 percent of Americans now hold 41% all
wealth, up from 23% in 1989. And we know what this disparity leads to.
It leads to neighborhoods where children go hungry while luxury
high-rises stand half-empty. It leads to predatory lending, housing
insecurity, and entire families one medical bill away from disaster.
Paul’s call to “do good, be generous, and ready to share” isn’t just
personal — it’s communal. It applies to how we vote, how we advocate,
how we shape a world where Lazarus isn’t left to die at the gate.
This call to generosity is true for our civic lives as well as our lives
here at Atonement. Our Stewardship Guild is hard at work, and if you
haven’t already, you’ll be receiving stewardship materials in the mail
early this week. Mother Joy is serving on the guild this year, and she’s
said to us several times (I’m paraphrasing), “Stewardship isn’t about
maintaining the building, paying staff salaries, and keeping the lights
on; it’s a spiritual discipline that is important for every Christian.”
Said another way, we’re all called to be good stewards of the money and
wealth with which we’ve been entrusted. All of us who have followed
Christ through the waters of baptism are called to do good, to be
generous, so that we may take hold of the life that really is life. A
life that has its hopes set on God rather than the uncertainty of
riches.
Of course it’s easy for me to say this. I’m married, we both have good
jobs, our housing is provided, and we don’t have kids. In terms of
dollar amount, and proportion of income, being generous looks different
for those having a hard time making ends meet than it does for the top
1%. But what isn’t different is that we’re all called to be generous,
ready to share, thus storing up the treasure of a good foundation for
the future, so that we may take hold of the life that really is life.
It is too late for the rich man, and there appears to be no hope for the
rest of his family. But what about us? Life is short. We will only have
so many opportunities to do good, to be rich in good works, generous,
and ready to share. It is not too late for us: Not too late to pay
attention to the needs around us. Not too late to share what we have to
help others flourish. Not too late to challenge business practices and
economic systems that allow a few to enjoy massive wealth while others
experience unrelieved, crushing poverty. It isn’t too late for us. The
final chapter of this parable is unwritten. It is written, instead, in
our choices. Will we set our hopes on the uncertainty of riches, or on
God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment? Will we do
good, be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, so that we
may take hold of the life that really is life?[3]
[2] 1 Timothy 6:7
[3] The structure of this paragraph, and much of its content, comes from
here:
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