One of the most striking features of St. Luke’s gospel is the constantly repeated theme of reversal. People who were on the outside of the community are now inside. People who were powerful in their life are now powerless. People who were discounted by society or treated as being disposable, are to be seen, once the Kingdom dawns, as the apple of God’s eye.

Today’s parable is yet another example of this fundamental Lukan theme. Lazarus the beggar is invisible to the wealthy and powerful. Only the dogs, symbols of his status as an unclean and outsider person, can see him. In the parable, it’s Lazarus who, after he dies, is immediately taken to heaven. The Rich Man goes to immediately to his reward as well, with the result that their positions in this life are totally reversed in the real world.

But notice the way Jesus tells the story, only Lazarus is given a name. The Rich Man and his friends are anonymous. I find it somewhat amusing that this parable is often called the Parable of Lazarus and Dives (rather than the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.) Dives is the latin word for “a rich man” but in intervening centuries it has been used as the name of the character of the Rich Man. (I suspect that is so that he had a name the same way that Lazarus did – which seems to me to be a sign of our own discomfort with the way Jesus tells the story to us…

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In a very real way, by virtue of our baptism and our relationship to Jesus and to each other in the Church, you and I have been given names – even though we don’t deserve them by virtue of how we live our lives.

In other words, we are no longer the brothers of the rich man, we are now become the brothers of Lazarus.

We are siblings to Lazarus. But we are not yet in heaven. We don’t have to be sent back to warn others. We have the chance to do what our other brother, the rich man asked, on behalf of Lazarus our brother, who cannot.

So what shall we do to warn others?

You can view the video directly at this link.