Richard Mallory

Chasm
by Steve Garnaas-Holmes

…at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus…
—Luke 16.20

It’s only a gate
but enough to hide,
to divide.
If he lets it
(how easily
he might not notice)
it can come between 
him and all life
(even Lazarus,
with Father Abraham,
is his brother)—
and that thin gate become 
a great chasm.
Only when 
our gates are open
can they become
the gates of heaven.

Dearly Beloved,

In this Sunday’s Gospel, a  familiar folk tale from Egypt and surrounding cultures features two figures. One lives, as Eugene Peterson opines “wasting his days in conspicuous consumption” while the other lives on the street, “covered with sores and dumped at the door step” of the rich guy. Then we learn that in the after life, the poor one is safely resting “in the bosom of Abraham” while the other is roasting in “Hades.” The Greek word for that place of extreme heat and fire jumps out in the text in that Greek culture is being invoked rather than Hebraic; hence, many scholars think Jesus was borrowing a folk tale and using it for his own purposes.

The one man is being soothed while the other is in agony. I go with the interpretation that posits all of this action in this life with the afterlife metaphor being used to make a point about life on this side of death. The “huge chasm” in the story is indicative of a divide created by the rich man who refused to see who was outside his front door, in agony, no less. Rich guy created the chasm.

A parallel is made to the Prodigal Son story. In that one, the alienated man “came to his senses” while the rich guy stayed put in his splendid isolation. He was oh so distracted by his wealth and all that it brought to his life. So much so, that he missed out on Life.  Sometimes money, power and  fame are just too dazzling to forego.

While one “comes to his senses,” the other, even in the afterlife, snaps his fingers, dictating to the one he refused to see, the demand to warn his  brothers of their fate unless they changed their minds. Rich guy is unable to relinquish the imagined superiority of his exalted status.

Today’s story is a warning. Beware the seduction of living in a closed cocoon.  It can make a chasm from the rest of life. It can go to one’s head with a kind of drunkenness and addiction to selfing with unending self congratulations. The story reminds us to see. Really see the needs that are right under our noses.  Dare to enter the messiness of life and reach out even to those who are covered with sores, both literal and figurative. The essence of Life will never be found in a closed off life.

—Richard