God, Help! (34)
Lectionary, Year C, Proper 21
Christopher B. Harbin
Luke 16:19-31
On whom do we depend? Do we trust in ourselves, in others, in traditions, in God? Can others rely on us, or is God the only one to whom they can turn?
I love Jesus, but sometimes I have a bone to pick with him. I’d like him to have always spoken clearly on every aspect of the issues before him, painting a consistent picture on things like the afterlife and what we should expect. Then again, Jesus had this knack of addressing people where they were. His words were tailored for his particular audience. This narrative is one of those cases. We want to use it as a portrayal of the afterlife, but while it takes place mostly in the afterlife of the characters in question, it is a parable about lour responsibilities toward one another in this plane of existence.
The First Century Jews had a more developed understanding of the afterlife than what we see in some of the Hebrew Scriptures. They had accepted that one not only continued to exist in some manner beyond this earthly experience, there was some kind of separation between those who were faithful and those who were unfaithful in life. Jesus takes that concept at face value and does not attempt to clarify anything beyond what the tradition indicated. His point, after all, does not depend on giving us a vivid and definite description of the afterlife. He was only concerned with a few of details. There is an afterlife. There, we will embrace consequences from our living here. Those consequences have no reversal. We already have all the information we really need.
This parable belongs to a cycle of parables and teaching directed toward some the excesses of the Pharisees, of which Jesus was likely one. It falls into a smaller group of passages dealing with issues of the economic demands of righteousness and faith. After dealing with the parable of the unrighteous steward, Jesus responded to the scoffing of those who were in Luk ...
Lectionary, Year C, Proper 21
Christopher B. Harbin
Luke 16:19-31
On whom do we depend? Do we trust in ourselves, in others, in traditions, in God? Can others rely on us, or is God the only one to whom they can turn?
I love Jesus, but sometimes I have a bone to pick with him. I’d like him to have always spoken clearly on every aspect of the issues before him, painting a consistent picture on things like the afterlife and what we should expect. Then again, Jesus had this knack of addressing people where they were. His words were tailored for his particular audience. This narrative is one of those cases. We want to use it as a portrayal of the afterlife, but while it takes place mostly in the afterlife of the characters in question, it is a parable about lour responsibilities toward one another in this plane of existence.
The First Century Jews had a more developed understanding of the afterlife than what we see in some of the Hebrew Scriptures. They had accepted that one not only continued to exist in some manner beyond this earthly experience, there was some kind of separation between those who were faithful and those who were unfaithful in life. Jesus takes that concept at face value and does not attempt to clarify anything beyond what the tradition indicated. His point, after all, does not depend on giving us a vivid and definite description of the afterlife. He was only concerned with a few of details. There is an afterlife. There, we will embrace consequences from our living here. Those consequences have no reversal. We already have all the information we really need.
This parable belongs to a cycle of parables and teaching directed toward some the excesses of the Pharisees, of which Jesus was likely one. It falls into a smaller group of passages dealing with issues of the economic demands of righteousness and faith. After dealing with the parable of the unrighteous steward, Jesus responded to the scoffing of those who were in Luk ...
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