First Sunday after Trinity AD 2024
In the book of Proverbs there is a prayer: „Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny Thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.“
The first part of this prayer reminds us that we should not live in a lie; in a lie, which consists not only of deceiving others or ourselves, but also of allowing our lives to be shaped and directed by what is really empty and worthless. Of course, someone who lives a completely empty life is primarily deceiving himself. But he is also a grave disappointment to God, who wants our life to be full and to reflect the glory and love of our Creator.
The second part of this prayer talks about wealth and poverty, both of which can become a trap for us. Poverty can become an excuse to break the law, wealth can make one arrogant and forget God. But in fact, the opposite is also true: a rich person can also desire more and more riches and be ready for all kinds of immoral or even criminal acts for the sake of it, not to mention that he can have a bad attitude towards those who have been less fortunate than him. And a poor person can also become proud, feel bitter towards the whole world and refuse the helping hand offered to him.
In today’s Gospel we have before us two men: one very rich and the other very poor, one wicked and the other godly. The rich man will not go to hell because he is rich, but because in his wealth he has forgotten God who has blessed him with a good life and that it is his duty to see and help those who have not had it so well in life than him. Poor Lazarus does not go to paradise because he is poor, but because even in his poverty he was good to others – even if his only companions were dogs that came and licked his sores.
Whether in riches or in poverty or in between, the only thing that really matters is living in truth and honoring God with our whole life. It is not God who needs it, but we ourselves, because only in this way will our empty lives become full and not end in death, but last forever in the glory of God.