“At his gate there lay a poor man called Lazarus”. ‘Today’s Gospel’.

In a few weeks time the shops & shop windows will be full of all the scary things we associate with Halloween—skeletons, broomsticks, witches, masks …and the scarier the items the better.

Well, today Jesus tells us a parable about the rich man and the poor man – with the rich man ending up in a place of torment after he dies, with a great gulf fixed between rich and poor.

This parable is about the two sides of myself—the rich and poor parts which may be material, spiritual or intellectual. Inside the house the rich man feasted magnificently every day and was dressed in purple and fine linen. This represents the secure part of yourself, materially spiritually or intellectually. Now Lazarus, covered with sores is outside the gate, outside the house. This is the part of me which is open to Jesus’
invitation to eternal life—the poor part, the insecure part. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”.

One part is the side of death, the other the side of life .. and once again we see how Jesus came for the outsider, for the blind, the lame, the oppressed, for Lazarus covered with sores. Our God is not a scary God even though this parable might seem a bit scary
to some…. What do you think?
A.S.