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The Chasm of Hades
Or The Power of Grace?

The Very Reverend Sam Candler
The Cathedral of St. Philip
Atlanta, Georgia
30 September 2007
Proper 22C
Luke 16: 19-31

Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed…
Luke 16: 26

This past week, I listened to a lovely testimony from the man who started one of Atlanta’s most creative outreach efforts. That agency, City of Refuge, does might good works; and it is the beneficiary of our Cathedral Antiques Show this year.

His testimony begins this way. “You know, I grew up a pretty legalistic church. It was so rigid, that, by the time I was thirteen years old, I knew for sure that I was going to Hell. So, I just set about enjoying the ride. That was before I found a church of grace.”

“That was before I found a church of grace,” he said. At one time in my own life, I argued a lot with members of the legalistic, hell-driven church. I found it rather fun to lob bible verses over to them, and they found it fun to lob other bible verses back to me. We argued a lot about the nature of hell, and whether anyone would be forever doomed to eternal fire.

The people I argued with often quoted the parable that we have heard today, the story of the rich man and Lazarus. They used this story to prove the permanence of hell. “Between you and us,” says Abraham to the rich man in Hades, “a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.”

Then, the legalistic and rigid Christians would argue that unless someone said the right formula about Jesus Christ, that person would be forever doomed to the same fate as the rich man. Now, don’t get me wrong. I actually had nothing against the formula – I have certainly accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior—but I always found it odd how they used this parable.
This parable is not at all what those legalistic and rigid Christians thought it was about. This parable says nothing about one’s beliefs at all. This parable does not say that one’s eternal fortune, the possibility of heaven or hell, is tied up in how you state your faith in Jesus Christ.

In fact, this parable is about works. This parable is about how people behave. This parable implicitly says that the way we behave here on this earth makes a difference; the way we behave does affect what happens to us when we die. Most legalist and formula-driven Christians do not believe in works-righteousness at all. “No matter how well you treat others, no matter how many good works you do here on earth, “ they say, “unless you believe and say the right thing about Jesus Christ, you will not be saved.”

Well, they better stop using this parable to support their argument. This parable indicates the reverse. In fact, this parable resembles many old stories and fables from Egypt to India, about the reversals of fortune. The ones who suffer the most in this world might just be the ones who rejoice the most in the world to come. The ones who have everything they need in this world might just be the ones in deep need in the world to come. This “moral” sounds rather like the principle of karma in Hinduism.

In our parable from Luke, Jesus presents a rich man who is feasting sumptuously every day. [Some translations of the Bible call him Dives, which is a word derived from the Latin for “rich.” Other translations call the man Ninove, which sounds a lot like the Babylonian city of Ninevah.] A poor man, named Lazarus lay at the gate of the rich man, but apparently the rich man never pays him any attention.

When each of them die, it is the poor man who is carried away by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. I believe this is the image of that wonderful song that so many of our poor have sung: “Rocka my soul in the bosom of Abraham.” But the rich man is in Hades, in torment, in the agony of flames.

The rich man, who is now so poor and pitiful, pleas with Abraham. “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue.” [It has been pointed out by many that, even in agony, the rich man still treats Lazarus rather like a slave, like some one at Abraham’s beck and call, or at the rich man’s beck and call. Send Lazarus to help me! The word “Lazarus” means “he whom God helps.” Some people think that this story may hearken back to the story of Abraham and Eliezer, back in Genesis chapter fifteen: Lazarus is an abbreviation for “Eliezer.”]

Abraham’s response represents moral balance and “retribution-justice.”. “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.”

That is the line that sounds like karma. In fact, it sounds like more than karma. It is the story of moral equilibrium. Every society and culture seems to have stories which suggest that everything comes out even in the end. The good will arrive after the bad. What’s bad now will turn to good.
In many cultures, it is that moral balance that is fixed, permanent. It is that sense of justice and retribution that is fixed. People who act evil will get their reward. People who act good will get their reward. Even if they have to wait for the afterlife.

Maybe that is the chasm that is so great between Abraham and the rich man. The great chasm has been “fixed,” says Abraham. One cannot around it. One cannot get over it. One cannot get beneath it.

That’s the way the old spiritual sang about it: “Rocka my soul in the bosom of Abraham. So high, you can’t get over it. So low, you can’t get under it. So wide, you can’t get around it. Oh, rocka my soul.”

But the rich man persists in his pleading. “Well, if the chasm is so great that no one can cross between you and me, then send Lazarus to warn my brothers.” “No,” says Abraham,” they have Moses and the prophets.” Then, the rich man finally suggests, “Well, how about if someone rises from the dead?”  “No, says Father Abraham, neither will they be convinced if someone rises from the dead.”

This parable is about moral behavior. This parable is not meant to be a description of what Hades is like. This parable is about the various ways in which human culture have tried to shape ethical behavior.

With each of the three answers that Abraham gives to the rich man’s three requests, we get three different ways that humanity has tried to shape civilization for the good.

How do we get people to act right? That is the question human civilization asks.

And this simple-sounding parable reviews the entire range of how humanity has answered that question. How do we get people to act right? 1) One way is to remind folks of some principle of eternal balance. The folks who suffer the most in this life are those who receive glory in the next. And vice versa. You better help others in this life, or you will find yourself in Hades in the next life.

2) The second way is suggested by “Moses and the prophets,” which Abraham actually speaks. “Moses and the prophets,” obviously, refers to the Hebrew Law. The great Hebrew contribution to human ethical behavior is the Law itself. When one follows the Law, one learns righteousness and to do the good.

3) The third way is the way of miraculous sign, the way of the “mystery religions,” maybe, the way of the supernatural. Maybe folks will change their behavior toward the good “if someone were to rise from the dead.” That may actually refer to Jesus Christ, might it not? Maybe if someone were convinced that Jesus actually rose from the dead, that person might change their behavior for the good.

So, which of these three ways works? Which of these three realities actually gets humanity to do the good, to be merciful, to work for the good? Is it the principle of karma or moral retribution? Is it the law and the prophets? Is it the miracle of resurrection?

No. It’s none of them, is it?

Human sin is said to be only Christian doctrine that can be proved by empirical research. The data show it loud and clear. We do the wrong. Even when we try the hardest, we miss the mark. The chasm between our moral desire and our moral actions is too great. We cannot get across it. The chasm between good and evil is too enormous. The chasm between heaven and hell is too demanding.

Yet, folks do change their lives. Over and over again in our lives, we do change. There are people of enormous good will who actually do the right thing among us. What is it that actually changes people? One word is the answer.

Grace. It is grace that changes people. It is not a philosophy of moral balance; it is not law; it is not miracle. It is the experience of grace that truly changes people.

It is the experience that I once was lost, but now I’m found, that changes me. It is grace, amazing grace that is so unfathomable and so wide. It is grace that the old spiritual sings about: “so high, I can’t get over it, so low, I can’t under it, so wide, I can’t get around it. O rocka my soul.”  That is a description of grace, not a description of the chasm between heaven and hell.

Maybe the chasm is fixed, but God can cross it. The chasm between death and life, the chasm between evil and the good, is crossed by only one thing: the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is what the parables of Jesus, in the gospel of Luke, chapters fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen, return to time and time again. It is grace that trumps law, trumps retribution, trumps fairness, trumps division and chasm, every time.

And it is grace that inspires people. It is grace that truly moves people. It is grace that works for the good. It is grace that leads us into eternal life, in Jesus Christ our Lord.

AMEN.

The Very Reverend Samuel G. Candler
Dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip

Comments? Contact Dean Candler at: SCandler@stphilipscathedral.org

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