Homily Three on the Fifth Sunday of Luke (St. John of Kronstadt)

 

Homily Three on the Fifth Sunday of Luke  
(22nd Sunday After Pentecost)

On the Rich Man and Lazarus

By St. John of Kronstadt

The Gospel reading for today, on the one hand, reproves and admonishes the luxurious, pampered, arrogant, and hard-hearted rich, who feast "sumptuously every day" and give no thought to pleasing God, to the true nourishment and true, unceasing, heavenly joy of the spirit, or to showing mercy to the poor. On the other hand, it pours heavenly consolation into the souls of the poor wretches of this world, who are despised by their wealthy fellow men, who lose themselves in their riches and pleasures. The Lord Jesus Christ, every word of Whom is truth, depicts the fate after death, the eternal and unchanging destiny of both: the unbearable torment of such rich men in the flames of Gehenna, and the consolation of the poor, such as Lazarus, in the bosom of Abraham, in the dwellings of the righteous. He recounts the rich man's plea to Abraham and Lazarus for help, and the decisive refusal to grant him even what appears to be the most insignificant assistance. He speaks of the impassable chasm between hell and heaven, between the place of torment for sinners and the place of blessedness for the righteous. Then He speaks of the rich man's second request to Abraham, asking him to send Lazarus to the house of his father to bear witness to his five brothers, who, like him, live in luxury, idleness, and merriment, concerning the existence after death of terrible torments for sinners. He also relates the second refusal to grant this request, as being unfounded and unreasonable.

Let us therefore draw every lesson for our lives from today's Gospel. Let us condemn the vanity and folly of our lives, our love of pleasure, our greed, our pride, our ingratitude toward God, and our hard-heartedness toward our neighbors. In our own time, more than ever before, the passion for elaborate and luxurious clothing, and for a life of revelry every day, has grown stronger. Fashions turn the heads of many young women, and women, as well as of many effeminate men, occupy their entire souls and leave them no room to think about the one thing needful: the salvation of the soul from sins and passions, from the fire of Gehenna; about moving the righteous Judge to mercy through tears of repentance, He who "will judge the world in righteousness" (Psalm 9:9); about acquiring faith in the Lord and exchanging a pagan way of life for a Christian one, in accordance with the Gospel.

The passion for bodily pleasures, especially drunken revelry in taverns, theatrical entertainments, and spectacles, likewise prevails today among those who call themselves Christians. Drunken people are often seen at almost every turn. Theaters are filled with idle spectators who love to pass their time lightly, amusing themselves, even on Sundays and feast days, which ought to be devoted entirely to reflecting upon the greatest works of divine Providence concerning us and giving thanks to the Lord for them. My God! How great are our transgressions! We neglect to please You, our Creator, Savior, and Judge, and to fulfill Your saving commandments, in which our temporal and eternal life and well-being are found. We neglect the salvation of our souls, for which nothing is more precious, and for which You descended from heaven, suffered, died, and rose again. And whom do we seek to please? The flesh and the devil—the flesh, which is alive today but may tomorrow be dead, cold, motionless, and foul-smelling.

We spare nothing for the pleasures of the flesh, yet for our brethren—for the poor—we begrudge even a few kopecks. But, brethren, "God is patient to the end, but punishes without end." Neither shall we escape the judgment of the fire of Gehenna if we do not abandon our revelry, our drunkenness, and our passion for dressing elaborately, and take care to satisfy the hunger of our souls—not a hunger for bread or a thirst for water, but a hunger for the peace of God, for holiness, for the righteousness of God, and for the fulfillment of Christ's commandments.

Behold, today's Gospel announces in advance the fate awaiting all revelers after death: they will be in flames, in torments, in terrible torments, without any hope that these will ever end. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear and hasten to amend his ways, for death is near to everyone, and with it comes judgment; for "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).

But what do I hear from these revelers? Very many of them do not believe that such terrible torments exist after death, and they think that all their misdeeds will pass without consequence, as though nothing awaits them after death. Behold, the rich man mentioned in the Gospel, who was cast into the fire of Gehenna after his death, asks Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers to convince them that terrible torment awaits all unrepentant sinners after death. This means that they, like him, had lived carelessly, in part because they did not believe in the just recompense awaiting everyone after death.

No, my friends, do not deceive yourselves. God is faithful to His threats and promises; never has there been falsehood in the words of the Lord. The multitude of His holy words have been fulfilled exactly, and the rest will also be fulfilled. It is impossible that the Lord should fail to reward those who earnestly fulfill His commandments—for example, the commandments concerning patience, self-control, meekness, humility, purity, and chastity—and fail to punish those who fearlessly oppose Him, continually defiling the image of God within themselves through intemperance, impurity of the flesh, excessive greed, arrogance, and other passions.

The fire of Gehenna is prepared. "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Matthew 3:10). And who is this unfruitful tree? The unrepentant sinner who lives in sin. And this fire is not our earthly fire, which is weak, but the fire of Gehenna, a thousand times more terrible; for everything there far surpasses everything here. Compared with the fire of Gehenna, the fire of this world is but a shadow.

You will say: This is terrible. Yes, it is terrible. It was from precisely such a terrible fire, from precisely such terrible torment, that the Son of God came to save us. And what terrible sufferings did our salvation cost Him, the sinless and holy God-man! Yet even after this, we dare to live carelessly—and even to disbelieve that the fire of Gehenna exists. What, then, shall we believe after this?

My brethren! Let us abandon intemperance and luxury, and our carelessness concerning our souls, souls that are beyond price. Let us despise temporal pleasures, which vanish like a dream, yet plunge us into eternal torment if we do not amend our ways. For the remaining time of our lives, let us live in repentance, self-control, and blessed labors. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.