[AI translation] In explaining the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, I have given this second sermon the title, "A Ruined Life!" There are a lot of spoiled lives! Either by a marriage gone wrong, or by a wrong career choice, or by some old sin or omission. At some point you've fallen down and now you can't get back up. At some point in his life, he has derailed and now he can't get back on track. Suffering the consequences of a lifetime of wrong choices, bearing the cross in silence or in rebellion. He knows that he has made a mistake in his life, perhaps even where he made a mistake, but there is nothing he can do about it. No! It is not such a ruined life that we are talking about now. There are also ruined lives of which one does not even know how badly one has gone wrong, which do not seem ruined at the moment, and which will only be revealed in eternity.Apparently, by earthly standards, it was a very good life. Jesus says of him that he was rich, dressed in purple and fine linen, and reveled in his daily pleasures. He had money in abundance, no need to be frugal, an embarrassment of means, the best clothes, entertainment, cars, travel, comfort, a splendid home, cheerful company, all the earthly good things that make life beautiful, cheerful, varied. It was the life most people dream of. The modern ideal of life that many envy, that many say wistfully: how good for him, what a lucky fellow, how happy he must be!... He must have had everything! He was respected, adored. His influence must have been far-reaching, he must have been widely known and respected. What a good life! - No, it's not! A life ruined! Why?
In this very description, 'Once upon a time there was a rich man...', it is expressed that something is wrong. No! - But it is strange, nevertheless, if that is the only thing that can be said about a man, the only thing that can be said to describe him, to sum up his whole being: he was rich! If we were to write an obituary of a deceased friend or relative, we would try to describe him in a few short words, such as: 'He was a devoted and sacrificial father to his children', 'A faithful friend', 'A socially-minded leader', 'A devoted and faithful member of the church', 'A devoted and faithful member of the church', etc. But think about it, you can't say anything else about someone after they've died, except that they were rich! That is all that is left of him in the memory of his fellow men. Obviously, that's all he himself was looking for, that's all he was striving for, that's all he was all about. Not much! This in itself reveals the spiritual emptiness of this man, his inner emptiness.
He was someone who, had he been deprived of this habitual way of life, would have had nothing left of him. He had a terrible need for well-being, because only through it could his person mean anything. Otherwise, he would be empty, meaningless, meaningless, someone whose most artistic enemy is death, because it means an eternal farewell to everything that has inflated the whole meaningless life to the point of making him seem somebody. He who has no other ideals in earthly life than to earn as much money as possible, or to have as much fun as possible, or to be as fashionable as possible, or to enjoy earthly pleasures as carefree as possible: the more he can realize for himself, the more he will miss his whole life, for he who finds all the value of life only in earthly things will lose everything in death, along with his earthly life! This is the parable-rich here of the practical materialist type. The practical materialist is the man whose all ideals, all ideals are only materialistic, tangible values: money, clothes, love, cars, travel, sport, pleasure, enjoyment, stomach, blood, company, power, authority, technology - all of which, taken in themselves, can be good, can be necessary, but as the sole aim of life: a fraud! Self-deception! Imagine: if you knew that you had only one hour to live, what would be important to you? The car, the money, the lottery jackpot? Or something else? Maybe how you will stand before God in an hour? Yes, but haven't you thought about that?!
There is another character in the story: Lazarus. His name means: God is my help. He had nothing in this life but God. But that one accompanied him beyond the grave and never left him. And the rich man had all that life can give a man. And he lost everything! And now, in terrible loneliness, there on the other side, he can ponder where he has ruined his life? Because that he had gone wrong, fatally, irredeemably: that was revealed at the end. The last act of life always takes place in eternity, where God himself has the last word. However enviable this life may have been, it was a life fatally flawed.
If we could really see into his soul, I would even dare to say that it was an unhappy life. For let us not think that if a man has everything, if he can afford anything his eyes desire, he is happy! Our souls cannot be satisfied by eating and drinking, by pleasures, by money, by bank deposits! It needs something else! Do you know what they told me in the West, where it is well known that in some places there is almost too much prosperity? They told me word for word: "Money does not make us happy! We are rich and you are happier. Do you know that most suicides come from the rich world? I heard a case there. A millionaire boy, he had everything, he was 25 years old, he was driving a car that you don't see very often here, and one day - he shot himself! When the journalists asked the parents the cause of death, all they said was: Lebensatt! Bored! He was numb with life. What a deception to believe that if you can have all your wishes fulfilled, you are happy and contented! - It would be good to see into the soul of this biblical rich man, what lies behind his wealth, his comfort? A subconscious dread of judgment! Fear of facing himself, his future, his death. This description of "rejoicing every day", do you know what it means? "Hide me from intoxication, entertainment, ecstasy, from myself, from the emptiness within! He can't stand silence, because in it you would meet yourself, and that's unbearable! Because silence would show him how orphaned, how miserable, how unhappy! Every day he is full of joy - he flees!
I can imagine the funeral of this rich man: a splendid, grand funeral, as is customary for such distinguished men. In solemn eulogies, the merits of the deceased are extolled, and when he himself sees and hears all this from hell, he would like to cry out, "No, I have no merits! I shall torment him in this flame! - But no one hears. Another speech follows: the orator tells what a great man the deceased was, what a wise, cheerful, good friend, a great artist. Oh, if they only knew the truth!" he would like to interject from hell. You can't imagine how I have ruined my life, I can only see it now, now that I am tormented here in these flames! The last words are spoken at the funeral: rest in peace! Perhaps many souls would be as pained to hear the many good and beautiful things that are said at his funeral, and would protest against them if they could. Yes, for he judges his own life by a different standard beyond than he does here. O! Let us beware, brothers and sisters, lest we, too, be forced to face the irredeemable reality that we have ruined our lives, ruined them fatally!
Finally, let me also state that the rich man in the story was not a believer. He may have gone to church, he may have given donations to the church, he may even have prayed every day, but I have to say that he was not a man of faith! How can you see that?It was not because he was rich, it was not because he was rich that he was tormented, any more than it was his poverty that brought Lazarus to heaven. But because he did not allow God to have a say in his riches. If he had truly had a relationship with God, it would have been impossible for someone to lie poor and abandoned at his door!
It is good to be able to enjoy life and to enjoy the gifts of life on earth, but the trouble is that right outside his comfortable, happy home there is human misery, and he cannot see it! He doesn't care! So his sin is not that he is rich, but that he is so selfishly rich, rich only for himself. That is his sin! The blindness that sees nothing but always the Self! The desires, the needs, the wants of the self! There is nothing more abominable in the sight of God than when a man lives so much for himself, when he thinks only of himself, when he thinks only of himself, when he has only himself to gain from the blessings given to him. Hence it is that he who would keep his life, loses it! It is the greatest waste to save our goods so that others may not have them. It is a waste of life itself. This is the worldly aspect of wasted salvation in the hereafter!
Do you see why I said that this rich man is not a believer? He has never met God! Because he never met Lazarus! Jesus did say, "If you have done it to one of my most miserable brethren, you have done it to me" - So he who does not see Lazarus in his misery does not see Jesus. He who passes by a Lazarus, passes by God. Whoever does not open the door of his heart and his dwelling before a Lazarus, the other door, the one that leads to the kingdom of God, will not open to him either! Only with Lazarus can you truly go to God!
And everyone has such a Lazarus! Your Lazarus may be your own husband or wife, who is suffering beside you because you have never really seen what she lacks. Maybe you have a Lazarus among your children who is struggling with his problems alone. Maybe it's your neighbour, in the same house, on the same street, whom you say hello to every day, but whom you've never noticed in the way he or she would want you to. Maybe it's your co-worker, with whom you work without having any idea of the worries, the burdens, the sins that weigh on his soul - in any case, it's someone who is your Lazarus, who lacks something that you have. You may have talent and he may be talentless. You have nice, good friends, and he's alone on the road of life. You may have good health and he may be sick, you may have faith and pray, but he is separated from God and ignorant of the riches of the gospel! You may be surrounded by much love and appreciation, and no one thinks of you! Have you ever seen his loneliness, his helplessness, his weakness, his inhibitions, his sorrow, his unbelief, his sadness? This is your Lazarus! There, next to him, with him, you will meet Jesus! So think about who your Lazarus is! - I'm not asking you! Jesus is asking! And not to annoy you, but to save you! For He Himself wants to meet you in the person of that Lazarus, and He wants to meet you in order to draw you into the love of God which flows to rich and poor alike. Without this encounter, all will be fatally spoiled. Even a life so well lived! Is this not where you have ruined your life?
To conclude, just one more thought: our Word speaks later on of the gap that exists only there in the afterlife, between the saved and the damned. A great intervening gap, so let me say: abyss, abyss! Such an unbridgeable gulf separates the rich from Lazarus. But this gulf did not start there, it has become permanent there. It arose here, on Earth. It is because of this gulf between the eternal rich and the eternal Lazarus that there is so much suffering on Earth! - But! - The same gulf that was already unbridgeable in eternity can still be bridged here! And it is already bridged! For Jesus, Who bridged the far greater gulf between God and man, bridges the distance between man and man. The cross of Jesus has not only depth and height, but also width and length. And these two dimensions, vertical and horizontal, are inseparable. This is what makes up the cross. To whom God became Father in Jesus, Lazarus became brother with him! So seek God before it's too late! - So get right with God! So let us pray now.
Amen
Date: 19 March 1967 Evangelization