In his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman describes the negative effects that the entertainment industry has had on the spheres of education, religion, and politics. Postman says that contemporary American politics may be described as "image politics." He writes: "It is a sobering thought to recall that there are no photographs of Abraham Lincoln smiling, that his wife was in all likelihood a psychopath, and that he was subject to fits of lengthy depression. He would hardly have been well-suited for image politics" (135). In other words, Abraham Lincoln would not have a shot at being elected president today in a culture that is so influenced by image and appearance.

Appearance is apt to fool us, too. Who appears to be the blessed man in today's Holy Gospel? Is it Lazarus, the beggar full of sores who lies as an outcast attended to only by the dogs who came to lick his open sores? We hardly see Lazarus as the model of the good life. He might be the object of our pity and even of our charity. But would you really consider him to be a man blessed by God? In fact, would you not conclude the very opposite? Would you not be led to believe that the fact that Lazarus is without health and wealth a sign that he is under God's disfavor and condemnation?

On the other hand, the rich man seems to embody the good life. He is well-dressed in his expensive purples and fine linens. Every meal for him is a feast. It seems that he lives without a worry in the world. He is secure and confident in himself. From all appearances it seems that he is a man blessed by God.

But appearances can be deceptive. What counts is what God sees. What counts is how these men stand coram Deo, before the face of God who searches the hearts and minds of all. Before Him nothing can be concealed. So death strips both Lazarus and the rich man of the outward wrappings that had covered their lives in this world.

For Lazarus death was a relief. He was relieved of the misery of his pain and suffering and was escorted by the angels to heaven. The former things of sickness and shame, of hunger and deprivation were no more. The sores were gone. Lazarus who had hungered is now satisfied. No more need he gather up crumbs from the rich man's table, for now He is given to feast from the bounty of Messiah's Table. He is given a place at the banquet of salvation with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now we see Lazarus has he really is, clothed with the righteousness of His Savior. Lazarus' life was not in vain. It was not wasted by poverty and disease. His poor life was redeemed. He now shines with a glory not his own, for he now stands in the presence of His God and Savior.

Even as death removes the covering of shame and suffering from the life of Lazarus, so also death peels back the thin veneer of prestige and fortune that the rich man had used to hide his spiritual corruption. Jesus says, "The rich man also died and was buried." A fancy funeral complete with eulogies that praised the rich man's many accomplishments and recounted his civic virtues cannot change the fact that this man died without faith in the one true God. "It is appointed man once to die and then face judgment," says the Book of Hebrews. This man who had lived without God, trusting instead in a god of his own making, now faces an eternity without God. This is hell.

Hell is not a popular topic. Even though our Lord mentions hell more often than he mentions heaven, many preachers today prefer never to talk of hell. We are told that hell is inhumane. And it is, for God never created hell for human beings, but for the devil and his angels. Yet human beings who insist on living without Christ Jesus will get the desire of their hearts. God will let them have their own way for all eternity. That's hell.

The rich man now experiences the torment and agony of such separation. C.S. Lewis says that the overriding attitude of those in hell is unending regret. They must for all eternity see God but have no access to Him. They must behold what could have been and now can never be. So our Lord pictures the rich man looking over that great divide, that unbridgeable chasm between hell and heaven. Even in hell the rich man would use Lazarus for his own purposes. He cries out to Abraham, "Send Lazarus over here with a drop of water to cool my tongue." But Lazarus cannot come. He is in paradise, forever separated from all that would cause him pain.

The rich man makes a second foolish request. He implores Abraham to let Lazarus go back to earth to warn the rich man's five brothers to repent before it is too late. Again, request denied. Listen to Abraham's answer: "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." In other words, they have the Scriptures that are read and preached each Sabbath in the synagogue. They already have the words of life. Let them heed the Scriptures and so believe in the promises of God.

But the rich man argues that the Scriptures are not enough. He reasons that if someone would return from the grave, then his hardened brothers would be convinced and believe. Such a phantom from beyond the door of death might shock the brothers and even arouse their curiosity and increase in them speculation about spiritual things, but the return of Lazarus would not create faith in the living God. Abraham rightly answers, "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead." Of course these words are in themselves prophetic, for the One who tells this parable is the Lord who was crucified for the sins of the world and on the third day He did rise from the dead. Yet His resurrection from the grave will convince no one who refuses to believe Moses and the prophets, that, the Scriptures. That is why after He was raised from the dead, our Lord took His disciples back to the Scriptures. As He walked with two disciples on the Emmaus Road on Easter evening, Luke reports that Jesus opened the Scriptures to them, showing them Moses and the prophets and how it was necessary that the Messiah suffer the humiliation of the cross and the third day be raised again.

So this parable of Jesus - this story of the rich man and Lazarus - calls us to hear the Word of God as it is spoken to us today. It is the Word alone that creates faith in Jesus Christ who was put to death for our sins and raised again to give us life. Ignore this Word and your life will be empty, no matter how rich and full it might appear to be on the outside. Remember that appearances can be deceiving. With this Word your life is full and complete, no matter how sick or poor or needy you might appear in the eyes of the world. Through faith in Jesus Christ we are heirs of heaven and in possession of the all the treasures of God's grace. Every time we come to the Lord's Supper we receive the pledge of that inheritance as we take into our own dying bodies the life-giving body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here we have the foretaste of that heavenly banquet at which Lazarus was made the Lord's guest. God grant us so to be numbered with poor Lazarus and with him receive the comfort that this world cannot give. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.