In today’s gospel parable of Lazarus and the rich man Jesus gives us a dramatic scene of contrasts – riches and poverty, heaven and hell, compassion and indifference, inclusion and exclusion, and an abrupt reversal of fortunes of the two central characters.

This gospel lesson is very challenging and a difficult one to comprehend, and one that many of us may find difficult to identify with. The scene that is portrayed of the beggar, Lazarus, covered with sores and incapacitated by poverty and abandonment, lying at the door of the rich man, is not a common one in first world countries such as ours, although they do exist to some extent, but it is very real and not at all uncommon in many third world countries.

For most of us this scene is difficult because we have grown up in a world that has provided well for most of our needs. We have enough to eat, we have a place to live and we have the support of family and friends. Our living and life is truly blessed – we are loved.

And what about the rich man, can we identify with him? We might think to ourselves, how can the rich man be so uncaring, so unfeeling? But to understand and discover the answer to that, maybe all we need is a little wealth, a little luxury, a little comfort zone, if you will. Once we become comfortable, cozy and settled on our couch, watching our TV, it becomes very easy to forget the cold weather outside, and those who might be shivering in it. The reality is that we don’t like drafts for they disturb our warmth, but the danger is that in shutting out the draft, we might be guilty at times of shutting out the people who live in the draft.

In other words, our comfort and luxury can have a tendency to make us forgetful of the poor, and sometimes to be insensitive to suffering. In this gospel we need to identify ourselves with the rich man if we are going to allow Jesus’ words to bring issues of justice home to us.

The real issue at hand, however, is not that of being rich or poor. Jesus never condemned people because of their status or ownership of goods and wealth. If we listen closely to the gospel story, Jesus is not saying that the rich man went to hell because of being rich, but because he didn’t see beyond his self-centered preoccupation with what seemed good to him. He was in a sense, spiritually nearsighted. He couldn’t and wouldn’t give even the smallest bit of attention to the needs of poor Lazarus lying on his doorstep. He was totally oblivious to him and his situation. It was as if he didn’t exist. The rich man was just totally absorbed in what he had, so that he could not notice the needs of those around him. That is the reason the rich man ended up in hell, forever.

There is a sign on the West Virginia Turnpike that says, "Driving while drowsy can put you to sleep – permanently." But in fact, however, drowsy, uncaring living can also put us to sleep – permanently. That kind of person, Jesus says, is separating himself from God until it becomes permanent, by digging a chasm between him and heaven that even the love of God cannot bridge.

Nearsightedness of the heart has been around since the beginning of the human race. It was for that reason that Cain killed his brother Abel, and it has continued down through the centuries, uninterrupted. It is obvious from our 1^st reading today that it was still a serious problem at the time of Amos the prophet. Foreseeing a great calamity for Israel, because of its idolatry and injustice, Amos, expressing great concern for the seriousness of the situation, said "woe to the complacent of Zion stretched comfortably on their couches, they will be the first to go into exile."

Here we are many, many centuries after Amos and then Jesus and nothing has changed dramatically. Nearsightedness of the heart is still a problem and it has created a culture of death in our country and in our world that rivals anything that occurred in the past and threatens to engulf our struggling world. It’s the underlying reason for war and corruption, famine and starvation, abortion and euthanasia, and the terrorist’s attacks of 9-11 on New York and Washington, and the list can go on and on.

President Bush in his address to the American people in the wake of the terrorists attacks of 9-11, said that even those countries who did not actually participate in the attacks but still harbored those responsible were to be considered equally liable for retribution. In other words, they are either with us or with them. The same is true for all of us because we have been called to open our eyes to the ills of the world and have been called to do whatever we can to transform society into a culture of life. We cannot live in quiet ignorance about what is going on in the world. We cannot sit comfortably on our couches and ignore those shivering in the cold outside. We are being cautioned and called as people of every race, nationality, ethnicity, and religion, to bring about that transformation, or "woe" to us all. That transformation depends on each of us broadening our vision so we see all persons – whoever and whatever their circumstances – as children of a common Father, entitled to life and the dignity befitting their place in the human family. Then and only then can we hope for all the killing to end and for a more humane and equitable sharing of the bounty of the earth.

Of course, the generous sharing of ourselves will definitely involve some pain but that should neither surprise nor discourage us, because real love always demands sacrifice. Jesus, himself, had to die on the cross in order to make a place for us at his Father’s table, and he made it very plain that there would be crosses to bear in his follower’s lives. In any event, by our embracing the cross, we will ultimately be more likely to see the Lazarus’ of the world more clearly than if we remain stretched comfortably on a couch.