Beloved. In today’s Gospel we have the interesting account that Jesus gives of the rich man and Lazarus. It brings up many different themes. They both die and face the judgment. The beggar, named Lazarus, his soul goes to heaven; the rich man, his soul goes to hell. By no means does this mean that the beggar, Lazarus, got into heaven because he was poor; nor that the rich man was condemned to hell because he was rich—after all, Abraham, who is in heaven, was very wealthy.
We hear of the great torment of hell: In hell, where [the rich man] was in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus at his side. 24He called out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in misery in this flame.’ Here, in itself, is motivation enough to strive to avoid hell by repenting of sin and in faith grabbing hold of Jesus and His forgiveness. Notice, as well, Jesus simply speaks matter of fact on the existence of heaven and hell. They do exist. Although many today want to speak and believe only of heaven, there are both heaven and hell. There is eternal condemnation in hell with suffering beyond imagination.
In light of that, there is another theme this account brings up: there is no “second chance”. Now is the time of grace. If we blow it, if we keep turning away from our Lord and His call to us in the word, if we do not repent and turn to Jesus for forgiveness there’s no chance later on to do it. [The rich man] said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him to my father’s home, 28because I have five brothers—to warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29“Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them listen to them.’ 30“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31“Abraham replied to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
And also lurking in the background here is that perennial question/ problem that is always annoying people—the wicked prospering. In the Gospel, the rich man is described as living in the lap of luxury: There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day. But the problem is, he is not a “nice” rich man. Instead he is described as uncaring and unwilling to help the beggar, full of sores, who was literally at his front gate suffering, who would have been content with what fell from the rich man’s table. To be sure, the rich man may not have been an ax murderer—he may have been an outwardly decent person to his business contacts and people of similar social standing—but he still was obviously no true believer in the true God; He obviously was not looking forward to the coming Savior who would take away his sins; there was no true faith in God and love of Him in his heart as shown by his lack of any mercy and compassion. And it was precisely this man in whom there was no love of God and man—other than himself—that was prospering: There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.
Our text from St. Jeremiah is a wonderful commentary on the wicked prospering. It is part of a prayer he brings to the Lord as he complains about the wicked prospering. St. Jeremiah speaks to the Lord about His justice, about His behavior toward the wicked and the scorners. What brought on Jeremiah’s prayer of complaint? The Lord had revealed to him that the very people of Jeremiah’s hometown—the very people he grew up with, to whom he faithfully brought God’s word, whom he admonished in love to repent and to serve the Lord—these very people secretly tried to take St. Jeremiah’s life! Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive? You plant them, and they take root; they grow and produce fruit; you are near in their mouth and far from their heart.
As it was for the OT prophet, St. Jeremiah, so it is for us today—it is a stumbling block when we see the wicked prosper. And we—either in our prayers to the Lord or in our heart of hearts ask: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive? You plant them, and they take root; they grow and produce fruit; you are near in their mouth and far from their heart. The prophet describes the wicked this way: you are near in their mouth and far from their heart. The wicked include not just the obviously mean, nasty and dangerous, but also the hypocrites. They may put up a good front of outward holiness/ piety when they think it counts, you are near in their mouth, but that is all for show—there is no true faith in the heart and [you] far from their heart. Where there is no true, living faith in the heart—and like the rich man in today’s Gospel—it will show in a life not at all full of good works. Like Jesus often called the religious leaders of His day to account for their outward show of holiness even though they had no true faith in the heart and no works of love and mercy, so too Jeremiah here complains to the Lord and asks: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?
And this is a stumbling block for us as it was for St. Jeremiah—the very idea that the wicked prosper is absolutely incompatible with divine righteousness. How can a holy and just God seemingly reward the wicked? And not just reward them but also be the reason why they are prospering! Notice St. Jeremiah accuses God: You plant them, and they take root; they grow and produce fruit. The wicked are secure in their places; they are safe in their happiness; whatever they undertake is crowned with success. Why? God is prospering them! That innate sense of right and wrong God has placed in us, is seemingly thrown out the window by the very God who gave it to us. The good should be rewarded and blessed; the wicked should be punished and suffer. But is that what we see happening?
Of course we know that in the end, yes, the all the wicked, including those who now pretend to be good Christians—those for whom the Lord is near in their mouth and far from their heart–will receive their just reward: eternal condemnation in hell. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus at his side. But now—when it seems that from our perspective that divine justice is delayed, that we cannot understand/ agree with the way that the Lord works out His just ways—it seems God is not just. This is a true stumbling block for the Christian. St. Jeremiah certainly felt and experienced this as the success of the wicked undermined His preaching. After all, he was calling people to repent of their sins and to turn to the Lord, lest, if they remain impenitent and continued on in their sin the Lord would punish them by sending in the Babylonians to conquer them. But if the Lord was actually prospering the wicked— You plant them, and they take root; they grow and produce fruit –what motivation is there to repent? After all, the Lord is prospering me so He must be OK with me; I must not be all that bad—so why not continue on as I am?
Can’t we today say the same thing as St. Jeremiah? In our country things are going well enough. God must be OK with us/ me. We’re still doing all right even though we have homosexual so-called marriage, men who turn themselves into women and vice versa, couples living together outside of marriage, people doing anything for the almighty dollar, people despising the word and sacrament, etc. Since things are going all right, why change, why listen to the Church’s call to repent? Isn’t our message of repentance and faith being undermined as well?
The wicked prospering is a huge stumbling block to us. Of course, on the one hand it should be—as we said, it goes against our God given sense of right and wrong; but on the other hand, the very fact that we find the wicked prospering to be a huge stumbling block should be a call to us to repent. Because what are we saying when we stumble over the wicked prospering? –We are saying that we are really not all that bad; that we are better than that wicked person whom God is blessing. And what’s that? That’s the sin of self-righteousness. If we carry it out to its logical conclusion, we are denying the seriousness of our own sin as we look at the sin of the other. But what does Jesus tell us? [Mt. 7.3-5] And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eyes, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck out of your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye. We cannot but be bothered when the wicked prosper, but instead of letting Satan work it up in us into some sort of self-righteous indignation, let each of us instead recognize our own sin, repent of it, sorrow over it and recognize that I, too, am in much in need of God’s mercy and compassion as the wicked. All of us are equally sinners deserving God’s wrath but also equally objects of our Lord’s love, compassion and forgiveness in Jesus.
When it all comes down to it, even though, we may not fully and rightly understand it all and all the how’s and why’s because it is the way of God whose ways are far beyond our thinking and understanding, ultimately we see that the wicked prosper because God intends it for salvation—both of the wicked and of the godly. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive? You plant them, and they take root; they grow and produce fruit. St. Paul preaches in Athens [Ac 17.24-27]: [God] Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth…that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward Him and find Him. The point? God works with people where they are. For the earthly minded, where all they know is this life and the things of the earth—why can’t God bless them so that they begin to wonder and get pulled deeper into wondering about God and try to grope to find Him; why can’t God bless them so that they begin to see the emptiness and how unfulfilling earthly things are and so begin to grope to find more. What a marvelous opportunity we have as Christians to then share our faith with them—that there is something more, better, greater and truly fulfilling.
What great grace of God that He doesn’t just “zap” the wicked and destroy them, but rather that He is patient with them—even blessing them. He is giving them the greatest gift—the gift of a time of grace to turn away from sin and toward Him—toward forgiveness, peace and eternal life. God our Savior, writes St. Paul [1 Ti 2.4], desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. That’s why He’s patient and longsuffering, so that His goodness leads [us] to repentance [Rm 2.4]. When you see the wicked prospering, rejoice—see that God is giving them the time of grace to repent; that He wants to lead them to repentance.
And then take it a step further. Not only has God given them the time of grace and wants them to repent, He has also given you that same time of grace and offers you the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. And, dear Christian, if God gives the ungodly such great earthly gifts trying to lead them to repent, just think what great spiritual and heavenly gifts He gives us this very moment to enjoy. Seeing God prospering the wicked, take heart! How much more and better will be the gifts and blessings God gives in grace to His dear Christian both now and forever.
One other point—what does St. Jeremiah do when he sees the wicked prosper? He goes to the Lord in prayer and wrestles with Him: Righteous are you, O LORD, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. In our times of doubt we do well to in faith offer up the spiritual incense of our prayers. Here faith is exercised and emboldened as we go to the Lord with our worries and seek His answer in His holy word.
Yes, the wicked prospering is a stumbling block but God in grace intends it for salvation. INJ Amen