The Rich Man and Lazarus - Fr. Gregory - November 1, 2020

We often hear the message to take care of the poor, be merciful, compassionate and open our hearts to The Scriptures. In today’s Gospel lesson taken from Luke 18:19-31 we read the well-known parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus. In this parable Jesus reveals to us an idea of what the afterlife will be like. Father Gregory shares with us as Orthodox Christians our belief that what we do in this life will determine our place in the next. In this parable an irony is developed between a certain nameless rich man, who has all the comforts this world can offer and a beggar named Lazarus, who has nothing and only wants the crumbs that fall from the rich mans table. Both men die. Lazarus experiences paradise, while the rich man finds himself in anguish because he failed to notice Lazarus who laid at his gate daily and show him mercy. Saint Isaac the Syrian says that life is give to us for repentance and that we should not waste it in vain pursuits. As Orthodox Christians we should not count on our formal membership to save us, we should repent in this life, show mercy to others, open our hearts and act on the Word of God.