So I guess I’ll have to do it while I’m here. Won’t be asked to do my share when I’m gone Here is one verse from When I’m Gone:Īnd I won’t breathe the bracing air when I’m goneĪnd I can’t even worry ‘bout my cares when I’m gone Sadly he struggled with alcoholism and mental illness. Ochs was a folk singer and a contemporary of Bob Dylan in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The parable reminded of a song by Phil Ochs called When I’m Gone. The parable about Lazarus and the rich man reminds us to consider what kind of legacy we will each leave, before our time on earth is done. So I must face the challenging question: How am I doing sharing the blessings God has gifted to me? How are you doing? How is the wealth in Canada shared? What I have, what we have – are gifts from God. The story of the rich man has implications for everyone. I need to pay attention to the message in Luke’s Gospel. When I think about how I live compared to many Canadians and for that matter, the vast majority of people in the world, I am wealthy. Maybe the message is not just about rich and powerful people. In death, Lazarus was a means to a self-serving end. In life, Lazarus was invisible to the rich man. He was not a person, a beloved child of God. The rich man failed to see the humanity in Lazarus. Remove someone’s name and give them a number strips the person of their humanity. One of the Canadians who was tortured, referred to the number on his cell door. There was a documentary on the CBC’s The National in September 2016 about three Canadians who were tortured in Syria with the complicity of officials at CSIS, the RCMP and the Government of Canada. When he was moved to Pollsmoor Prison in 1982, he was given the number 220/82. Nelson Mandela’s prison number on Robben Island from 1964 to 1982 was 466/64. Or like the children who attended residential school and were given either numbers or Western European names. They may be given a number like the millions of Jews who perished in the Holocaust, and those who survived the concentration camps. Generally, the poor, the marginalized, the persecuted are unnamed or have their names taken away from them. It is derived from the Hebrew El’azar meaning God is my help. The poor man has a name – he is called Lazarus. Abraham replies that no intervention on behalf of his brothers would make a difference. The rich man also wants his brothers, still living, to be warned, lest they suffer the same gruesome fate as him. He calls to Abraham seeking mercy and asks that he send Lazarus to him to dip his finger in water and cool the rich man’s tongue. If the rich man had known what awaited him, would it have made a difference?įrom Hades, the rich man looked up and saw Abraham with Lazarus by his side. He was blind to Lazarus’ suffering and to his need. While the rich man feasted every day, Lazarus lay at the rich man’s gate hoping for a few crumbs. The rich man, now being tormented in Hades, has forgotten how he ignored Lazarus. When Lazarus died, he was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. We then read that he was in Hades and suffering. Things did not end well for the rich man. The passage from Luke about the parable of Lazarus and the rich man is a familiar one. Phil Ochs at the Vancouver Gardens Arena in 1969.
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