We are beggars who need not beg.

Have you ever met your doppelgänger?  I am not talking about the mythological apparition that takes the form of a living person and is often the harbinger of bad news.  I am using the word doppelgänger the way people who run the big screen at Braves stadium use the phrase when they show pictures of fans who look like famous people.  It is amazing how many Braves fans resemble glamorous movie stars while fans from the other teams all seems to resemble the evil emperor from star wars. To most people a doppelgänger is a fancy word for a look-alike, a brother from another mother or a sister from another mister if you will.  I don’t know if I have ever met my true doppelgänger but there is a pastor in the WELS by the name of John Boggs that looks (and acts) a great deal like me or maybe I look (and act) a great deal like him.  Years ago, we both served at the same school, he as a tutor me as a recruiter, and many of the students and even some of the faculty would mix us up because we looked so much alike.  I don’t know if pastor Boggs is my doppelgänger but if he is researchers who study such things have determined that pastor Boggs and I have more in common than our rugged good looks and charming personalities.  According to researchers, true doppelgängers are also genetic look-a-likes on the inside.   It turns out people who look alike share an increased amount of DNA; they are doppelgängers on the inside.

In our gospel lesson for today you are going to be introduced to a person who, if not your doppelgänger, is a very close look-alike.  In Luke 16:19- 31 Jesus tells a story about two men who couldn’t be more different.  Jesus originally told this story to a group of Pharisees and the Holy Spirit has preserved it for us so that we might see ourselves more clearly. As we read and now re-read this story Jesus wants us to see ourselves in the story, to imagine ourselves as one of its characters, to ask ourselves, “which one of these two men am I most like?”. 

Now, we know how this story ends.  We know which one of these characters we want to be at the end of the story but for giggles let’s see who we most resemble at the beginning of the story.  We are introduced to the first character in verse 19.  Jesus says, “19 There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.”  The first character is simply identified as “a rich man”.  It seems his wealth is his most defining characteristic.  And the way Jesus describes him he seems to have a lot of it.  The linens he wore were not your standard fruit of the looms his linens were imported from Egypt and were sometimes referred to as “woven air”.  As if that were not lavish enough the man had his woven air linens dyed purple.  Purple dye was obtained from a species of Mediterranean mussel.  It was hard to come by which made it valuable which made it desirable to the nobility and the man in our story.  Purple linens imported from Egypt that felt like woven air were not occasional extravagancies for the man, Jesus tells us the man “lived in luxury every day”.

It is scary how closely we seem to resemble this man because we know how the story ends for him.  But there is no denying our similarities.  Personally, when I hear Jesus describe the rich man, I can’t help but think, I may not import my linens from Egypt, but I do have a handcrafted Italian tie in my closet.  I am sure if you look in your closet, you will see similar extravagances.  In many ways we resemble the Israelites Amos described in our first reading who lounged on their couches, ate choice meats, and drank bowlfuls of wine.  I think we tend to be more conservative than the people Amos was writing about, but still even if our lives are only half as extravagant as theirs I think we have to admit every single one of us in this room live in luxury every day.  As I said, it is scary how closely we resemble the rich man in this story.

But before we resign ourselves to be doppelgängers of the rich man let’s take another look at the other character in the story.  Jesus describes that man in verses 20-21, “20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.”  The second character unlike the first character is identified by name, I think that is significant and I want you to remember that when we get to the end of this story.  The name of the second character is Lazarus.  The name Lazarus means “God has helped”, but to the casual observer it sure didn’t look like God had done much to help Lazarus.  The NIV tells us Lazarus was “laid” at the rich man’s gate, but the Greek suggests he was dumped there.  Life was drastically different on this side of the rich man’s gate.  Instead of being covered in Egyptian linen, Lazarus was covered in sores.  There were no choice meats or bowlfuls of wine for Lazarus.  Jesus tells us, Lazarus spent his days “longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.”  Think about what Lazarus was longing for.  Lazarus longs to eat the stuff the rich man puts down his garbage disposal.  A few years ago we had a garbage disposal seize up.  We didn’t think anything of it, I figured when I had time I would take a look to see if it needed to be fixed or replaced.  But after three days the smell forced me into action.  I looked down the sink and saw a blockage.  I reached down and grabbed hold of it and the texture, the color, and the smell… let’s just say it is a good thing I don’t have a strong gag reflex.  The reason I tell you this disgusting story about the food that was lodged in my garbage disposal is because that is what Lazarus longed to eat.  Lazarus must have been all kinds of hungry if he longed to eat that.

I think we have heard enough to know that we in no way shape or form resemble Lazarus.  If I get a sore on my hand, I get it flushed out with saline, slathered with antibiotics, and covered with a sterile bandage.  I certainly don’t let my dirt eating dog lick it.  And I have been hungry in my life; there is poverty in my past, but I have never been so hungry that I longed to eat garbage disposal food.  I know some of you come from modest backgrounds and have experienced the pains of poverty but is there anyone here who can honestly say they identify with the beggar Lazarus!?!  It seems we have absolutely nothing in common with Lazarus, and that’s a problem, because again, we know how this story ends. 

The world of course doesn’t see a problem with this.  The world would have us believe that between the two men in this story we should want to identify with the rich man and be thankful we have nothing in common with a beggar like Lazarus.  The more time we spend in the world listening to the world the easier it is for us to start wanting to be more like the rich man.  But before we identify the rich man as our doppelgänger, we need to look inside him, not at his genetic code but at his soul.  Jesus gives us a peak into the rich man’s soul near the end of the story.  There we see a man who has no love for his fellow man; he has such a low opinion of Lazarus that he is willing to have Lazarus leave paradise so that he can have a moment of pleasure.  But even worse than that we see a man who has no love for the Lord God, he has such a low opinion of God’s Word that when it is suggested to him that the Word of God is the one thing that can save his loved ones from eternal damnation, the rich man says “no” and suggests that a haunting from Lazarus would be more effective.   

Externally the rich man appears to be our look alike.  But, because of the extraordinary efforts of the Holy Spirit, thankfully, internally we are nothing like this man.  But even though that leaves us with one option, it is difficult for us to identify with a beggar like Lazarus.  That is until we do what the rich man was unwilling to do, namely listen to the Word of God.  The reason why we come to church, stay for Sunday School, and read our bibles is because we need to hear what the Word of God has to say.  We need to hear those old familiar passages about the “wages of sin”[1].  We need to be reminded time and time again that “all”, including you and me, “have fallen short of the glory of God”[2].  We need to be warned and warned again that “there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death”[3].  We need to be regularly reminded that “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags”[4].  We need to be told and told again that on the inside, beneath all our fine linens; deep inside our souls, we are beggars.  In our sin we kneel before God’s gate with nothing to offer nothing to give; in our sin we kneel before God’s gate suffering from the sores of sin and longing for salvation.  Externally we seem to have nothing in common with Lazarus, but when the light of God’s Word exposes our souls, we discover that the beggar is our true doppelgänger.   

While it is not always enjoyable to be reminded that we are beggars, as we draw near the end of the story, we are relieved to be identified with a man like Lazarus.  In verse 22 Jesus tells us, “22 The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.”  Jesus tells us both men died.  Unlike Lazarus, the rich man was afforded a funeral and if it was as luxurious as he lived his life then it is possible his funeral was comparable to the elaborate and lavish ceremonies for Queen Elizabeth.  Lazarus on the other hand doesn’t seem to have a burial.  Surely the rich man’s family had his corpse dragged away from the family gate but we kind of get the impression Lazarus was just dumped in a ditch.  At this point it is not all that appealing to be identified with Lazarus, but this, as you know, is not the end of the story, in fact one could argue this end is the beginning of a much longer story.  For the rich man that much longer story is full of “23… torment” and “24… agony” as he finds himself separated from salvation by an un-breachable chasm.  Ironically, at the beginning of that much longer story it is not Lazarus but the rich man who is begging.

But since we have been reminded that we actually have more in common with the beggar let’s focus our attention on his much longer story.  As we begin the beggar’s much longer story, we discover he no longer needs to beg.  Everything that he needs, everything that he wants, everything that he longs for is given to him as a gift.  Jesus tells us when the beggar died the angels “carried him to Abraham’s side”.  The Greek actually says he was seated like a child on father Abraham’s lap.  Abraham was not only the father of the Jewish people, not only the fountain head from which the nation of Israel flowed, but he was the symbol of God’s promise to crush the serpent’s head.  From the lap of Abraham would come the Messiah who would save God’s people from sin.  As the beggar sat cradled in the symbol of salvation there is one more thing he was given.  Remember when I said the lack of name for the first character in this story was significant?    Considering how the story ended for that man, it is fitting that Jesus did not name him.  I can’t help but be reminded of the parables of the narrow door and foolish virgins where the owner of the house says to those who despised the Word of God “I don’t know you.”[5]   However, in contrast to the first character the second character is named.  He is known as one “whom God has helped”.  His name was known among the angels, was spoken by father Abraham, and was written in the book of life. 

It is at the end of Lazarus’ earthly story but the beginning of his much longer story that we are relieved to have the beggar be our doppelgänger.  Like the beggar in the story, when the time comes for the angels to greet us at the gate, there will be no reason for us to beg.  Everything that we need, everything that we want, all that we long for will be given to us.  The angels will carry us not the lap of one who symbolizes God’s promise to save but to the arms of the One Who with His death and resurrection fulfilled God’s promise and saved.  The angels will carry us not to the lap of Abraham but to the arms of Jesus and there in the arms of salvation itself we will discover that our names have been known among the angels, are spoken by the saints, and have been written in the book of life.

I don’t know if you have met or will ever meet your doppelgänger here on earth, but in heaven you will find you are surrounded by them; you will be surrounded by a bunch of beggars who need not beg.  Amen

[1] Romans 6:23

[2] Romans 3:23

[3] Proverbs 14:12 & 16:25

[4] Isaiah 64:6

[5] Matthew 25:12 & Luke 13:25, 27