In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
One word in Greek for “person” is “πρόσωπον” (prosopon) which originally meant “face.” Personhood can be thought, therefore, as “how I appear, how I relate, to others.” Since, unless we are looking at a photo or in a mirror, our “face,” our “person” is not seen by ourselves but by others.
The rich man, in today’s Gospel reading, refuses to relate to Lazarus at his gate, refuses to see his personhood. But in refusing to place himself before another he refuses his own person—notice throughout this narrative he has no name, referred to only as “the rich man,” precisely because he has given up his personhood, given up his own worth, given up his own dignity: possessing everything he has nothing. His sin was not that he was rich, it was that he refused to serve others. As the Great Teacher of the Church, St John Chrysostom, tells us,
The rich exist for the sake of the poor. The poor exist for the salvation of the rich.
Not that it is “holy to be poor,” but that we must serve the other so that neither poverty nor riches in themselves are a barrier to reach Christ.
And in torment and in anguish in Hades, the rich man looks up and sees Abraham and Lazarus together—he recognises both but speaks to the one whom he considers his equal: even in death, even in suffering, the rich man refuses to recognise Lazarus. “Father Abraham,” he cries out,
have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.
Lazarus, according to the rich man, is there to serve him: in life to be the counterpoint to his opulent lifestyle and in death to cool his tongue. “Son,” replies Abraham,
remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.
possessing everything I have nothing.
And I must consider myself and my life. I have been dressed in the purple and fine linen of baptism, I feast sumptuously not on the bread which passes away but on the Bread of Life Himself, while others are in want of even a portion of what I have they lie with sores in utter poverty. And I say to myself, “they can enter if only they choose,” while I remain within and in comfort, “they just need to come to knowledge of God,” while I refuse to introduce them to Him, “they, too, can be faithful to the Resurrection,” while by my actions I deny it. I am the rich man, hidden and without a face, without personhood, without Christ: possessing everything I have nothing.
And so I must change, I must “present [myself] to God as being alive from the dead, and [my] members as instruments of righteousness to God,” (Romans 6:13) I must repent. And in my repentance I must turn to God through turning towards those who need my service, who are in need of an encounter with Christ through my actions, who are in need of the Gospel. And in turning towards them—whether I receive blessings or curses in return, gratitude or ridicule—I reveal my face, I reclaim my personhood, I become truly Christian.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our feasting is given to us not as an end in itself but that we may go out and invite others in, that we might serve them and honour them as worthy of love, that we make God manifest in this world. And having gone out, having brought even a tiny portion of the Kingdom of God into this world, we will show ourselves as persons, children of the Resurrection and heirs of eternal Life.
That we may offer true glory and honour to our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who came to serve rather than be served and offer Himself that we may have Life, together with his unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed for ever, knows that I do not lie. At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped his hands. I must boast; there is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise –whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows — and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. Though if I wish to boast, I shall not be a fool, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
— Second Corinthians 11:31–33, 12:1–9
The Lord said, “There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses, and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to them, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.’
— Luke 16:19–31