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"WHERE
IS HOPE FOR OUR WORLD?" September 30, 2001
Text: Luke 16:19-31 I am confident that it is only a matter of time until the terrorists responsible for the horrors of September 11 are either brought to justice or justice is brought to them. But then, after we get through dealing with the terrorists of today, how do we prevent future terrorism? Where is hope for lasting peace? This is the question that was on my mind when I read once again the familiar parable about the rich man and Lazarus. I think the major thrust of this parable is clear. If we ignore people who are in need, we end up in hell. I am reminded of the story Jesus told in the 25th chapter of Matthew. In that story the difference between those who went to heaven and hell was whether or not the people had fed Christ when he was hungry given him water when he was thirsty, welcomed him when he was a stranger, clothed him when he was naked, and took care of him when he was sick. Those who ended up in hell and those who wound up in heaven asked similar questions. "When did we do this?" Or, "When did we fail to do this?" You remember Christ's response: "In as much as you did these things to the least of my brothers and sisters you did them to me, and when you failed to do these things to the least of my brothers and sisters you failed to do them to me." As they say in A.A. and Al-Anon, what makes the biggest difference for being whole is not the ability to talk the right talk but rather to walk the right walk. In the parable we read this morning, the rich man was not what we would call evil. There is no evidence he ever did anything we would call mean or cruel to the poor man. He simply ignored him. The rich man had become so accustomed to seeing the poor man at his gate, that the rich man no longer noticed him. The rich man was not intentionally mean. He was just a man who was so absorbed in himself and his family that he was insensitive to the needs of others -- even others right at his front door. The primary message of the parable is clear -- painfully, even frighteningly clear. Ignore the needs of others and we end up in a hell of a mess -- if not in hell itself. There are destructive and painful consequences that come - not just from doing the bad deeds we ought not to have done, but also from failing to do the good deeds we should have done. The rich man found himself trapped in hell not because of the evil he had intentionally done but because of the good he had failed to do because of his insensitivity that grew out of his self centeredness. In the wake of September 11, what, does this parable have to say about our hope for a lasting peace? Whatever else it says, it tells us that if our lives are to avoid being a living hell, then we need to open our eyes so that we can see the needs that are at our gates. For there to be anything approaching lasting peace, we as individuals and we as a nation must be concerned about more than "me" and "mine" and "us" and "ours." And it is going to take more than talk to make any significant difference. I do not know all that motivates persons to sacrifice their lives in order do what the terrorists did September 11. But I am confident deep seated hate is one of the major motivations. More often than not, strong anger and hate are directly related to feelings of fear, frustration and hopelessness. All animals are most vicious when they feel cornered or trapped and they believe they or their off spring, that is to say, their future, are in danger. Then, their fear turns to violent hatred toward what or whom they perceive threatens to destroy them and their future. Part of what makes human critters very afraid and vulnerable to fear-driven-hate is the fear that the values that give their lives meaning and purpose are threatened and in danger of being destroyed. The greater this fear, the more intense their hate. But how does fear-driven-hate reach such intensity persons willing sacrifice their lives in acts to terrorism? I am confident there are many factors involved. But among them, two of the largest factors have to do with issues related to rapid change and issues related to poverty. When people experience their world changing faster than they can comprehend, it is not unusual for them to become frightened because it appears to them that all that has given their lives and their culture meaning and value is about to be destroyed. This is a factor in all forms of angry fundamentalism -- be it the fear driven anger of Christian fundamentalists, or the fear driven anger of Jewish fundamentalists, or the fear driven anger of Muslim fundamentalists. A major factor in the fear behind the anger, is the fear that the values they hold dear are about to be destroyed. When this fear is compounded by poverty, especially poverty of opportunity, when people see their children hungry and they see little or no hope that conditions are going to improve, these people are vulnerable to despair. Then along come persons with twisted souls and psyches, persons who are bright and charismatic and have significant resources, who exploit all this fear and despair and preach that the only solution to these problems is to be found through tactics of terrorism. Rather than helping the frightened people discover the ways their ancient values are still relevant and important today, they exploit and expand their fears. Rather than working to help provide new ways to move people out of the problems of poverty, they focus on blaming others for these problems. And what gives ammunition to these recruiters of future terrorists is that all too often past injustices are a significant factor in causing the poverty. For there to be lasting peace, we must do more than get rid of those who are committed to terrorism today. We must join with others in eliminating the conditions that breed recruits for terrorism tomorrow. We must join with other nations not only work to bring the people who are terrorists to justice; we must also work with others to prevent people from becoming terrorists in the future. There is a statement in the First Letter Of John that I think is especially relevant. It is that perfect love casts out fear. The word for love used in this passage and throughout the New Testament is not a sentimental kind of love of warm feelings, idealistic wishes and wordy resolutions. It is a tough love that gets involved and goes to work. It is a love that struggles to understand the problems and then is committed to invest the time, energy and money that is needed to solve the problems. What will finally eliminate the kind of fear and hopelessness that make people vulnerable to being easily persuaded to become terrorists, is doing the deeds of compassion that will calm their fears and give them a sense of hope. My hunch is that many of the problems we are having today is because we and others have behaved much like the rich man in the parable we read. We have not been intentionally cruel or unjust. We have simply been focused on ourselves. And focused on ourselves, we have been insensitive to the needy at the gate. We have been so focused on what we like and enjoy we have been insensitive to the values and needs of others. And now these people are vulnerable to being recruited as terrorists by wealthy, brilliant people with distorted psyches. If in the 1930's the German people had, had a greater sense of hope and less of frustration, it is doubtful Hitler could ever have come to power. But the people were afraid and angry, and therefore were gullible for the cruel prejudices of the Nazis that fed on fear and led to self-righteousness violence. What would have been the history of the world if, after World War I, the people and nations that could have done something had responded by doing what they could to relieve the plight of the German people rather than merely seeking reparations for having started the war while at the same time ignoring their plight? I do not think Hitler would have had much success in recruiting Nazi's and Nazi sympathizers among the German people. The Scriptures tells us that perfect love will cast out fear and that good can overcome evil -- not the sentimental kind of love and good that is little more than well wishing and token efforts; but rather, people investing themselves in striving to serve the greatest good. What is needed is behavior that comes from a caring heart, a commitment to understand and a willingness to work at great lengths to find the best solutions. If this had happened among the German people after World War I, how different history would have been. I think there is a lesson to be learned from history. To be sure, there are many differences in the situations of the people who became willing to follow Hitler and the people who are the recruiting prospects for terrorism. There are differences, but there are also some profound similarities, and I am convinced that if we ignore these similarities we will find ourselves in a situation that may have all too much in common with the situation of the rich man in the parable. We will find ourselves in a hell of a mess with not much relief in sight. But this does not have to happen. We do not have to be as insensitive as the rich man in the parable. We have the ability to see the needs of others and we have the ability to act. We really can be the persons God intends us to be. We really can be the nation God intends us to be. But it will not happen automatically. We will have to decide. We will have to make choices. We will have to be willing to invest ourselves in striving to do the greatest good. Our hope for lasting peace is to be found in our willingness to invest ourselves as persons and as a nation in living the kind of love we see in Jesus. Our hope is doing as Jesus did and giving our lives in service to the greatest good. God, help us be the persons and the nation you see we can be. Amen. Pastoral Prayer: Let us thank God for the gifts and blessings we have received. We have come here with a variety of concerns and problems. Let us ask God for guidance and help. God, we pray that you give guidance to our President and all those who give him advice. And we also pray for the safe keeping of all the those men and women who are going in harms way in order to protect us. God, we long for there to be peace and for everyone to get along and for there to be no hatred, no violence, no killing. We long for no one to be hungry or abused or to suffer from injustice. We long for there to be laughter on the lips of all children and happiness in the hearts of all adults. And yet, O God, this is not the way the world is. The realities of sin and evil have found homes in the hearts of us humans and made us pawns of our fears and slaves of our selfishness. We have traded our humility for pride. We have exchanged our trust for suspicion. God, we humans have made a mess of things. God, we need more than forgiveness. We need transformation. We need conversion that is more than a momentary, emotional religious experience. All around this planet, we humans need to be converted from living as we do and relating to one another the way we do to living and relating to one another as you intend. God, the world needs changing. Let the change begin with us -- we the almost faithful, we the almost committed, we the well intentioned but poor performing followers of Christ. Capture our hearts and souls so that we can be set free from all that keeps us from living as you intend. Open the eyes of our souls, so that we can recognize your presence and discern what you want us to do. Fill us with your grace so that we will live as Jesus was teaching us to live when he taught us to pray: "Our Father ...."
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