Trading Places, a sermon

A Sermon on Trading Places... delivered September 30, 2007

Luke 16:19-31
'There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames." But Abraham said, "Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us." He said, "Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment." Abraham replied, "They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them." He said, "No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent." He said to him, "If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." '

Trading places. We all have dreamt of it. What would it be like to live someone else’s life? Just look at the movies out there. For example, mother and daughter want to trade lives in the movie Freaky Friday… The mother asks wasn’t life easier as a teenager? No responsibilities, no worries… And the daughter thinks don’t parents have all the freedom to do whatever they want? But life is not as simple as that. Every life has its own burdens to bear, worries to preoccupy minds. Yet, even during those times we wish to live a different life, there are some lives we don’t wish for. I’ve never met anyone who wishes for a life lived in pain, loneliness or hunger. Those are things we wish to NOT have, so why would we want to think about what it’s like for the man asking for food at the busy street corner? Why would we want to think about a woman struggling for breath in her hospital bed? Why would we want to think about the family evicted from their homes with no where to go? These are not the lives we want to dream about. Well, some might say, because God tells us to… Jesus tells us to, even Paul tells us to. But let’s be honest here, do we always do what we’re told to do? I can tell you for sure I don’t, and in the story Jesus told the rich man didn’t follow Moses or the prophet’s advice very well, either. Even if I did listen to the advice of Jesus, would I even know how to begin imagining what life is like for someone living in a refugee camp in Africa or someone living in prison for a life sentence? I’m not sure I really can. Until I live in someone else’s shoes, I have no idea how hard or how joyous her life may be.
There’s a movie from the 80s some of you might remember, called Trading Places. It has Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy in it. Aykroyd’s character, Louis Winthrop the Third, is a born into wealth commodities broker while Murphy’s character, Billy Ray Valentine, plays a man begging on the streets for money, pretending to be a legless war hero to improve his chances for help. At the start of the movie, the expensively dressed Louis thinks the worst of the scruffy-looking Billy Ray. When they run into each other on the sidewalk, Louis assumes Billy ray was trying to steal his briefcase, calls for the police and presses charges. All Billy Ray was guilty of was trying to help Louis stand and hand him his briefcase. The next day, because of the scheming of two men in power at Louis’ firm, Louis and Billy Ray unknowingly and unwillingly switch places. Billy Ray is offered a job in the brokerage firm and given Louis’s house to live in and servant to work for him. Louis is accused of a crime he didn’t commit, goes to jail, becomes disowned by his friends, and is forced to beg for the help of a prostitute to find a place to sleep and food to eat. I would imagine that for Billy Ray, this turn of events was a dream come true. He surely must have thought what life would be like with all that abundance around him. But did Louis ever dream of becoming accused, abandoned and hungry? Probably not.
The story Jesus shares in Luke 16 is also a story about switching places. A rich man who, after his death, lives for the first time in pain, loneliness and thirst. And a poor man who after suffering his whole life, receives the comfort of being with Abraham after death. I imagine that as long as the rich man had his wealth, he never truly considered what life would be like without his fine linen and sumptuous feasts. I know that when my cupboards are full, it’s hard for me to remember those whose cupboards are empty. When I’m at the store contemplating whether to get cheddar or Monterrey jack cheese, I’m not thinking about people who would think the leftovers starting to mold in my fridge were a feast they’d cherish. So, if we have a hard time following God and Jesus just as the rich man and his brothers had following Moses and the prophets, are we then, like the rich man, doomed to never understand how those around us may be suffering?
There is another way we are reminded of the suffering other’s may be going through. Our own life experience. When I underwent some tests for a potentially terminal condition and waited 6 months to hear a doctor say I wasn’t going to die, I began to understand what others with illnesses that are or may become terminal go through. The agony of waiting, not knowing, feeling like the doctors were giving me the run-around, when really, the doctors were waiting, just like me. And the re-occurring fear that every follow up check will reveal my problems have come back. My experience does not mean I understand everything a woman with breast cancer goes through, or a man with Parkinson’s goes through… but it does mean that I don’t ignore their struggle. It means I ask myself more carefully what it must be like in their shoes. Your life experience may not have potentially terminal diseases in it, but it does have other experiences that help you relate to the strangers you see every day. What kind of struggles do you have in your life? Struggles that make you human, make you closer to others who may appear different in every other way? Have you experienced long periods without food or showers? How about times you felt lost, scared, lonely, or hurt? How do those experiences help you relate to someone you don’t know? Are you able to ask yourself what life must be like in their shoes? I imagine you can and do.
Those moments where you can imagine what life is like for someone else separate us from Louis in Trading Places and the rich man in Jesus’ story. Compassion, caring and action, all in the name of God, through our life experience. Psalm 146 says that God gives food to the hungry, sets the prisoners free, watches over strangers. We, as children of God, are the hands of God acting in the world to do those things.
There may be great chasms dividing us. Differences in income, race, appearance, gender, age, social class DO affect how we treat one another. But we don’t have to wait til death to realize we all experience joy and sorrow, we all are human, trying to get by and be happy.
As the first letter to Timothy says, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Those of us who live richly, with an abundance of food at our table, time in our lives, or energy in our bodies, let us be generous and ready to share. For perhaps, through our own struggles, we can imagine what those with diminished strength, time or energy might be going through. May God bless us on our journey together. Amen.