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It’s undeniable that we’re a celebrity driven society. Just check the internet, turn on the TV, or read the paper and you’ll see the names of our celebrities. Their names are constantly in our faces. In fact they’re on a first name basis with us: Oprah, Rosie, Brittany, Tom, Ben, and the Donald.
As you think about who’s well known in our world—those everyone’s talking about—how many poor people come to mind? They’re certainly not among the names I just listed. In fact, outside of Gandhi and Mother Theresa, very few folks who chose poverty are known to us at all. To be well known, the poor need not apply.
Yet, when we come to the most famous name in human history we come to someone who said that he didn’t even have a place to sleep. Jesus, in very many ways, is the anti-celebrity. In Luke 16:19-31, we find one of Jesus’ best known stories and it contains some surprises for us about who has a name.
This parable is about a very rich man and a very poor man. Jesus told the stories but we’re the ones who have given titles for the stories and this one is usually called the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. True to our cultural values, the rich man gets top billing but look at the story carefully. Only the beggar has a name. I don’t think that’s incidental. Lazarus is the only character in any of Jesus’ parables who has a name. In our world and the world Jesus entered, everyone would know the name of the “fat cat” who threw parties for all his rich friends. Few would have known the name of the poor beggar asking for crumbs.
But Jesus has different values—right-side-up values. We find that Jesus’ values are the one’s that last as the tables are turned after each man in this story dies.
One of the greatest curses in the Bible is to have one’s name blotted out. Read Psalm 109. It’s a pretty good commentary on Jesus’ story. It’s from a poor man who’s oppressed by a rich enemy. At the height of listing the curses he wants his rich enemy to experience is, “May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation.” (Psalm 109:13). That’s what happened to this rich and famous man—nobody knows his name. The followers of Jesus often missed this point and tried to give him a name (Dives [Latin for “rich”] is the most common).
So, you want to make a name for yourself? In which world do you want your name known? Nobody knows the name of this rich man (we’re forced to make one up). But we can’t forget Lazarus! His name means “God is my help” and maybe that’s why his name will never be blotted out.
Tim Kelley (whose name [Timothy] means “glorify God,” a name he strives to live up to) is the husband of one, father of four, grandfather of two (one of whom is yet to make his appearance), servant of Jesus, and is currently preaching the Word in Chico, CA
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