Sep. 27, 2025

In ancient times only the rich could afford to be fat. Today it takes significant resources to be fit. Jesus told a parable about a rich and probably fat man who feasted every day. On the threshold of his house lived a homeless, probably emaciated beggar who didn’t even have enough water and longed for the scraps that the careless rich man let fall from his table for his dogs to eat. Feast and famine, so close to each other; two worlds so far apart. We live in a time of increasing inequality. The rich are fabulously so, beyond imagining. The destitute are wretched, and the poor struggle mightily to maintain shreds of dignity. Most of us are in between those extremes, but many of us struggle to get by month to month. Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus calls his followers to faithfulness which thrives whether times are thick or thin.