The First Sunday after Trinity

 In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Since the day of Pentecost, the Church has struggled to understand the interaction between the Old Testament and the New. A very common question is how the saints of the Old Testament were saved before the death and resurrection of Christ. God does not change. This is part of who and what He is. As such, the requirements of salvation are also unchanging. They have existed since the beginning of time at the Creation.

Man is saved by faith in Christ, the Son of God, who takes on human flesh to redeem mankind. Faith is trust in things unseen. God came to Abraham and promised to be his God and to deliver to him an heir of his own flesh and descendants numbering more than the stars of heaven. Abraham believed this word of God and it was counted to him as righteousness, that is, Abraham’s name was written in the Book of Life.[1]

This is the same process by which you have received faith. Whether as an infant or an adult, the Word of God came to you on the lips of man, and you believed it. The Word itself planted faith within your heart. The Holy Spirit watered this seed at the font of Holy Baptism, and it grew into the mighty mustard plant by the further illumination of God’s Word.

The same is true of the beggar Lazarus. St. John Chrysostom lists nine ways in which Lazarus suffered greatly, among which is the uncertainty of the future.[2] In the eyes of man, one who prospers is blessed by God and must be loved by Him. One who suffers must be cursed by God and despised by Him. While Lazarus had certainly heard the promise of the coming Savior, his sickness and poverty must have caused doubt in his mind. He could not afford any sacrifices at the Temple. He could not attend any synagogue or services at the Temple because of his disease. Like all the saints of the Old Testament, Lazarus could only see the coming Savior through the veil of Moses, a dim and distant hope.

While Lazarus had heard of Job’s proclamation of seeing God in his own flesh after his skin is destroyed;[3] and David’s words in Psalm 16: For thou [O Lord] wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption;[4] and the comforting promise of Isaiah that the Lord of hosts will swallow up death forever…wipe away tears from all faces…and it will be said in that day, ‘Behold this is our God; We have waited for Him and He will save us,[5] it is unclear to him just how this salvation will come to him personally.

We have been blessed to live in the days following the Resurrection of Christ. We have been blessed because we have the full revelation of the Word of God. We can call not just upon the coming Messiah, but upon Jesus Christ, True God and True Man. We can hear the Words of God, spoken through the lips of man, which promise that we have been adopted as heirs of heaven, Sons of the Living God, new creations of the Holy Spirit. This confidence brings much hope—although it can still be difficult to retain.

Lazarus experienced poverty beyond imagining. Even crumbs from the table of the rich man were denied to him. His illness was so great, he could not wave away the dogs licking at his sores. He could not move himself to find shelter. Someone left him on the doorstep of the rich man. By this circumstance, in his great poverty and sickness, Lazarus daily watched the rich man feasting, laughing, enjoying company, and participating fully in the life of the synagogue and community.

Yet in the midst of this suffering, Lazarus retained faith in God. He was not saved on account of his poverty but on account of his faith, which was counted to him as righteousness. Despite his eyes being covered in the veil of Moses, Lazarus saw the promise delivered to Abraham and trusted that God above counted him among the stars born to Father Abraham. His mortal eyes caused doubt, but the eyes of faith knew God to be faithful. Lazarus awaited the sleep of death such that his eyes would be opened to the fullness of God.

You, who have the full revelation of the Scriptures, of the Name of Jesus, and the saving work of the cross, you have even greater reason to rejoice and believe in God. You have witnessed the first fruits of the resurrection of all flesh and have been born from above by the waters of Holy Baptism. You have partaken of the victory feast of Christ, fed on His own Body and Blood.

What reason do you then have to worry over pain, sickness, poverty, and death? We, unlike Lazarus, have been clearly told by our Heavenly Father that such suffering is the cross His children bear in this world on account of sin. It is unpleasant. Like Lazarus, you may certainly mourn tragedy and suffering, but you have been freed from the anxiety concerning your salvation. In this way, the saints of the New Testament are free to have more joy and comfort in Christ because we have a fullness the saints of the Old Testament were waiting for.

At the same time, we have a greater duty than the saints of old.[6] It is easy to imagine the precepts of the Old Testament as a great and severe burden, yet the vast majority of these pointed to outward works—either ceremonial or civil law. These laws have been entirely fulfilled in the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Christ. The moral law has also been fulfilled by Christ but is an eternal expression of the Will of God.

Christ our Lord says, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.”[7] Jesus is not changing the Law of God, but He is bringing greater clarity to it. Sin begins in the heart, and it is in the heart that sin will condemn a man.

This is the heart of the parable. The rich man almost certainly was a pillar of the community. He regularly attended the synagogue, but he did this to be seen by others. He heard the Word of God read and preached but he did not believe it. He trusted in the sight of his earthly blessings as the sign of his salvation. Even as he is burning in the torments of hell, the rich man does not beg for mercy or salvation, but commands Lazarus to serve him before insisting on a miracle for the salvation of his brothers. Abraham responds, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.”[8]

This Word of God was left on the lobes of his ears and did not enter his heart. Had it entered his heart, he would have shown mercy to poor Lazarus. One cannot hear the glorious news that while you deserve the eternal torments of hell, God has taken this punishment in your place and delivered to you eternal life and salvation, without it necessarily affecting his outward life.

It is this Word of God which delivers the one who has risen from the dead. It is this Word of God that finds its substance in the flesh of Christ, crucified for your sins and risen for your justification. It is this Word of God which enters your heart and enlightens to you the Scriptures. It is this Word of God by which the saints of the Old Testament are saved. It is this Word of God by which you are saved.

Hell is a very real and present danger for all mankind. It is a certainty for all who die without repentance and faith in Christ, but it is still a danger for those who attend the gathering of the Church. It is a danger because the sinful flesh still clings to all of us. The temptations to abandon the faith are many but we have the saints of old, like the beggar Lazarus, to show us how the mercy of God is worked in the world. There was not a single outward reason for Lazarus to thank God for his existence, yet he trusted in the Lord for salvation. At the last, he was born upon the arms of angels to heaven.

You will endure suffering, loss, and temptation. You will endure pain, sickness, and unless the Lord returns, you will die. All of these will be more difficult and harsher for you than the unbeliever because you know man was not created to suffer. However, you have a hope the world cannot give. You know that this suffering and pain is the chastisement of a loving God against sin. You know that loss and sickness are the crosses Christians bear in this world. You know that temptation and death are the wages of sin, but that Christ has defeated your death such that it is now only a portal to eternal life.

Take heart when you suffer for you have a God who can sympathize with your every suffering.[9] You have a God who bears your flesh and knows your pain. You also have brothers and sisters in the faith, stretching from Adam to our own little Judah, who have likewise endured the tribulations of this world but for whom the Lord has given eternal life.

Strengthened by this knowledge, be a light to those around you. If you have been given earthly blessings, share them. You do not need to be counted rich to have a friendly conversation. You do not need to daily feast sumptuously to treat a fellow man to lunch. You do not need an advanced degree in theology to comfort a woman mourning the loss of her father. All you need is Jesus, who has been given to you in the Word of God, by Moses and the Prophets.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] Genesis 15:1-6.

[2] St. John Chrysostom, “Discourse I: A Homily delivered at Antioch on the Second Day of the Month,” Four Discourses, Chiefly on the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, available at https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/chrysostom_four_discourses_01_discourse1.htm accessed June 17, 2022.

[3] Job 19:26-27.

[4] Psalm 16:10 (KJV)

[5] Isaiah 25:8-9.

[6] This thought comes from Gregory the Great, Homily 40 on the Gospels, beginning in section 3. https://sites.google.com/site/aquinasstudybible/home/luke-commentary/gregory-the-great-homily-40-on-the-gospels, accessed June 17, 2022.

[7] St. Matthew 5:21-22.

[8] St. Luke 16:31.

[9] Hebrews 4:15.