First Reading: Amos 6:1-7
1“Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes! 2Pass over to Calneh, and see, and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory, 3O you who put far away the day of disaster and bring near the seat of violence? 4Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, 5who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, 6who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! 7Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.”
Psalm 146
1Hallelujah! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. 2Put not your trust in rulers, nor in any child of earth, for there is no help in them. 3When they breathe their last, they return to earth, and in that day their thoughts perish. 4Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help! whose hope is in the Lord their God; 5Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them; who keeps his promise forever; 6Who gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to those who hunger. 7The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; 8The Lord loves the righteous; the Lord cares for the stranger; he sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked. 9The Lord shall reign forever, your God, O Zion, throughout all generations. Hallelujah!
Second Reading: 1 Timothy 3:1-13
1The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. 8Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. 11Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. 12Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. 13For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
Gospel: Luke 16:19-31
19{Jesus said to the Pharisees,} “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house — 28for I have five brothers — so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
Hell is Real
Today our New Testament reading addresses possibly one of the hardest subject pastors need to address. It’s a topic that many people refuse to contemplate, and some of those want to outright reject it. So off-putting is this subject, that experts in church growth advise pastors and church leaders to steer away from the topic because even church people don’t want to hear about it. These so called experts advise, that if you don’t want to lose your congregation, then don’t talk about this particular topic. That subject is of course the existence of Hell.
As you are about to realize, I disagree with these experts because I believe pastors are duty-bound, we are under commission to talk about Hell because Jesus talked about it during in His life and ministry. I looked it up and Jesus addressed judgement and Hell 60 times during His 3-year earthly ministry. And if He felt it necessary to warn us about eternal consequences, then I, as a minister of God’s word, must also address final judgement and Hell as well.
You may have heard about a young woman, about to get married, who said to her mother, “I can’t marry him, mom. I just found out that he’s an atheist and he doesn’t believe there is a Hell.” Her mother responded, “That’s all right, dear, marry him and between the two of us I’m sure we can convince him.” Now I realize that thinking about Hell isn’t pleasant, or even politically correct, but it is absolutely necessary. What is politically correct today is to joke about Hell, use the word as a swear word, or to outright deny its existence. The former presiding Bishop of the ELCA, Elizabeth Eaton, was quoted as saying, “if there is a Hell, then it’s empty.” Today, acknowledging the existence of Hell is seen as naïve and old fashioned, and sadly many of these people who minimize or deny its existence, call themselves Christians.
Recently, a nationally syndicated writer ridiculed pastors and church members who teach about and believe in Hell. The writer said it wasn’t appealing to modern folk, so therefore we should put it aside and not talk about it. Well, I suggest to you that ALS, or Lou Garig’s disease, and the effect and the death ALS brings, isn’t very appealing to talk or think about either. But it is real; people are suffering from its effects and denying it won’t make it go away. ALS is real and so is Hell. Therefore, ignoring it isn’t the answer.
We know that Jesus understood that it exists because He warned about it many times. As I said, Jesus talked about judgement and Hell at least 60 times during His ministry. And like it or not, there is no higher authority to challenge His teachings. Therefore, we must address this as part of our lives of faith. Some people will argue, “Surely if God loves everybody, He won’t send anybody to hell.” On the surface, they’re right. God doesn’t want to send people to Hell; St. Peter tells us this plainly in 2 Peter 3:9: God loves everybody and wants everyone to be saved. The cross of Jesus Christ proves that truth beyond a shadow of a doubt. Jesus’ death also proves just how seriously God takes our sins. St. Paul wrote, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life” (Romans 6:23).
Others will argue, if God’s desire is that none should perish, then why is it an option? The reality is, God gave us our free will. The choices we make are ours. God never forces us into a life of righteousness, or into a life of sin. God sent the Holy Spirit “to guide us in all truth” (John 16:13). And He promised to “put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). But we choose to obey and to listen. God provides laws and guidance, but He lets us make our own choices, and we must accept the consequences of our choices.
Jesus preached the final judgment of the good and the evil on the last day. He said, “The hour is coming when they that are in the tombs will come forth, those that have done good to the resurrection of life, those that have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28). He spoke of the door of heaven being eternally shut, and once it’s shut no one can open it (Luke 13:23-28). He described hell as a place, as a state of being, as a state of existence, “Where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:42) and “a place of outer darkness” (Matthew 22:13). It’s a burning heap, a garbage dump, a Gehenna. He said, “It is a place of eternal punishment where the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). Jesus made His point about judgment and punishment very clear, and we need to listen and take heed.
No, Hell is not a pleasant topic, but it is real, Jesus said it is. And we must take seriously all the warnings the Bible has on the subject. God never planned hell for humankind. Hell was planned for the devil and his angels who revolted against God. But we must also acknowledge and accept that far too many will go Hell because they reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ, reject God’s love and mercy, and reject God’s saving grace for all who would believe and confess their sins. Jesus tells us all we need to know to be informed and to live our lives as we should to avoid eternal damnation. Yet when it comes to Hell, the Bible doesn’t tell us everything.
However, in this parable, as Jesus talks about the rich man and Lazarus, we can gain some understanding. Jesus tells us enough to cause us to think deeply about the “second death” (Revelation 20:14). Thankfully, Jesus talks even more about eternal life. The Bible declares joyfully that when we put our trust in Jesus Christ, when we place God first in our lives, and when we live our lives as faithful disciples, we have no fear of Hell and eternal punishment.
Several of Jesus’ parables He talked about what the kingdom of God is like and of the reward we will enjoy for being faithful stewards. Jesus talked about going to prepare for us a mansion, a place of many rooms (John 14:3), of the feast of well-aged wines, (Isaiah 25:6), and of a time when there will be no more pain, weeping, or sorrows (Revelation 21:4). Of course, living a life of discipleship isn’t a guarantee of a life of ease in this world, Jesus was clear about the need to count the cost of discipleship (Luke 14:25-27). But when we choose to live a life that is pleasing to God, we will enjoy the joy, peace, hope, and power that only God can give. The choice of how we spend eternity is ours to make. And we must be informed about the consequences of the choices we make. So, what exactly is Hell? How else can it be described?
Outside of the very graphic descriptions I’ve already cited, how else can we describe Hell. A good place to start is looking at the parable in our gospel lesson. Hell, first of all, is to live without love. Eternity in Hell is to know abject loneliness and alienation. What I like to ask people to do when we talk about Hell is to imagine a place where God’s presence is completely absent and absolute evil is in control. Some might picture the horrors of war. Some might envision a city in the throes of lawlessness. Hollywood, at times, has attempted to capture Hell in many of the horror films. But I tell people that even with all our imaginings, we can only begin to scratch the surface. Hell will be anguish physically, emotionally, and psychologically.
In our gospel reading, the unnamed rich man was forced to see Lazarus in comfort while he sat in agony. When he wanted to warn his family, his request was denied, “they have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them” (vs. 29). And when he asked for a tiny bit of comfort, he was asked to reflect on his previous life. Hell and the punishment that comes with it is more than simply living in pain, it will mean agony for body, mind, and soul. And this suffering will never end. If I’m beginning to sound like a fire and brimstone preacher, well, maybe that’s what’s needed from time to time. We must acknowledge God’s truth, both the law that convicts us of our sin, as well as the gospel that comforts and saves us from our sin. We cannot have one without the other.
The gospel tells us that God is love, Hell then is a complete separation from that love. Hell is separation from God; hence Hell is loneliness. A poet put it this way: “He that shuts out love in turn will be shut out from love, and on her threshold, he will lie howling in outer darkness.” The poet is talking about that terrible sense of isolation and loneliness which describes a loveless Hell. That said, we need to dig a bit deeper into what this parable teaches.
The Bible tells us in I John 3, verses 14 and 17, “He who does not love abides in death . . . If anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need and yet closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?” Was that not the sin of the rich man here? He had no love for God and therefore he had no love for his fellow man. Jesus said that this rich man lounged around all day in his fine clothes, in his linen and his purple. He feasted sumptuously at his table every day, and all the while he was ignoring this destitute, sore-ridden, starving beggar, Lazarus, there at his gate. He lived in selfishness, he lived in lovelessness, and he died. He then entered into the full and final consequences of his selfish choices not to love and to serve God, and not to love and serve his fellow man.
On Monday the question was asked, who is who in this story? It’s a great question. If we were to place ourselves into this story as one of the characters, which would we be, the rich, nameless man who lazily made his way through life, living in comfort while ignoring the needs of others, or are we the named beggar at the gate? Many would like to forward that they are Lazarus. They are the poor beggars who suffer from the effects of sin in this world. But are we really? If we were to truly examine our lives, would we not be more like the nameless rich man?
Not to belabor the point, but someone else described Hell this way: “Hell is where loveless people are always dying, but never die. It’s where persons are critical and never compassionate, where persons are always complaining, yet never consoling, where persons are hard and never helpful, where they’re greedy but never gracious. Hell is what we are without love and without God in our lives, but that magnified immeasurably throughout eternity. It’s the misery of eternal loneliness, lostness, and lovelessness.”
Therefore, Hell must be lovelessness, supreme loneliness, and alienation. Hell is also memory and regret. It’s the memory of lost opportunities to do good, to love God, and to love others. Menotti, a contemporary composer, wrote these words about his understanding of Hell. He says, “Hell begins on the day when God grants us a clear vision of all that we should have done and did not do. For me, the conception of Hell lies in the words too late.” “Too late.” Words that we will never, ever, want to hear.
Hell is going our own way, devoted supremely to ourselves and our concerns, and then coming to the end of life and realizing, we’ve missed the whole point. Hell is coming to see that we’ve missed the whole point of life, that we have lived our lives and done those things that pleased us, ignoring God’s will and His purposes. We were created to love God, to serve Him, and to love and serve others. Hell is realizing we missed the whole point and it’s too late to remedy the situation.”
I’m sure that I could continue giving you example after example of why we must seriously accept the fact that Hell is real, and that we need to take seriously Jesus’ warning on both eternal judgment and of eternal punishment. The good news for us is, Jesus has already done everything necessary to keep us from the second death. He poured out His life’s blood. He died and went to the place of the dead to free those in captivity. And Jesus defeated the final enemy, death, in His resurrection. God in Christ Jesus has done everything necessary for our salvation. We have a choice!
Jesus has promised that “he who comes to me, I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). And St. Paul reminds us “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). But God will never force Himself on us. God’s grace comes to us in the waters of Baptism, in our confession, and in the bread and wine of the Holy Supper. But we are the ones who must come and believe. We must receive and accept.
We can choose to reject God and live a life of ease and comfort, or we can take seriously Jesus’ call to take up our cross and follow Him. The choice of what we hear as we stand in front of Jesus at the last judgement is up to us. Do we want to hear, depart from me you worker of evil, (Matthew 7:23) or “well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:23).
Amen