Open the Doors
Penn Jillette, the famous magician, once recorded a video criticizing Christians who do not proselytize. The video went viral, and the reason so many people watched it was because Penn Jillette is an outspoken atheist. Why would an atheist criticize Christians who don’t try to convince him and other atheists that they should believe in God? He said it this way, “How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.”
I believe it is our responsibility to win people to Christ, but so few Christians have a plan to take the gospel message to the lost people around them.
Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.
The apostle Paul told Timothy that God gave Timothy a mission to tell people about Jesus, and the apostle Paul would say the same thing to you. Make a plan. Find a way to share the love of God with people in need.
In Luke chapter 16, Luke records a story that Jesus told about a rich guy and a poor guy.
Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.
This is not a true story. It’s a parable. Jesus created this story to teach a lesson. In His created story, Jesus put purple clothes on the rich man. In other words, Jesus wants you to picture royalty or the richest person you can think of. Think of Elon Musk, and on Musk’s front porch, picture a homeless man who is covered in oozing sores. If Jesus described a man with oozing sores in the first century, He was likely describing a man with leprosy. The fact that the sores were oozing implies that this was an advanced case of leprosy. This poor man was a contagious leper. We then have to ask ourselves, “Why would Elon Musk allow a homeless guy with contagious leprosy live on his porch?” Apparently, he is a very generous rich guy. In fact, Lazarus was on Elon Musk’s front porch long enough to build a relationship with the guard dogs who were licking his sores.
This story is a hapax legomenon. It is the only fictional story Jesus told in which Jesus named a character. Because Jesus didn’t use arbitrary details in His stories, we must assume Jesus gave the poor man the name Lazarus for a reason. If I made up a story about two people and named one of the characters Darci, my wife’s name, you would assume that character in the story is incredibly intelligent, attractive, and kind (I just earned some brownie points.) And if I called the other person in the story “an ugly guy,” you could easily interpret what I was trying to imply about these two fictional characters. “Lazarus” was the name of one of Jesus’ closest friends. Therefore, Jesus gave honor to this fictional character by giving him the name “Lazarus.”
Simply allowing Lazarus to stay on this porch violated the laws of Judaism. Jews in this time were required to separate themselves from lepers, to keep themselves clean. As Elon Musk’s rich friends were coming and going from his house, they likely asked him, “Why do you let this disgusting man stay here? He’s getting us sick. Get him out of here.” Leprosy was a deadly disease, and eventually it killed the poor man.
“Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the heavenly banquet. The rich man also died and was buried, and he went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side. “The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’ “But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’ “Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’
When Jesus, in His made-up story, put the rich man in hell and the poor man in Heaven, He likely caught everyone off guard. They would have assumed the rich man would go to Heaven, and the poor would go to Hell. They would have been tempted to believe the leprosy was evidence Lazarus had been rejected by God, but Jesus switched the expected roles. Now the rich guy has lost control, and he is begging Lazarus for a drop of water.
On Earth, the poor guy was an outcast. Apparently, even his family had abandoned him. But, in Heaven, Lazarus was in the place of honor at Abraham’s side.
The rich man expected to find a way to purchase freedom from Hell, to use his power to get ahead, but the wealth of this world has no power in eternity. When we enter eternity, there aren’t any second chances. Indulgences don’t work. When we die, we face a final judgement. Now Elon has an eternal perspective. He realizes his money on Earth did nothing.
Another detail Jesus inserted into this story is the number of brothers the rich man had. Why did He include this detail? We don’t have specifics about other details of the story. We don’t know how many guard dogs there were. I think Jesus was trying to show us that the rich man thought he had five brothers, but he really had six. Rich and powerful people were often the villains in Jesus’ stories, and this time, even though Jesus gave a generous description of the rich man, the rich man was still the villain. Why? The rich man was the villain because he failed to see the outcast as his brother.
This story is meant to teach us to open our doors to outcasts. It’s not enough to throw them the scraps from our table. We’re tempted to preach truth to people as long as they keep their distance, but Jesus wants us to develop a plan to take the good news of God’s love to them. We are to be like Jesus, and Jesus didn’t simply heal lepers from a distance. Jesus touched lepers.
This is how we should reach lost people. We invite people to come as they are. We reach out with radical love and generosity.
“But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’ “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’ “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”
They didn’t know it yet, but someone was about to rise from the dead. Jesus was going to rise from the dead and offer that resurrection to us.
When I was in college, I was the “Come on, let’s…” guy. I think it’s how I compensated for everyone thinking I was still in high school (I was a late bloomer.). My goal in college was to get as many people doing something as possible, and it was awesome. I’d say, “Hey, let’s go get a Coke,” “Hey, let’s go to Taco Bell,” “Hey, let’s go out for ice cream!” Yes, I grew 3 inches in college in both directions. Then we graduated, and people started getting married and having kids. But, Darci and I were late bloomers there too. All our friends were having kids, and we were still in college mode. We wanted to go to a movie, but they wanted to put their kids to bed at 8 P.M.
Let’s go back to gathering crowds, to doing life together, to inviting strangers, and to building relationships outside our immediate families. Let’s reach out to lonely and hurting people. Let’s open our doors.
