{ Luke 16:20-31: }          Still another powerful illustration Jesus used to teach that God's plan calls for this world's wealth to be redistributed by the "haves" to the "have nots", not hoarded into huge piles by clever individuals.

[ The Scriptures are set apart by the color maroon and indentation.]

"One day Lazarus, a diseased beggar, was laid at the door of a rich man's house.   As he lay there longing for scraps from the rich man's table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.   Finally the beggar died and was carried by the angels to be with Abraham in the place of the righteous dead.         The rich man also died and was buried, and his soul went into hell.   There, in torment, he saw Lazarus in the far distance with Abraham.   'Father Abraham,' he shouted, 'have some pity! Send Lazarus over here if only to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in these flames.'  But Abraham said to him, 'Son, remember that during your life-time you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing.  So now he is here being comforted and you are in anguish."         What if God cares enough about the whole world to hold us "Christians" in America with infinitely more wealthy than the rest of world RESPONSIBLE for doing our best to ignore those unlucky enough to have been born on the "other side of the tracks", in the many desperately poor of the world ?  Is this parable relevant only to rich vs. poor INDIVIDUALS?   Or does it relate to rich Christian NATIONS vs. the many extremely poor nations of this world? .  .  .  "And besides, there is a great chasm separating us, and anyone wanting to come to you from here is stopped at its edge; and no one over there can cross to us.'         Then the rich man said,  'O Father Abraham, then please send him to my father's home -- for I have five brothers -- to warn them about this place of torment lest they come here when they die.'   But Abraham said, 'The Scriptures have warned them again and again.  Your brothers can read them any time they want to.' The rich man replied, 'No, Father Abraham, they won't bother to read them.  But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will turn from their sins.'  But Abraham said, 'If they won't listen to Moses and the prophets, they won't listen even though someone rises from the dead.'         Note that despite the remarkable similarity between Jesus' parable about the rich man and Charles Dickens' parable about Scrooge, Dickens is far more optimistic about the prospects for the repentance and salvation of the rich than is Jesus.  In contrast to Scrooge, whom Dickens portrays as being moved by the  ghostly apparitions to repentance and redemption, the Gospel holds out no such hope for its wealthy villains.   On the contrary, the Gospel insists : "If they won't listen to Moses and the prophets, they won't listen even though someone rises from the dead."