Today's podcast for 'Reading Luke in Lent' looks at Luke, Chapter 16: 1-31.
Is being rich a barrier to the kingdom of God? Luke in one of his ironic juxtapositions has Jesus saying ‘You cannot serve God and money’ followed by Luke saying ‘The Pharisees, who were lovers of money’.
In this section we have two more of Jesus’ vivid parables: the dishonest manager and the rich man and Lazarus. The first has led to a variety of interpretations. Is Jesus commending dishonesty? Like a number of times before a second parable expands on the first (think of the banquet parables in chapter, or the parables of mercy) as though the original audience did not get it at first. The parable of Lazarus reminds that our ultimate destiny is heaven and the problem is not wealth but what you do with it. So the dishonest manager uses money to do good and is preparing for his earthly afterlife.
The banquet parables are echoed in the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. The rich man feasts well every day but does not invite the poor at his gate. The whole story is a playing out of the Lukan beatitudes (6: 24, 20) where woe is offered to the rich and ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.’
'Reading Luke in Lent' is a series of simple podcasts for the Lenten season offering a daily reading from St Luke - covering the Gospel from start to finish - from Ash Wednesday to the first week of Easter.
