Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 16:19–31
Seeing the Poor at Our Door

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us the parable about two men: one rich, one poor. The rich man is not described as wicked, dishonest, or immoral. He is simply “a rich man.” At his gate lay Lazarus, poor and sick, longing to eat the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. The dogs were his only companions.

Jesus gives the poor man a name—Lazarus, meaning “God is my help.” But the rich man remains nameless. To be without a name was to be nobody, erased from memory. Jesus is teaching us that before God, it is not wealth or power that gives us dignity. God knows the name of the poor, and in them he reveals his presence.

The rich man’s only sin was his indifference. He was so absorbed in his comfort, in appearances, in the admiration of others, that he did not notice the suffering of the man at his door. The great danger of wealth is that it blinds us, seduces us, makes us believe we are self-sufficient, and closes our eyes to the needs of others.

For many in today’s world, money becomes an idol, a false god, “mammon,” that replaces the living God. We begin to live for appearances rather than for truth.

The parable continues with a reversal: Lazarus, who suffered, is carried to Abraham’s side, while the rich man finds himself in torment. Jesus is not giving us a description of the afterlife but using powerful images to shake us. The torment of the rich man is that he finally lifts his eyes and sees the poor man he had ignored. He realises too late that the abyss separating them was one he created during his life, by choosing not to share.

This abyss, the gulf between rich and poor, is enormous in our society today. Some feast while others starve. Some spend extravagantly on luxuries, while others lack access to basic necessities like medicine, water, or shelter. This is not God’s plan.

Lazarus is now in Abraham’s bosom, not because he was virtuous or patient. The Gospel tells us nothing of his merits. Lazarus is there simply because God is on the side of the poor. “The Lord secures justice for the poor” (Ps 140). God identifies with those who are left out, with those forgotten at the gates of our comfort.

Brothers and sisters, this parable is not about the next life. It is about now. The time to cross the abyss, to close the distance between rich and poor, is today. The Gospel is urging us not to wait. If we hoard our gifts, they will slip through our fingers; if we share them, they become love, and love endures forever.

The question is simple but urgent: whom do we see? Do we see the poor outside our doors, in our cities, in our world? Do we see the migrants, the homeless, the elderly who live alone, the sick who cannot afford treatment, the children who hunger? Let us ask the Lord for the grace to open our eyes.

© Claretian Publications, Hong Kong, China
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica 2025