Last Friday we had a time of contemplative sharing. We talked about Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:24-31). The message here is obvious. We are spiritual beings and our search for meaning or purpose in this life is more a spiritual quest than an endless physical or material pursuit. Although Lazarus the beggar had a down and out life on earth, he did right in the eyes of God. His reward was eternal rest in the arms of Father Abraham.
The Rich Man was less focused. He pursued the wrong things and ended up in Hades, tormented and in agony. No doubt he had a good life, showered in luxury unimaginable, and pampered by opulence only the hyper rich could afford. But like a game of Monopoly, once it comes to an end, when the buying stops and the dice have all been tossed, the pieces go straight back to the box. After death, the bible says, comes accountability and judgment. No one is exempted.
You will note that the conversation between Abraham and the Rich Man was intense and frighteningly detailed. And it took place in the spiritual realm. The only way Jesus could have related this narrative was because he saw far and beyond what the earthly sight could see. He casts his sight to the fringes of eternality and saw what most men either could not see or took for granted. As christians, we take this narrative as a factual encounter with a few important messages. One of them has been mentioned above. The other message, as discussed on Friday, is this: What defines you in this life?
Two points to note about the Rich Man: His first request was uncharacteristic of a man in perpetual torment and the second is that he had no name. Let me explain the first point first. This may sound trivial but the Rich Man's first request to Abraham was not: Let me out of here! Beam me up Abraham! I want to be in Heaven! I would suppose that a man in his shoes would have craved for immediate relieve and redemption. The Rich Man ought to have begged Abraham for a second chance. But he didn't. Instead, he asked Abraham's permission to allow Lazarus to quench his thirst with his pinkie.
Again, this may be easily explained by conjecturing that the Rich Man has been thoroughly briefed about the futility of seeking a general divine amnesty or pardon from God. That is to say, he knew his sentence is eternal without any chance in hell of a celestial parole. So, he yielded up in complete surrender of his fiery fate in Hades. This explanation is plausible. But maybe, there is another angle to it worth exploring. And exploring CS Lewis did in his book the Great Divorce when he himself related a story that happened in the spiritual realm.
CS Lewis book tells about a fantasy bus trip in the outskirt of hell. On one such encounter, an angelic being met a ghost man with a peculiar companion, a red lizard that was perched on his shoulder. This stroke the angelic being's curiosity and he went up to chat up with this ghost man. The angelic being offered the ghost man a trip to heaven but the ghost man was hesitant, very hesitant. He knew that to enter heaven he had to give up the red lizard on his shoulder and he wasn't pleased with that prospect. He was afraid that letting go of the red lizard means that he would die too.
But it was a precondition to enter heaven that was non-negotiable - the lizard just had to go. The ghost man then applied all forms of rationalization to persuade the angelic being to allow him to enter heaven with the lizard. The argument took some time and finally the ghost man decided with great reservation to let his lizard go. The moment he removed the lizard from his shoulder, it magically turned into beautiful stallion. The ghost man was also transformed into a real man. Together, he rode on the stallion and they galloped joyfully to heaven.
Earlier I asked, What defines you in this life? In the light of CS Lewis' tale, the same question could be couched as such: Do you have a red lizard on your shoulder? Do you have a signature sin that you cannot let go even though you know the cost of not letting go is grave and the reward of letting go is peace? Have you asked yourself lately why do you do what you do not want to do? What is holding you back to be what God has designed you to be? Going back full circle, do ponder on this question this holiday weekend, What defines you in this life?
I posed this question to you guys last Friday and there was contemplative silence as little tiny pins fell on our cerebral carpet. I fully understand that it is a challenge to answer this question because it cannot be answered in a haste, that is, without thought. I can presumptuously identify some "red lizards sitting on our shoulders" like pride, greed, lust, anger, fear envy, gluttony and sloth. It is essential for us to identify our signature sin, that is, the one sin that controls us, keeps us from soaring, imprisons us in a cage of mediocrity and advocates for its own self perpetuation. Yes, a sin, especially a signature or core sin can plead with us to allow it to become a life tenant in our spirit!
In fact, such a sin can sacrifice all other bad habits in our life in a bid to give us a false facade of repentance so as to avoid its own eviction. Ever felt an emotional relief after saying the sinner's prayer and thinking that you were truly set free from sin only to find out later that you had unwittingly gone back to that one sin you had disavowed at the altar? Beloved, that signature sin is your red lizard. It will not want to let you go. It finds in you a residence too attractive and comfortable to ever leave for another. Only you can identify it, smoke it out. Only you can set yourself free from it by the power of the Cross.
I hazard a guess that the Rich Man's red lizard was his riches. You will note that he has no name. In the narrative, Lazarus was known as Lazarus and Abraham by Abraham. But the Rich Man had no first or last name. He was simply known as "the Rich Man". I believe that Jesus deliberately left his name out to make a point. And the point was: The Rich Man was defined by riches, by money, by wealth. The Bible did not say that he was evil, malicious or conniving. It merely says he was rich. Wealth defines him and nothing else. What defines you?
Are you known as the Rich Man to God? Or the Materialistic Man or Woman? Will you still be known by your first name when you die? Will Michael still retain his name as Michael when he dies or will he be known as the Impatient Man? Yes, that is one of my controlling sins. To be exact, it is the Anger Man. I'm very much work in progress. How about you? Are you known as the Greedy Man? The Gluttony Man? The Egoistical Man? Please take a moment to think about it.
There is a very scary verse in the Bible that reads, "Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanliness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator..." (Roms 1:24). Imagine, God giving you up to your desires! You could be serving, giving and worshipping in church and in the public eye and yet you die a man or woman with a red lizard still on your shoulder. The prospect, my beloved, is awfully grim and disquietingly scary.
Maybe the Rich Man did not want to go to heaven. Maybe he knew that going to heaven would make him the least of them all considering that he had spent his life forsaking the things that truly matter. Maybe he prefers the torment of Hades rather than the uncertainty of heaven. At least in Hades, he is still known as the Rich Man. His wealth defines him and it is one red lizard that he cannot let go. This is the greatest tribute to human freedom. We are free to choose our ultimate destiny - heaven or hell. CS Lewis noted incisively, "There are only two kinds of people - those who say, "God's will be done" or those to whom God in the end says to them, "Your own will be done." All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice, it wouldn't be Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it."
Let me end with this thought. We are called to be radical Christian, pulling out the sins that have grown roots in our spirit. God calls for radical transformation; not superficial conversion. But still, it is a process. This much has to be stressed. Don't expect overnight change. The comfort here is that God has not given us up to our desires since we are still very much attuned and sensitive to His presence and reality.
Beloved, take this road with God to radical transformation. Grow in maturity with Him. In the book Signature Sins, the author Michael Mangis gave this invaluable advice about spiritual maturity, which aptly closes this letter to you, "Spiritual maturity means coming around to the same struggle but from a better vantage point. One of the advantages of a long-term relationship in spiritual direction is that others can see more clearly than we can see how much we have matured. They can reassure us that although our sins may be the same, our cyclical journey is moving ever upward."
Have a fantastic holiday weekend!
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