No Ghosts

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/022516.cfm

Jeremiah 17:5-10
Luke 16:19-31

"I see dead people." 

A memorable line from a popular movie.

Seeing dead people has been a matter of excitement, fear and consternation as far back as recorded history. They have been called specters, phantoms, spirits, spooks, wraiths, apparitions, bogeys or simply ghosts. In all cultures, in all periods of history, on every continent we can find tales of ghosts. In Shakespeare we find the ghost of Hamlet's father. In Dickens' we find Marley's ghost. In the Old Testament, King Saul, during his waning years, seeks to consult ghosts about his prospects for the future. In the New Testament Jesus has to reassure the Apostles that he is not a ghost when they see him walking on the waters, or when he first appears to them after the Resurrection.

But let's be clear here. When Father Abraham says, in today's reading, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.' He is not talking about ghosts. He's not talking about a spirit with unfinished business, or a spook that is somehow too attached to some earthly thing or location, or a specter that seeks to right some wrong. He's not talking about an apparition of someone who is dead. He's talking about someone who is alive. Risen, no longer dead! He's talking about a man once dead and now alive, a man with recent wounds that you can touch, a man who walks down the road with you and carries on a conversation, a man who sits with you at breakfast on the seashore and eats fish. 

We all know, of course, the person Father Abraham is referring to in this parable. But I have to wonder about these words of Jesus. Is it true that they will not be convinced even if some one were to rise from the dead? And then my question is pushed a bit further still, because Jesus did not say that they would not be convinced if they saw someone who was dead --- that could be written off as an encounter with a specter --- but rather, he says that they would not be convinced if someone actually did arise.

Those living in Israel in that third decade of the first century had the opportunity to live in the presence of the physical, human person of Jesus. Many did so. His teaching came from a real person and he taught with the authority of someone with intimate, first-hand knowledge. The miracles flowed from him and they sought to touch even the hem of his cloak. In the end, many misunderstood both his words and his actions; but still, he was physically there in their midst. Then he died. Then he arose.
Why is it that they don't, or can't, or won't believe?

If I go back to Jesus' words in the passage, He tells me that there is something required, something critically essential that comes prior to the acceptance of someone rising from the dead. 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.' Abraham's words are a response to the rich man's request to send someone from the dead to tell his brothers about the inevitable results of their lifestyle. He's asking for a Dickens' scenario: he's asking for someone to play the ghost of Marley for his brothers, who, still living, are playing Scrooge. He wants the spirit to warn of the torments in store and the heavy chains they are forging. And Abraham's reply is a laughing skepticism: They have Moses and the prophets but they don't listen to them. You think they will pay attention if Marley's ghost returns to warn them? Ha! They won't be convinced even if someone returns to life after having died! 

This story Jesus tells, the story of the rich man and Lazarus, is a parable. The fact that the indifferent man is rich adds to the impact of the story; but he could just as easily have been an ordinary guy, or even a poor man. The point of the parable is not to contrast the rich and the poor or the pleasures of one as opposed to the sufferings of the other. The point of the parable is seen in the consequences that follow from human interaction during this earthly life. It's an answer to the unstated question: What will be the consequence of how we live our lives? A poor man can be just as indifferent to another's suffering as is the rich man in the tale.

The addendum, the exchange between Abraham and the rich man as regards the brothers, is a secondary point, though one which is appropriately made in the context of what preceded. Still, it shifts the focus in a new direction. The compass no longer points to a lesson about what follows from failure to fulfill the teachings of the Law and the Prophets. The compass arrow abruptly swerves and now points to the need for repentance. 

The Pharisees were not bad people. They didn't murder or steal. They thought they were keeping holy the Sabbath. I can easily picture them saying: What are you talking about? We keep the Law and the Prophets. Further, I can easily picture myself joining them. I don't murder or steal. I go to church on Sunday. I'm nice to my neighbor --- at least most of the time. What are you talking about? I obey the Ten Commandments.

Unfortunately, I know there is more to it than that. Repentance is not just a requirement of great sinners, those who violate every commandment among the ten and every norm of human decency. Repentance is not just for the moderately sinful, those who occasionally cheat their spouse or their neighbor and only miss Mass every other week. Repentance is for every single person who is merely good, but not holy. It is for everyone who does not fully and complete love and trust in the Lord in each and every detailed portion of his life.

Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings,
(says Jeremiah to me today.)
Cursed is the man who seeks his strength in flesh,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.

Suddenly, I have been swept up in the net. Those in need of repentance includes me. The Lord has considered my assertion that I have little need of repentance and found my position wanting. He replies with the words of the prophets.

And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with their lips they show much love, but their heart is set on their gain. (Ezekiel 33:31)
. . . this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men learned by rote. (Isaiah 29:13)

So, as always, I must turn to prayer:
Let my heart be set on you, O Lord.
Let me honor you with all my heart and all my mind and all my soul; with all that I am and all that I will be.
Let me see and listen with the eyes and ears of your Son.
Let his words and thoughts be always before me.
Turn me toward you and make me holy.