Our first reading from Amos is beautifully scripted – layering up in detail after detail the blessings of a life of luxury, of those who lie around in golden palaces, on ivory couches, draped in fine clothing, sipping wine and feasting on tender lamb, singing idle songs to the sound of the harp. 

The prophet draws a sublime picture of those who are excessively wealthy, with no occupation and no worthwhile activity of any benefit to others. Surely an idyllic life – but there is a real sting in the tail.

Despite apparent good fortune and wealth – there is danger – as they lie around in luxurious idleness, their land and their nation are under serious threat.

In fact we might say – because they lie around in luxurious idleness – the well-being of the people of God is in jeopardy.

Amos is a prophet around 760-755 BC at a time of great prosperity for the people of both the northern and southern Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. But despite their material wealth, there was significant social injustice and moral decay. 

Fast forward about 780 years and in response to the social injustice of his own day, Jesus tells the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the poor man at his gate.

For us in Peterborough, and especially at St John’s – we all know Lazarus – he sleeps in our porch or in shop doorways and people walk past him, maybe even stepping over him. And of course it isn’t just one man – maybe two or three, and women too, people of all ages, some very young, but not many very old because life is harsh and shorter than it should be, when you sleep rough.

And maybe as the rich man in the parable presumably does – its easy to blame them for their situation – well they are full of drink or high on drugs aren’t they? It’s their own fault that they are in this state – they can’t be trusted, they may be violent, we’d better get the police to move them on. And so the problem is just pushed on somewhere else for a while – but it’s a problem the whole world over now.

As Tom Wright – former Bishop of Durham and New Testament Theologian puts it:

There are whole towns of people living like this – tin shacks on the edge of large, rich cities. Maybe the people who live there can see from their small doorways the huge hotels and office blocks of the wealthy – and maybe, if they are really lucky – one member of their family may even have a job there.These people have been born into poverty and their lives are outside of their control – at the mercy of some unknown individual or a faceless company who have signed away their rights, their lives in effect, in return for arms, a new presidential palace, a fat Swiss Bank Account.

So the very uncomfortable truth for us all is that this is not just a parable that we can say doesn’t apply to us – we all know Lazarus – he is our neighbour – whether outside our very gates or on the other side of the world. For some of us here today – we may know what it is like to be him, and through the work of our Community Support Hub, we know his story and thank God – we try to help, to change the story, to write a new chapter and make possible a new beginning. 

But it is all too easy to be like the rich man in the parable – unnamed in the Bible Story but often called ‘Dives’ which is the Latin word for ‘rich’. He seems supremely unaware of Lazarus while they lived side by side in life, but, now suffering himself, is immediately wanting, expecting even, that Lazarus will come to his aid, or if not his, then that of his family still living – in a sort of supernatural warning to behave better.

We live in a world now of just such indifference or contempt coupled with the cynical usage of others who have little power or agency of their own. The chasm fixed between Dives and Lazarus in the parable, could equally stand for the ever-widening gap between rich and poor now, and especially between the super-rich and powerful and the poor and disposed. Instead of using their overabundance to assist those with so little, they create division between them and whilst sneaking off with the swag themselves, point a finger of blame at the easiest targets. 

The letter to Timothy of course describes how we are to live instead. Everything we have in this life is a gift – we ourselves bring nothing into the world – and all that we are lucky enough to have is to be shared generously with others – for if we know all good things to come from God – and eternal life to be the ultimate prize and true treasure already won for us, then why do we need to fight one another for earthly riches? 

But the love of money will always lead us astray – like the hunger for gold that creates a greed that is like a fever – we can never have enough and want more and more – becoming blind to everything else, like Dives, the rich man, not even noticing, or worse, noticing but not caring that at his gate lies the poor man, Lazarus. A heart that only cares for gold is a very hard heart indeed.

In this season of Creationtide we are encouraged to notice the riches all around us in the glories of creation and to give thanks to God. Next week we will celebrate all this at our Harvest Festival – all good gifts around us are sent from heaven above, now thank the Lord, oh thank the Lord, for all his love.

Having our eyes opened to the treasure that is effulgent all around us – the golden sunshine, the sparkling seas, the verdant, now flaming trees, the infinity of stars, the beauty of the world and our exalted place within it and all the creatures we are blessed to live alongside – how could we need anything more?

All these riches should liberate us from greed, free us to live the ‘life that is really life’ and to give as generously as we can.

For after all, God makes all things, and gives everything, for love of us all.

Service: Revd Michelle Dalliston, 28th September 2025. (St John the Baptist Church Peterborough UK)

Readings:  Amos 6.1a, 4-7; Psalm 146; 1 Timothy 6.6-19; Luke 16.19-end