Finding Life

In Sunday school last week, we talked about the parable of Lazarus - not the story of the brother who Jesus brought back to life, but the other Lazarus story.  This is the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31.

Have you ever noticed that when the rich man has died, he asks Abraham to send Lazarus to him to bring him water, or to return and warn his brothers, that he still sees Lazarus as a servant - he's still asking Lazarus to serve him.  Nothing has really changed in the rich man's attitude, even after death.

The rich man lived his life in a way that didn't lead to life - it didn't lead to life, even when he was alive.  

How do we learn from that? How do we live a life that is alive, and not dead? How do we open ourselves up to eternal life NOW - if the kingdom is here and now, then so is life.  

Perhaps it begins by seeing the mistake that the rich man made.  He did see - in life or in death - Lazarus as a person.  Perhaps it begins by seeing the person in front of us as a person - not as a non-person.  And then bringing life to that person in front of us through service.  Life to that person, and life to ourselves.