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In today’s Gospel, Jesus shares a profoundly interesting parable. I would like to examine it further and in detail. In the parable, Jesus introduces the rich man, we do not know his name, but he wears purple, the color of royalty and feasts, not just on special holidays but every day. We then learn about Lazarus, a poor man. Unlike the rich man, Lazarus has a name. We would expect people to describe the rich man as the one having the name, but we know Jesus frequently reversed social order to make a point or have his listeners see the issue from a unique perspective. Remember the line in Matthew 20:16, “the first shall be last and the last shall be first”. Lazarus is very hungry and longed to feed on the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Notice that Lazarus never speaks throughout. He is the example of the poor and voiceless in our society. The rich man likely knew about the state Lazarus was in as Lazarus lived on his doorstep not somewhere on the other side of town. We know the only friends Lazarus had were the dogs who licked his sores. Dogs usually lick the people they like and bite or growl at the people they do not like.

The contrast between Lazarus and the rich man are clear and profound.

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