The phrase “make a name for yourself” means to become famous or respected by a lot of people.
Elon Musk, for example, has made a name for himself through the six companies he’s co-founded, including Tesla and SpaceX. Donald Trump, even before he was president, made a name for himself by inheriting a real estate business, licensing his name, and becoming a media personality.
Whether you like them or not, people like Elon Musk and Donald Trump have made a name for themselves; and we all know and remember their names.
In the first verse of today’s Bible story, there is a man who I would compare to Elon Musk or Donald Trump. He is described as a rich man who dressed in purple.
Why does the color of his clothing matter? Because purple dye was rare and hard to come by. The only real source of purple dye in those times came from a certain species of sea snail. The snail wasn’t actually purple, but by boiling the mucus for several days and exposing it to sunlight for a precise amount of time, it could be transformed into purple.
It took as many as 250,000 sea snails to yield just one ounce of usable dye, but the result was a vibrant and long-lasting shade of purple.
Because it took so much effort, clothes made from the dye were exorbitantly expensive—a pound of purple wool cost more than most people earned in a year. In some societies, only royalty wore purple.
I don’t know if this particular rich man was royalty or was connected to royalty, but he was rich, and he dressed in purple. He dressed in purple and fine linen. And he feasted sumptuously every day. The food he ate was extremely costly, rich, luxurious, and magnificent.
He was clearly a man who had made a name for himself. Everyone knew and remembered his name.
In the second and third verses of today’s Bible story, we are introduced to a poor man named Lazarus. Lazarus did not wear purple, or fine linen. Lazarus’ body was covered with sores, many of which could be seen through the rags he wore; the health care that the rich man could afford was well beyond Lazarus’ reach, and his sores were left untreated.
Lazarus was so poor that he experienced hunger every day - hunger so bad that it hurt.
Lazarus would see the food deliveries arrive at the rich man’s house, and Lazarus would wait in the hopes that perhaps just a small piece would fall from the cart, and having landed in the road or in the dirt, he would be allowed to retrieve it and enjoy at least a small bite to help assuage his harsh and relentless hunger.
If there were magazines in those days, the magazines on the magazine rack would have lots of pictures of the rich man. He was what people wanted to look at. He had made a name for himself, and it pleased the eye to look at him, his purple clothes, and his unblemished skin.
Lazarus, on the other hand, with his rags and his sores and his hollow, unwashed cheeks - he was not pleasant to look at. His picture is one we would ignore. His picture would not sell magazines.
Or if there were social media in those days, the rich man would get lots of attention, lots of likes and lots of follows… but who would follow a poor man lying on the ground, covered in sores? People want to follow the man who is pleasing to look at, the man who has made a name for himself.
In the fourth verse of today’s Bible story, we learn that both Lazarus and the rich man died. In death, Lazarus went to dwell with Abraham in what we would call heaven, and the rich man went to what we would call hell.
This parable imagines that heaven and hell are two regions separated by a great chasm; and yet there is at least limited communication between them. So the rich man begs Abraham for mercy, for assistance, for himself - and when that fails, for his family members who are still alive.
But it’s too late. His pleas don’t work….
By now, you may have noticed something strange about this story, about a rich man who made a name for himself while alive, the rich man who everyone knew, whose pictures appeared on magazine covers and social media; and the poor man - Lazarus - who was ignored and neglected. There’s something ironic here, in how these two are presented and introduced.
Have you figured it out?
The rich man, the man who made a name for himself - what is his name?
We don’t know! The story doesn’t say!
But the poor man, who was ignored, neglected, and made invisible while he was alive - the story tells us his name.
Ponder the strangeness, the weirdness, of that…
Imagine a news account about “some rich guy” who developed an electric car company and sent rockets into space and then tried to buy Twitter, yet never mentions that his name is Elon Musk. Just “a rich guy.”
Imagine a story about a man who inherited a massive real estate empire and has buildings and country clubs named after him, and that he was our president, but never mentions that his name is Donald Trump. Just, “some rich guy.”
It’s hard to imagine, right?
History books aren’t going to say that “some rich guy” who owned lots of real estate and was a reality TV star became president for four years; they’re going to mention his name.
But in our Bible story today - this super-rich, super-famous guy… he’s never mentioned by name.
Some of you may know that - even though this rich man doesn’t have a name in the Bible, Christian tradition, starting in the middle ages, has given him a name.
Anyone know what that name is?
According to tradition, his name is Dives. It’s Latin, and it means, simply, rich or wealthy. It’s the name he has been given - but that name didn’t come from the Bible. In the Bible, he has no name.
It reminds me of the three magi who brought their gifts to Jesus. They are apparently wealthy, and they also are not named in scripture. However, tradition has given them names: Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar. But those names are not in scripture, just like the name of the rich man in today’s story is not in scripture. In the Bible, they have no names.
But the poor man, the neglected man, the ignored man, whose name no one would remember because they probably didn’t even know it - his name, Lazarus, is in the Bible; and that’s significant.
Because, in God’s kingdom, the poor are made rich; the humble are exalted; and the nameless are given names.
In Israel’s darkest hour, when the nation had been taken away from the people and they were being held captive, God’s message to them through the prophet Isaiah was this:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name! You are mine. When you pass through the flood waters, I will be with you. When you pass through the swollen rivers, I will be with you; they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned… Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.”
God remembers the forgotten. God knows their names.
That’s why Lazarus has a name in this story, but the rich man does not. Because God sees those who suffer. God hears their cries. And God knows their names.
God is intimately connected to their lives.
Which means that today, it’s not the billionaires or the world leaders whose names are mentioned first in God’s kingdom; it’s not the names in the news that everyone talks about…
It’s the hurricane victims in Puerto Rico - we might not know their names, but God knows each of them by name.
It’s the flood victims in Pakistan - God knows each of them by name.
It’s the asylum-seekers who were lied to and sent a thousand miles away with false promises of aid and assistance - God knows each of them by name.
It’s trans kids and adults who can’t get schools and parents and others to use the name they know is truly theirs, and instead they get called by names that are not truly theirs - If you are one of them, know that God calls you by your name, your true name, the one you know is yours.
It’s the 140 million poor people in the United States, who continue to be left out when it comes to the great wealth of this country - God sees you, and God knows you by name.
It’s the countless workers struggling to pay rent that is too high with wages that are too low. It’s the ones who have been fired for organizing, for fighting for better working conditions for themselves and others - God sees you, and God knows you by name.
It’s the many who are filled with anxiety or depression, which can make it hard just to function; society wants to see and remember and know the names of those who are happy and productive, but God sees you and knows you by name.
In God’s kingdom, your name - if you are poor, or cast out, or struggling, or forgotten, or denied your dignity - your name is at the top of God’s list. It is known by God. God will not forget you. God makes your light shine forth. God extends blessings to you.
Because yours is the kingdom of God.
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