The Rich Man, Lazarus & Groundhog Day

The gospel for the twenty sixth Sunday, Luke 16:1-19 , blended with our Friday night film, Groundhog Day. Here is how.

This gospel about the rich man and Lazarus usually results in an exhortation for us to sacrifice our excess goods and practice compassion for the poor. Fair enough – but the issue is not the danger of riches or the importance of compassion. If the rich man had been able to identify with Lazarus he would have felt compassion and avoided his fate.

In the film Bill Murray starts from a self-centered character who bypasses a man he sees as a bum. As the film progresses, he is apparently condemned to repeat the same day over and over, suffering the consequences of his actions – but slowly learning. As he makes himself a victim of his own behavior, he begins to see that others are victims as well. He ends by experiencing compassion for the homeless man he had seen as a bum, seeking him out and helping him. He also finally receives the love of the beautiful Andie MacDowell.

The rich man was attached to his own possessions. Bull Murray was attached to his own attitudes towards himself and the world. The issue for our preachers should not be just the evil of riches or the danger of attachments. It should be how to get free from them.

Here is a suggestion as to how it might be done. Several years ago, I experienced abdominal surgery for a 8 lb. benign tumor. It is easy for me to sit down and hear people talk about surgery and the effort to recover from it. My wife suffers from a foot problem known as plantar fasciaitis. She can share stories of treatment (successful, so far), recommend doctors and demonstrate stretching exercises. She knows how it hurts and can empathize.

There is a political attitude that there is some special virtue in having victim status. People seem to want to be identified as a victim because it entitles them to rights and status. Paradoxically, this attitude has its own dangers: the victim can become attached to resentment and bitterness. Since this attachment blocks compassion the victim ends as the mirror image of the rich man.

I don’t think that Bill Murray, my wife or I saw any great virtue in being a victim of our various maladies. What we did learn is a bit of compassion for people in circumstances similar to ours. The rich man did not, I hope, have to become poor like Lazarus in order to learn compassion. What he might have done is to reflect on his own moments of despair and hopelessness. These moments, when we are victimized by our own attitudes and become aware of them, are the ones in which we can learn our need for God and learn compassion.